Monday, July 23, 2012

The Difference Between You and Me by Madeleine George

The Difference Between You and MeJesse cuts her own hair with a Swiss Army knife. She wears big green fisherman's boots. She's the founding (and only) member of NOLAW, the National Organization to Liberate All Weirdos. Emily wears sweaters with faux pearl buttons. She's vice president of the student council. She has a boyfriend.
These two girls have nothing in common, except the passionate "private time" they share every Tuesday afternoon. Jesse wishes their relationship could be out in the open, but Emily feels she has too much to lose. When they find themselves on opposite sides of a heated school conflict, they each have to decide what's more important: what you believe in, or the one you love?

The Difference Between You and Me is fantastic. I received it without knowing anything about the story- and I didn’t read the summary before I started reading it. This made me completely unaware of what type of story I was getting myself into. Madeleine George wrote an amazing story, and it won’t get out of my head.

The Difference Between You and Me is written in dual points of view between Jesse and Emily- this helps readers get closer to both characters, and understand what’s going on in their head. Both characters were written incredibly well. Jesse isn’t afraid of what people think of her, and is labeled as ‘weird’ by some of her classmates. Emily is the polar opposite- she’s a perfectionist who feels the need to keep up her good girl reputation. I loved the way they interacted with each other, and how both characters were able to gradually progress into better versions of themselves.

Though this book wasn’t the romance I was expecting, it was still amazing. The Difference Between You and Me was about so much more than romance. It was two teens discovering themselves, how to cope with their lives, and so much more. Even if this book doesn’t fit into what you normally read, I think you should read it. This will probably be one of my favorites of the year.

FTC- Publisher.