ARC Review: Everything That Makes You - Moriah McStay

Title: Everything That Makes You
Author: Moriah McStay
Pub Date: March 17th, 2015
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Page Count: 352

One girl. Two stories. Meet Fiona Doyle. The thick ridges of scar tissue on her face are from an accident twelve years ago. Fiona has notebooks full of songs she’s written about her frustrations, her dreams, and about her massive crush on beautiful uber-jock Trent McKinnon. If she can’t even find the courage to look Trent straight in his beautiful blue eyes, she sure isn’t brave enough to play or sing any of her songs in public. But something’s changing in Fiona. She can’t be defined by her scars anymore.

And what if there hadn’t been an accident? Meet Fi Doyle. Fi is the top-rated female high school lacrosse player in the state, heading straight to Northwestern on a full ride. She’s got more important things to deal with than her best friend Trent McKinnon, who’s been different ever since the kiss. When her luck goes south, even lacrosse can’t define her anymore. When you’ve always been the best at something, one dumb move can screw everything up. Can Fi fight back?

Hasn’t everyone wondered what if? In this daring debut novel, Moriah McStay gives us the rare opportunity to see what might have happened if things were different. Maybe luck determines our paths. But maybe it’s who we are that determines our luck.

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Filled with feels that are a mix of cute, sad, happy and everything else, Everything That Makes You should be renamed Everything that Makes You [Feel]. - Nova @ Out of Time

After recommendations on twitter, I decided to give this one a good on a snap decision. I'm so glad I did. It was almost everything that I wanted. There were things that I didn't really like, but never did they once put a damper on what I did love.

First, this book crippled me with its feels. The beginning started off somewhat sad. It wasn't crying sad but it wasn't happy either. Then, things started looking up. Fiona met someone, Fi was starting to battle her own problems and I was rooting for them both. There were also some cute feels. However, shortly right after, there was a cripplingly sad event that left both me and the main character unable to function for a while. I don't know if I liked how quickly the happy into sad events were done, but I also don't know if a book's ever made me do a one eighty like that. There's just so much I went through as a reader. I felt like I was a part of the story.

This story explores the two different time streams of the same character. What I really loved was how different and similar the two lives were at the same time. We saw the same characters but their personalities had moderate differences because of Fiona/Fi's influence in their lives. But at the same time, Fiona and Fi were so similar about how lost they were. I found myself able to connect to them easily, which was a bit of a surprise considering this book is written in third person. Typically, I can't stand it because it sounds dead and detached. Not a problem with this work.

I also really enjoyed that this book is character driven but that's where the problem came in. This book takes place from high school and continues through Uni/College. I felt like it started off with so much character in the beginning and carried through the middle in the same way. However, even though there was still the same amount of character while Fi/Fiona was in Uni/College, something felt almost missing. I was almost bored with the events nearing the ending because it didn't feel right. The ending itself was nice, but I was bored at maybe 70% - 90%.

Lastly, while Moriah's writing is wonderful [seriously, I loved it!], I hated the song lyrics. Fiona is meant to be a musician who writes a lot of songs. While the characters don't get to hear her songs, the reader does. As a musician myself, I wasn't at all impressed with the words used and the meanings conveyed in her music. Maybe that was meant to be the point but I didn't really understand it.

Overall, this book is so wonderful! I know that not everyone is going to have issues with song lyrics. It's more of a personal thing because I write songs too. I definitely recommend it for those who like contemporary and want a really good amount of feels. ALL THE FEELS!

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Moriah McStay grew up in Memphis, TN, where she acquired a come-and-go drawl and a lifelong love of cowboy boots and fried pickles. She attended Northwestern University and the University of Chicago. Two graduate degrees and seven jobs later, she finally figured out what she wants to be when she grows up.

EVERYTHING THAT MAKES YOU is her first novel, and she's probably at home right now working on another one.