Every Day by David Levithan
Genre: Romance, Contemporary
Published by: Electric Monkey – Egmont
Pages: 371
Rating: ★★★★.5
Where to Find: Goodreads | Amazon

‘Every Day’ was an impulse read. The cover is orange. Orange is my favourite colour – what better reason is there for picking up a book? I didn’t know much about David Levithan’s writing style when he flew solo, having only read his work in collaboration with Rachel Cohn, but I can say, without doubt, I enjoyed this stand-alone the best!

Plot

The premise of the book is that every day, A, the protagonist, wakes up in someone else’s body. A falls in love with this girl called Rhiannon, and in order to stay in touch with her, gets his host bodies in some trouble, that may or may not concern the devil. I really loved how diverse this book was, as A could wake up as male, female, transgender, heterosexual, homosexual, but only ever teenagers. It was so refreshing to see different identities dealt with in such a sort space of time.

Inclusion

One of my favourite parts of this book was the identity crisis that A suffered. As someone with no body of his own, it was hard for him to understand why Rhiannon couldn’t love each and every one of his faces. Every topic, whether it was homosexuality, gender, drugs or love, was dealt with carefully and in a way that offered no judgement towards people that didn’t feel comfortable with certain situations. I completely flew through this book because of all the different ‘perspectives’; it felt like I was reading lots of short stories and well as an over-arching plot line.

Romance

This has probably got to be one of the most innocent and beautiful relationships I’ve read. Rhiannon and A gave each other time to get to know one another (as it was harder than usual, since A was someone new every day). I loved how not only did Rhiannon affect A’s life, but A affected his hosts’ lives as well. Along with romance, there was a lot of moral undertones and messages on how important it is that we take care of each other. Selflessness, but also empathy. So beautiful.

Overall, I give this book a solid 4.5 stars. The only reason I can’t give this book a perfect rating was the ending. I didn’t understand why Rhiannon and A’s relationship couldn’t work, and I think the logistics of A’s life could have been better explained. However, I would strongly recommend this book to anyone looking for something quirky and addicting…in the best possible way!