To learn more about why I started doing this Save The Date feature and how it differs from my reviews — go here!

* Release date according to Goodreads

I’ll Give You The Sun by Jandy Nelson

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What I’ll Give You The Sun by Jandy Nelson is about:

Jude and Noah are twins and have always been very close — Jude the popular, wild daredevil who is outgoing and fun and Noah the quiet, artistic outcast who loves the boy next door. The cracks in Noah and Jude’s relationship start to form at age 13/14 and one event will completely shatter them (told through Noah’s perspective) and then 3 years later the twins, who are stranger to each other and barely speaking, will start to find their way back to each other (told through Jude’s perspective).

Why You Should Be Saving The Date for I’ll Give You The Sun:

1. The writing is just absolutely gorgeous: In typical Jandy fashion, the writing is just so damn beautiful. It’s an art form with the way she writes — vivid and beautiful imagery and metaphors and these sentences that just evoke so much feeling. I was absolutely tangled up in her prose and wanted to stay there forever.

2. The way the story is told kept me turning the pages: The (very long) chapters are told in alternating fashion — chapters where 13/14 year old Noah tells the story and then 16 year old Jude tells the story 3 years later. So we see the beginning fractures to their relationship through Noah’s eyes and we see where they are in the present through Jude’s eyes and it was just SO effective to hear from both of the twins and also heartbreaking as a reader because we KNOW secrets and key pieces that they are missing that could help repair their relationship. We carry the burden of their secrets and biggest hurts.

3. It’s the best book I’ve read all year: This book was 100% a Jamie book. I’ve already mentioned the FLAWLESS writing but it was just the kind of intensely beautiful and heartbreaking book that always burrows itself inside my heart. Memorable characters, moments that steal your breath away and a portrait of humanness so raw it hurts at times (I wept at times). I wanted to savor it and devour it all at the same time which is the best kind of book for me. Also, I need my finished copy because it WILL be reread ASAP.

4. I finished it and I was speechless. It’s not often that I’m at a loss for words but I’ll Give You The Sun is just a book unlike most. Jandy Nelson is one of the best writers out there in YA and elsewhere and I feel like my words aren’t even worthy enough to begin to talk about this book. The struggle is real, friends, to even begin to try to describe this book. Just experience it and let her writing and storytelling dazzle you. You don’t READ a Jandy Nelson novel, you live it. Her words will ignite you.

Who Should Save The Date: fans of Jandy Nelson’s The Sky Is Everywhere obviously, people who like poetic and lyrical writing, fans of Melina Marchetta/Cath Crowley/Hilary T. Smith (I also likened, when I reviewed Shatter Me, her kind of writing to Jandy’s writing if that helps), fans of siblings stories, people who like books that are both heartbreaking and beautiful, lovers of character driven novels, people looking for a unique read, fans of books that make you think, PEOPLE WHO THINK YA CANNOT BE LITERARY (read this and I dare you to tell me that again!)

A Sneak Peek: “A horrible flailing monster of a noise comes out of me and then the whole disgusting night wants to come out of me too. I run to the side of the road and throw up each grain of beer and that disgusting drag of a cigarette, ever last lying, revolting kiss, until I’m just a bag of clattering bones” (this is taken from the advanced copy and could be subject to change)

“I think the heart of every living thing on earth is beating in my body.” (this is taken from the advanced copy and could be subject to change)

Be on the lookout for my FULL review closer to the release date where I will flesh out my thoughts a little more!

Have you read this one? Are you excited for it?? Putting it on your TBR list?