Book Review--Notes to Self by Avery Sawyer

Cover Image/Summary from Goodreads: 

"Two climbed up. Two fell down. 
One woke up. 
In the aftermath of a traumatic brain injury, Robin Saunders has to relearn who she is and find out what happened the night everything changed."

Review: 


I saw a couple of people receiving this book for review in their mailboxes, so I decided to pick it up and give it a try. I was a little reluctant at first, since I thought it was one of those in-a-coma, out-of-body-experience types of books, but it turned out to be much better than what I expected: a beautiful story about friendship, growth, and love.

The setup for this book was unique: it was in present tense, and then it often took the reader back to Robin's old memories with her friend, Emily. The story starts off with a bang (not literally) with Robin and her bestfriend Emily falling off a structure, and both of them ending up in the hospital. Only, Emily doesn't wake up. Robin does. Robin goes through the stress at school when people think she pushed Emily. Robin also has a difficult time remembering what happened that night. Some chapters simply relive Robin's old memories with Emily, and how great of a friend she was, how loyal. One of my favorite parts of the book HAD to be those memories. Some of the memories were just so special and really pulled at my heartstrings. Notes to Self was strong in the areas of describing Robin's growth as she tries to remember everything again.

The characters, I loved the characters. ESPECIALLY Reno! Reno was such a sweet darling, I couldn't have asked for a better person to take Robin under his wing. Although she wasn't mentioned until the very end, Josie was really special to me. Her character changed so suddenly, but she turned out to be a good friend. And Robin: her character was so innocent and real, I believed her emotions just as if they were mine. I sincerely felt her stress and her frustration.

The ending, guys, the ENDING. Too good to be true. It was so ambiguous, yet breathtaking at the same time. What a great conclusion to the novel. Couldn't have asked for more! A very satisfying wrap up.

Overall, I'm very delighted to have read this emotional and compassionate story of Avery's. Definitely recommended for anyone who loves a good finding-yourself story! I can't wait to find out what Avery has next in store for us.

Grade: A-

Notes to Self (Amazon, B&N) is now out!

Source: Bought from Amazon