Leaving Paradise

Monday night I longingly looked at Simone Elkeles' Leaving Paradise sitting on my bedside table. I could not wait to finally read it; yet, I knew that there is no such thing as me being able to have enough self control to crack open a Elkeles book and only read a few pages before heading to bed. It was already bedtime and I had a dull headache, so I knew I had to resist the urge to get started. Tuesday morning was a different story. I knew that since I had to get ready for school I would have a reason to make myself put the book down. I flew through the first three chapters, and as always, was already hooked. 

Last night I was excited to come home and finish the rest of the book. Maggie and Caleb's story revealing bit by bit how their lives had changed over the last year after a tragic event changed their lives forever. Once his neighbor and twin sister's best friend, Caleb has spent the last year in a juvenile detention center for a hit and run while drunk driving that left Maggie in recovery. It is the start of a new school year, and both are going back to school for the first time. Everything feels so different for both of them and they try to navigate their lives. Because the back of the cover said, "What happens when the person who damaged you for life ... becomes the person you trust the most?" I knew that Caleb and Maggie would end up relating to each other. I just wasn't quite sure how it would all come about. 

I loved reading to discover what would happen next. I enjoy that each of Elkeles' groups of books have different styles of endings because while there are aspects that all of her books have in common, such as amazing voice, I am also always surprised to see exactly what the style of each book will be. I have to say toward the end of Leaving Paradise there were some shocking twist of events that made me more excited for a sequel than any of her other books, which says a lot, since her books always leave me wanting more. In some ways I am glad that Leaving Paradise sat in my TBR pile for so long because now I do not have as long to wait for the sequel!

Here's the new cover to Leaving Paradise. I think it matches up better with the cover to the sequel, Return to Paradise. It also reminds me a bit of the cover of Crash Into Me.