tell me three things // julie buxbaum

published: 2016

pages: 325

isbn: 978-0-553-53564-8

read from: 8/17-18/2016

rating: 1) didn't care for it 2) liked it 3) LOVED IT

SYNOPSIS (amazon)

Everything about Jessie is wrong. At least, that’s what it feels like during her first week as a junior at her new ultra-intimidating prep school in Los Angeles. It’s been barely two years since her mother’s death, and because her father eloped with a woman he met online, Jessie has been forced to move across the country to live with her stepmonster and her pretentious teenage son.

Just when she’s thinking about hightailing it back to Chicago, she gets an email from a person calling themselves Somebody/Nobody (SN for short), offering to help her navigate the wilds of Wood Valley High School. Is it an elaborate hoax? Or can she rely on SN for some much-needed help?

In a leap of faith—or an act of complete desperation—Jessie begins to rely on SN, and SN quickly becomes her lifeline and closest ally. Jessie can’t help wanting to meet SN in person. But are some mysteries better left unsolved?

SPOILERS

I don't even know where to start!!!!!!!!!

Jessie moves to CA because her father up and married Rachel 733 days after her mother died. he uprooted what was left of their family in their hometown of Chicago and moved it to LA. without any consideration of what it might do to her.

so she starts this snotty new school where she knows no one and then BOOM! random ass email.

Somebody Nobody.

this person knows what she's about and they start to form a friendship even if she thinks it's a hoax.

I don't feel like this is a huge book like my last where I'm going to write for forever so it's going to be fairly quick. hopefully.

she ends up becoming friends with Dri like SN suggested and she even gets herself a job at a book store. she starts to get along very weirdly with her stepbrother Theo and she seems to be doing fine finally being able to stand up for herself even if she still doesn't see it herself.

she goes to class and low and behold (and my freaking worst nightmare EVER) the assignment is to pair up with a classmate and write a paper on 'The Waste Land.' of course everyone pairs up and she is left to work with Ethan or better known to her as Batman.

he tells her not to worry about it, that he'll do all the work.

she doesn't budge until she decides to stand up for herself and earn her own A.

so they work together and she starts to fall for Ethan.

time passes and she's yet to find out who SN is.

she thinks it might me Caleb for a bit and manages to work the courage to "ask" him out. but he bails because Liam has a "thing" for her.

I'm not exactly sure when I knew, but it had been a good minute since I had put it together that SN was in fact Ethan.

but that didn't stop me from squealing from utter excitement like a total girl when I got to the end and they met up.

and even though she was supposed to meet up with SN and only him, i love the fact that she (Julie, the author) goes ahead and throws in Liam, Caleb AND Ethan just to mess with her one last time.

I freaking loved this book.

there's a lot of stuff I left out. all of the in between but trust me, even if you read the spoilers, read the book!

MY RAMBLINGS

(just thoughts on the book itself)

I can't remember exactly where I saw this book but the cover called to me so I had to get it. then this other blogger posted about it and I haaad to read it. (love her IG)

I LOOOOOOOOOOOOVED this book!!!!!!!

I absolutely loved it!

so much I read it in one day and I didn't even realize it.

I loved the writing in this book. I loved that even though it involves her mother's death, it doesn't revolved around just her death (it's not a spoiler cause you know right away.) it's more about her sorta finding herself and trying to make the best with what she's given.

I loved the friendships that she builds and the happiness that she finds at the end.

I LOVED IT ALL!!!!!

it was a super fun, quick read that wasn't too over dramatic. and i absolutely loved the tell me three things aspect of it.

I'll leave you with some quotes that I LOVED.

"sometimes, when Scarlett says I'm strong, I think she really means I'm numb."

-Jessie pg 40

"I have this whole weird theory of the universe that I don't actually believe but like to think about. like we are something tiny and insignificant, like ants, to some larger, more complex species, which sort of explains all the weird random things that can happen, like hurricanes and cancer."

-Jessie pg 109

"I wish when you were little someone had said to me: these are the good times. right now. these are the good times. you are young and things are simple. and one day it's all going to blow up in your face or bottom out or whatever metaphor you want to use. and so relax and enjoy while you can."

-Jessie's dad pg 144

"were all better versions of ourselves when we get that extra time to craft the perfect message."

-Jessie pg 261

"maybe home doesn't have to be a place."

-Somebody Nobody pg 276

(that one hit right on the guts!)

"I lie on my bed, close my eyes. send out a wish to the universe. not to God, because if he exists, he's ignored me too many times before."

-Jessie pg 285

"not feeling like I belong anywhere has made me crave constant motion; standing still feels risky."

-Jessie pg 288

"...and I guess memories, as much as they can be held on to, are portable."

-Jessie pg 304