The Now or Never Moment Omnibus by Katie Kaleski
ALL FOUR OF THE NOW OR NEVER MOMENT NOVELLAS IN ONE*By the time she realizes she loves him, he’s already gone.Shelby and Tanner have been inseparable ever since freshman year when she intervened to save him from a bully’s beating. Fast forward four intense years--Shelby is leaving for college. Without Tanner. Three days before she’s set to move, he hands her a thick envelope with explicit instructions:In no way shape or form is she to open the envelope until she is perfectly settled in at school. She is not to even think of it until then.No one has seen Tanner since that moment.She opens the envelope to find a letter of epic proportions inside that spans their years in high school together. When she reads it out loud to almost her entire dorm, Shelby relives the good and all of the bad, and together they learn details that Tanner held back, the things he never told her. How much he really loves her.Sometimes, all it takes is walking in someone else’s shoes to realize what you’ve known all along. Sometimes, that realization comes too late.*this book deals with suicidal ideation, depression, and bullying*
Two teens in a frelationship endure bullying and one crappy set of parents. Told in flashbacks in a love letter from Tanner to Shelby.
Alright let's get into this. This book is about a huge frelationship (a friendship that functions as a relationship but doesn't call itself one) and I really don't enjoy those plots. So you read through four years of this plot line. It's basically a long love letter- literally novel length- read aloud by the recipient.
One of the plots in the novel is about brutal bullying and the aftermath of enduring it. This was the part of the book i enjoyed the most. I was so frustrated that Tanner had to endure such a jerk in his school and no one did much about it. The people who tried to help were not successful in the system. Ugh, so frustrating to read!
Why was Tanner so forthcoming about his sex life in a love letter to someone else?? That seemed odd.I didn't like Shelby interacting with the people in college who she was reading this love letter to. It just wasn't believable that these literal strangers all stopped meeting new people and unpacking their rooms their FIRST day in college because they wanted to sit down and be read aloud to. I didn't believe the love epiphany that Shelby had. Like- woah, I'm actually in love with him now that he repeatedly tells me he's in love with me- even though I actually knew he was in love with me our entire friendship. How does that make her fall in love with him suddenly? What changed? Was it really just that she was not around him for like 3 days and she missed him?I didn't like the ending either but i won't give any spoilers.
Listen to: Existentialism on Prom Night by Straight RunWatch: High School MusicalAttempt: crocheting
