Book Review: We Were Never Here by Jennifer Gilmore

My Rating: 2/5 Stars

Author: Jennifer Gilmore

Genre: Contemporary

Published: 2016

This book was okay. I mainly read fantasy and I'm not a huge contemporary fan so every time I read that genre it's like a bucket of ice water being dumped on me. The shock of the real life situations, no magic, or crazy solutions to problems. Despite this not being a fantasy, and the half baked writing there was enough to the story to leave me hoping for better books by this author. 

Goodreads Synopsis: 

Did you know your entire life can change in an instant? 

For sixteen-year-old Lizzie Stoller that moment is when she collapses, out of the blue. The next thing she knows she’s in a hospital with an illness she’s never heard of. 

But that isn’t the only life-changing moment for Lizzie. The other is when Connor and his dog, Verlaine, walk into her hospital room. Lizzie has never connected with anyone the way she does with the handsome, teenage volunteer. However, the more time she spends with him, and the deeper in love she falls, the more she realizes that Connor has secrets and a deep pain of his own . . . and that while being with him has the power to make Lizzie forget about her illness, being with her might tear Connor apart.

My Review:

Our main character is Lizzie. She's a normal girl with a normal sister, normal parents, a couple half-time friends, and a dog. She's all set to finish her summer with a bang when her life changing instant hits. All of a sudden she's in a hospital, her parents are giving her worried looks, and she can't move, start school, or see her friends. Lizzie was an odd character to me. She didn't seem to have much of a personality. When she got sick she had all these angry thoughts and feelings and instead of telling her parents she just let it sit there. It was sort of frustrating for me, the reader, to know she had all the issues with her friends, her parents, and her sister and never see them work out. 

Connor and his dog were sweet. Though just like Lizzie, Connnor lacked personality. I didn't notice anything off about his character until all of a sudden he was telling Lizzie this terrible thing that happened to him. It was like he'd either be consumed by this thing or have completely forgotten about it. He always seemed to leave Lizzie hanging and always expected her to share her thoughts and opinions but would never share his. 

I went to set this book down  but something would always happen to keep me reading. The writing as I said earlier was half baked. I had to look up Lizzie's sickness because the author was so vague and I couldn't figure out what exactly it meant for the character. The whole 'life changing instant' didn't really seem to change her already crappy life. I didn't feel much sympathy for Connors's issue because he almost acted like 'oh poor me' instead of talking about it and trying to get help. Their relationship felt off. There was nothing there to make me think they actually loved each other. It was like they were two people throwing a pity party together. It was slightly depressing. 

I felt like this book had a lot of potential. The story line itself was good. The characters just lacked personality. The story didn't jump at you and leave you wanting more. I'm keeping in mind that it's the author's debut. I'll probably pick up future books by this author and hope for better results.