Review: Leave Me by Gayle Forman

Hey guys!

I’m so extremely pumped to tell you all about this week’s book. At first, I saw it on NetGalley and immediately requested the heck out of it, but was denied. Sad face. Then, I saw it at the library where I volunteer, and I was so freaking psyched. Hell yes. It was pretty much meant to be. For real. This week’s review is about Leave Me by Gayle Forman, and I can’t wait to tell you about it. I love everything about this main character, Maribeth and was rooting for her during all of her ridiculous struggles. I adored her. I wondered if I might even be her in a weird way. Even though I don’t have a tonne in common with her, I totally understood where she was coming from the entire time. I mean, I don’t have the stresses that she does or the lifestyle that she does, but I felt like we would be besties in a weirdo bookish parallel universe. I especially love the zany friends she meets on her trip. They were so quirky and cute and perfect. Sigh. I’m getting too excited again, aren’t I? Then let’s get to the summary!

As I mentioned above, our main character is a woman named Maribeth, a working mother of two young kids who is pushed to the edges of sanity with all of life’s pressures. She loves her family a tonne, which consists of a husband named Jason and 4 year old twins named Liv and Oscar. In the beginning of the book, Maribeth suffers from a heart attack, but doesn’t even realize it. She assumes that the pain and discomfort stem from indigestion from bad Chinese food. Eventually, Maribeth winds up in the hospital, where she finds out just how serious and worrisome her condition is. The doctors actually decide that they should do surgery on Maribeth’s heart. After returning home from the hospital and on leave from the magazine where she works, she hopes to rest while her mother and husband take care of everything. Nice dream, right? Unfortunately, everyone still expects Maribeth to recover fast and get back to her old self. Basically, they expect her to do the laundry, take care of the twins, cook dinner, and the billions of other supermom jobs that she did before her operation. Really?! So, Maribeth leaves her home, family, career, and just about every single aspect of her life as it is, and runs away to Pittsburgh. She anticipates that her move will be a temporary one and that she will return to her life at some point in the near future. The problem is, now that she has a little distance, she sees everything, including herself, a little differently. She discovers things about herself and her loved ones that she never knew before.

Oh my gosh, you guys! I just finished reading this book and it’s amazing! I loved every single bit of this story, but the ending was especially fantastic. Forman also writes amazing characters who are extremely relatable and funny. I absolutely adored the characters and I really felt a strong connection with Maribeth in particular. This story is so well written and it just about made me cry a dozen times in the last 50 pages or so. Holy crap, this book was incredible! Ok, I’m taking a deep breath and counting to 10 here, I promise. I seriously adore this author and I may have just found a new favourite book of 2017. Initially, I wasn’t sure how much I would really connect with the story, but I definitely connected with every bit of this book. So, I obviously adore a lot of things about this book, but is there anything I didn’t love about it? I honestly can’t think of a single criticism or dislike of this book. I pretty much fell in love with this one, guys. I would absolutely recommend this book for anyone who wants a good Valentine’s Day story, but hates typical romantic fiction. I would also recommend this story for anyone who feels like they really need a change or a fresh start. This book was just spectacular and I loved the heck out of it.