Everything Everything by Nicola Yoon

Everything Everything is the story of Maddy. A pretty normal eighteen year old girl who’s interested in the boy next door and enjoying her teenage years. There’s one thing that makes Maddy different though: she cannot leave her house. Maddy has an illness which means she is allergic to everything the world has to offer, resulting in her being in lock down 24/7. That is until Olly moves in next door. She finds any way she can to meet him, to touch him, to talk to him, and maybe she’ll go to any length to spend time with him.

Title: Everything Everything

Author: Nicola Yoon

Genre: Contemporary, YA

Publisher: Corgi Childrens

Publication Date: 3rd September 2015

Pages: 320

Summary :  Madeline Whittier is allergic to the outside world. So allergic, in fact, that she has never left the house in all of her seventeen years. But when Olly moves in next door, and wants to talk to Maddie, tiny holes start to appear in the protective bubble her mother has built around her. Olly writes his IM address on a piece of paper, shows it at her window, and suddenly, a door opens. But does Maddie dare to step outside her comfort zone?

There was a massive hype around this novel last year. It is Nicola Yoon’s first novel and she’s set the standard high already. I was so excited to start reading this novel and the fact I’ve left it this late really frustrates me. I devoured it. Very rarely do I get that in to a novel it only takes me a few days to read, most of the time I don’t have the time, or I enjoy the story but the situation doesn’t intrigue me too much. I read this in 24 hours.

Firstly the characters were well rounded, intriguing and had enough realism to make you not hate the YA tropes. I wouldn’t go as far as to say Olly is my new book boy crush, but he is a pretty great boyfriend without all the typical YA ‘I love you but I can’t be your boyfriend’ stuff. He is simply mesmerising.

The storyline itself keeps you interested all the way through. As I said I devoured this novel in a day and that really shows how great the storyline is. It’s unique and filled with action, emotions, excitement and plot twists, serious plot twists. Literally perfect.

That’s not to say that there weren’t some serious topics covered in this novel. Loss, grief, yearning and depression were all mentioned and it made the story feel all that more realistic. I for one am a sucker for the little quotes that make you stop reading and consider the effect it has on your life and those around you, this book is full of them.

“We can have immortality or the memory of touch. But we can’t have both”

The one thing that really intrigued me about this novel was the experimental style its told in. This novel is not just words, its pictures, drawings, IM messages, plane tickets, texts along with the usual standard novel style. I absolutely love reading novels like this and it kept me interested and wanting to read more.

If you’re someone who reads novels quickly, you’ll get through this in a few hours maybe. However if you really are against YA tropes that come with contemporary novels, stay well clear. It is after all a teenage girl falling in love. This novel was a really nice break for me, I wanted something fluffy and summary that I could wiz through, it really didn’t disappoint at all. When’s Nicola Yoon’s next novel released?!