The Ones We’re Meant to Find by Joan he

Book ReviewsRead in 2021ARC reviews

Sep 18

Before I get into the bulk of my review, I want to say my overall thought of my reading experience with this book:

People have a misconception about what YA is:

typical protagonist that's special and not like the others
meets fated love interest
they go on an adventure and
ta-da, happily ever after.

Throw in a couple more clichés and you have your so-called YA book.
This book REMINDS me that despite YA being branded as stereotypical cheesiness, there is always something MORE, something DIFFERENT. Something that makes you truly think. This book reminds me that despite all the bad rep YA gets, I keep reading it and once in a while, I find a rare gem, just like this one.
This book, the way it's written, is on some kind of another level. It's not stuff I usually read. But the sisters tugged me in just like the sisters were pulled to each other. I loved the fact that Celia's narration was first person and Kasey's was third. The writing is beautiful, the story even more so.

This was definitely out of my usual comfort zone reading. I am picky with my books and even more so with ARCs that I hope to get but this one blew me away.
Joan He tells the story so masterfully: two sisters, worlds apart as well as secrets, memories, technology, disasters, a lot of which reflects, in a sense, today's world, or perhaps, the world we are heading into if we don't do something about our actions.
But that is a topic of discussion for another day.
I loved Celia, or Cee as she is called as well. But I also loved Kasey. I really loved the contrast between the two but still, they fit together like puzzle pieces.

There's a program where each year 10 fiction books are picked (for various levels) and are then chosen to be given an award (one is called the Silver Birch award, another is Red Pine, etc.) All the books I've read from those awards (SB is for grade 4-6, RP is grade 7 and up) were ones that made me think and I still remember them to this day. Unfortunately, it is a Canadian author-only award but if I had the chance, this book is definitely one I'd nominate somehow. It really makes you think, especially about what's going on in the world.