I don’t know… I just don’t know. The very thing that troubled me also fascinated me. It’s a sad touchy topic that had them all reacting in ways unexpected. Simply, they confused me. I went in to this thinking a good cry was just around the corner… except my emotions never quite made it that far because of them not wanting to focus on the sad. Their “what now” was infuriating. In wanting things to be OK, things are taken the way of if you don’t speak it, then maybe/probably/ possibly it’s not so bad. They confused me. And my confusion was only made worse by the me myself and I drama going on from a totally the most disconcerting of sources. They all react differently: where one gathers data, the other pretties things up up, and of course the keeping of secrets. It’s all those choices added up that affect so many other aspects of her life: that growing closeness to the boy not as popular as she; that widening gap between her and her friends; as well as the presence of that boy who could be/maybe something more than what she thought him to be. I liked reading all those things, except that each of them frustrated me at one point or another, too and that’s not excluding the Mia herself. Just when I thought I had them pegged: music boy, bitchy queen bee and her entourage plus soccer jock and drama queen mother, they do an about face with something even more unexpected. She’s the common thread though and she does her share of that. Her superstitious side wasn’t what made her stand out for me, if anything it’s another thing about her I wasn’t buying, instead more remarkable is thinking her strong in not wanting anybody’s pity, but that’s not quite the case either because denial should be her middle name, and perhaps it was, with a mother whose got the art down pat. Throw in passive aggressive thing going on between them, and here I sat brow a-furrow and squinty eyed, wondering why they were both being the way they were. But then again, they’d been steamrolled by what they found and their reactions revealed how little prepared they were. A little more refreshing is how given the topic, things aren’t taken toward what’s typical: not a bucket list in sight! And yet again I’m back to being torn over their reactions! It’s a lot like If I Lie where things get drawn out for a little too long. It is in fact what allows people to do the oddest of things, but it’s also heart wrenching: watching them do whatever it was they were doing. Now, one would think that girl getting sick would amount to her being cut some slack, but again nope. I had a hard time wrapping my head around it all, but that’s was the point. That people react differently, and not always in ways I’d like. 3.5/5There happens to be a guy named after McGyver... and I think that fact, not the guy in question, is one of my favorite things in this book. Though come to think of it, the guy wasn't a bad addition either
