Every Day by David Levithan

Title: Every Day
Author: David Levithan
Release date: August 28, 2012
Publisher: Knopf
Format: Egalley
Source: Publisher provided through Netgalley
Pages: 336
Buy the book: Barnes & Noble | Amazon | The Book Depository

Every day a different body. Every day a different life. Every day in love with the same girl.

There’s never any warning about where it will be or who it will be. A has made peace with that, even established guidelines by which to live: Never get too attached. Avoid being noticed. Do not interfere.

It’s all fine until the morning that A wakes up in the body of Justin and meets Justin’s girlfriend, Rhiannon. From that moment, the rules by which A has been living no longer apply. Because finally A has found someone he wants to be with—day in, day out, day after day.

Going into Every Day I had both high expectations and low expectations. How does that happen, you ask? I'll tell you! I was absolutely and completely in love with the description of the book. I couldn't get over the idea of someone stuck in a new body every day, but with the continuance of loving the same girl through them all. I don't know how you could not love that! BUT, my only other experience with David Levithan is Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist, which I absolutely hated. Yep. So you can see why I was of two minds. Every Day took the route of my high expectations, though it didn't follow what I expected in the least.

I'm going to have a hard time explaining how I feel in this paragraph, I think. Someone might dislike me for saying this, but hey, this is my blog and I'm allowed to state my opinion. I didn't like that A didn't associate with a gender. This is the biggest thing I disliked. Honestly. YES, I understand the point, that we aren't necessarily defined by our genders (or shouldn't be), since love certainly doesn't. But I felt like it was hard to get a grasp on A without this, this could be because A needed more defining characteristics other than being nice and switching bodies every day. Or it could be because I'm a terrible person. Either one will work for me.

Otherwise, other than the ending that made me sad, I found this to be an utterly fascinating book. The idea is unbelievably awesome and I was always curious to see who A woke up as each morning. I wanted to know how A was going to reach Rhiannon and how they could possibly make such an impossible situation work. I liked seeing repercussions of A's interference in the host's lives, even though A tries to not leave a mark. (I am having the hardest time writing sentences without him/her and he/she. Gosh darn you David Levithan!) And while the ending was not what I'd wish, it made sense and it really would have ruined the book if I got my way. :) Though I don't think I'd complain.

I'm not afraid to admit reading Every Day genuinely made me uncomfortable at times, in more ways than one. This is not a sensation I'm used to, but isn't one I'm averse to. I like to expand my horizons. The kind of books David Levithan writes are not generally my kind of thing, so it's a bit of a stretch for me. It takes consideration and a truly engaging story for me to enjoy their kind. Luckily, Every Day hit the mark.

Risk a paper cut? Even if contemporaries aren't your thing, I'm glad I read Every Day and I think you will be too.