"Eleanor & Park" by Rainbow Rowell

Genre: Coming of Age/ YA
Format: Kindle
Publication: February 26, 2013 by St. Martin's Press
Cover Rating: 5/5 Stars

From Goodreads: Set over the course of one school year in 1986, ELEANOR AND PARK is the story of two star-crossed misfits – smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try. When Eleanor meets Park, you’ll remember your own first love – and just how hard it pulled you under.

My Thoughts: Wow. I don't even know where to begin with this review! Eleanor & Park was, to put it simply, amazing! I devoured this book and fell in love with the characters and with Ms. Rowell herself. Everything about it was perfect and wonderful and just... exactly what I wanted it to be. It's so rare to find a book that you would leave untouched, but I can not think of one single thing that I would ever want to change about Eleanor and Park. As soon as I finished it, all I wanted to do was go back and re-read it from the beginning (which never happens).

Usually I start my reviews off with what I didn't like about the novel, but I just can't do that with this one because I loved it completely, from the first page to the last. So here are some of the things that I absolutely loved and that stood out to me the most:

• It was real. Even though E&P is set in 1986, it can still be very much related to the here and now. I graduated high school in 2006 and the whole time I was this I just kept thinking "Oh yeah, I remember how that felt" or "Man, that reminds me of that time..." It was all so relevant to that time in our lives when everything sucks and everything feels overwhelming.
• Eleanor. THANK YOU RAINBOW ROWELL! FINALLY someone sat down and said, you know what- my heroine is going to be fat. Not small and pixie-sh, but F.A.T. Granted, I didn't picture Eleanor as being so huge that she couldn't walk down the hallway, but I did picture her on the larger side. What was really great though, was that this wasn't JUST who Eleanor was. A lot of books want to say "Oh yeah, she's big and she has these self-esteem issues and she loses weight blah blah blah". Eleanor was actually a really hip chick and someone I would definitely want to hang with.
• Park. Okay, I'll admit it. I'm kind of in love with him. Beside he's amazing music taste, Park reminds me of the guy I liked in high-school (or what I pictured the guy I liked in HS to be like). He was sensitive and even a little bit shallow just like every other teenage guy out there. But he moved past it.
• The music. Joy Division's Love Will Tear Us Apart is possibly my favorite song of all time. It breaks my heart every time I hear it and I can listen to it over and over again. E&P has an amazing playlist to go along with amazing story.

Overall, this book has definitely earned its place on my "favorites" shelf and I would HIGHLY recommend it to anyone!

My Rating: