Aspiring choreographer Sophie Orenstein would do anything for Peter Rosenthal-Porter, who’s been on the kidney transplant list as long as she’s known him. Peter, a gifted pianist, is everything to Sophie: best friend, musical collaborator, secret crush. When she learns she’s a match, donating a kidney is an easy, obvious choice. She can’t help wondering if after the transplant, he’ll love her back the way she’s always wanted.
But Peter’s life post-transplant isn’t what either of them expected. Though he once had feelings for Sophie too, he’s now drawn to Chase, the guitarist in a band that happens to be looking for a keyboardist. And while neglected parts of Sophie’s world are calling to her—dance opportunities, new friends, a sister and niece she barely knows—she longs for a now-distant Peter more than ever, growing increasingly bitter he doesn’t seem to feel the same connection.
Peter fears he’ll forever be indebted to her. Sophie isn’t sure who she is without him. Then one blurry, heartbreaking night twists their relationship into something neither of them recognizes, leading them to question their past, their future, and whether their friendship is even worth fighting for. (taken from goodreads.com)
*Before I hope into my review, I want to thank the author Rachel Lynn Solomon for providing me with an Advanced Readers Copy. that I won in a giveaway she ran. This mean the world to me and this book is one of the best things in the world and I will cherish It forever. And Rachel, if you read this, thank you SO much.*
Sophie and Peter have been best friends forever. They have done everything together, Sophie loves Peter so much she gives him a literal kidney when she turns eighteen. With this new kidney, Peter is now free to live his own life away from Sophie. But what if neither of them know how to properly function without the other? This story is raw, real, emotional, amazing, beautiful and so much more.
Rachel Lynn Solomon took the young adult book scene by storm with her 2018 debut novel, You’ll Miss Me When I’m Gone. This book gave Jewish teens a voice, one that wasn’t about our miserable history of being persecuted, but about Jewish teens leading regular lives and just being Jewish while going through life.
Peter and Sophie’s relationship with religion played a nice part of the novel. I love the story of how Sophie’s parents met (on a birthright trip to Israel! Literally every teenage girls dream) and I related to Peter’s desire to learn more about being Jewish. I became more observant on my own and discovered more about connecting to Judaism on my own as I got older. It also touches upon a hot topic of Peter being Jewish even though his mother isn’t Jewish, and in Judaism religion goes through the mother. Peter even blurts this out to his Rabbi when him and his father go to synagogue together. (Peter and his father identify as reform Jews and I identify as Orthodox.)
Peter is raw, he is experiencing life for the first time. We see him experience so much he hasn’t done before, including learning how to function without Sophie.
Sophie learns how to become her own person which is one of the hardest things she has had to do. We also see her relationship with her younger sister develop into something she never had when she spent all of her time with Peter.
I loved getting to Sophie break out of her shell and become a fierce character. I loved seeing her become her own person and grow. It was hard to watch Peter do the same thing. (Is It bad if I say I wasn’t rooting for him nearly as much I was rooting for Sophie? I wanted Sophie to shine and become a star. She is a star.)
The writing of this book was soul-crushing. It is well-written, fun, fast and just the most amazing thing in the world. Everyone needs to have this on their TBR because if not, they are truly missing out. OYOM will be coming out on January 15th, 2019.
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