I was initially attracted to Why We Broke Up because of the cover art. I’m usually wary of this because a lot of times books with great cover art turn out to be kind of crappy. But this stood out so much I decided to give it a try, plus the taglines were intriguing to me in an “oh my god I love novels about teenage love because I hate love in real life,” kind of way. Overall, the book was really … moving. It was a ‘good book’ but more than that: it was written in a realistic way that isn’t typical for most young adult ‘romance-y’ novels (to me), not to mention the illustrations inside the book are gorgeous. Both the characters and the storyline were dynamic and poignant and definitely pulled me in in a way that I hadn’t anticipated. Min and Ed go beyond the typically art-girl-dates-jock-boy-and-it-doesn’t-work-out story. It conjured up images and feelings from relationships I’ve had in my ‘adult’ life, which was not something I’d expect from a YA novel. It hit the mark in an unexpected way and made me both angry and sad at its conclusion, I could really ‘feel’ Min more and more towards the end. I ended up throwing it at the wall when I was done with it because I was so mad. And that’s how I knew it was a good book.

“Show up. Who cares? Show up, show up, where are you? Fuck you, everyone was right about you, prove them wrong, where are you? And then from nowhere you were in my life again, tapping me on the shoulder with your hair combed and damp, smiling, maybe nervous. Maybe breathless like me.” – Daniel Handler (Why We Broke Up)