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May 16, 2018SurreyLibraries_Teens rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
Optimists Die First is a romance book about Petula De Wilde. Petula came across a tragedy that caused her to become pessimistic and overly cautious, leading to her participation in a youth art therapy class, YART for short. In YART, there are other misfits who have also gone through hard times, and are there to express themselves through art. Early in the book, she meets Jacob Cohen, a boy with a prosthetic arm, and begins to open up herself as she works on a project with him in YART. I liked how the characters in the book were described - they had depth and had gone through a sort of tragedy or problem in their life. The book seems simple at first, but as more details and scenarios are uncovered, the book contains depth, and there is a sort of twist. I recommend this book to people who want to read a romance with some drama. - Sam -------------------- Hey, what can I say? I really enjoyed the book. I mean, it’s kinda hard to put into words, because the storytelling was so colorful and vibrant. So, uh, I’ll try to review this book as best as I can (you know, pros and cons, stuff like that). Now, it’s actually been a while since I have read the book, a few months actually (sorry), and I think one of the reasons why I didn’t write a review directly after was because I had so much fun reading that I forgot I had a job to do. I also don’t remember some of the names and scenes, whoops. That mishap will come back to bite me one day, I know it (sigh). Well, enough about me, onto the book. The book opens up with a wonderful introductory sequence that introduces the main characters in a quick yet effective manner that I thought was very efficient. The main gist of the book is a story about facing your fears, learning to accept the past and move on, and, um, love. Yep, I picked the book out thinking it was just another ol’ book, and lo and behold it was mainly a love story. That’s okay, though, the plot and story are near-flawless. There are some sad parts to it though, like the main character accidentally killing her baby sister (yup), and that’s something you don’t see everyday. I felt a lot of emotions during my time reading, like fear, sadness, curiosity, and the emotion of ‘oh no what is this’ sweep across me, and not every book can convey emotion upon me like that; I applaud you, Susin. The main character has terrible anxiety, and you can see it a lot within the pages of this book. There are all kinds of people inside this book: gays, thugs, amputees, all the unusual stuff. Its uniqueness and charm makes this book one of my favorites, and I think all together I spent 5 or 6 hours reading it. And, well, that’s it. That’s my review, thanks for reading! - Berzan