Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

Rainbow Rowell remembers high school ... and mix tapes! It was mid 90s when I was in HS but we still made mix tapes. I still have some of them lol. I think that was what made me finally read it and when I did I couldn't stop. I couldn't put it down. It made me feel so much sadness and gushiness and a lot of other stuff I don't want to name anymore. Most of the time I was just like omg-poor-eleanor.

I loved the romance part, of course, but it's not because of the gushing and kissing and Park being romantic, it was how they didn't even like each other at first. It was how things just fell into place without them even noticing. Okay maybe they noticed lol. But it's not always love-at-first-sight in high school. Or any other era of your life. So that was so relatable. Erm ... moving on.

Park had a regular teenage life with supportive parents and a close extended family and regular teenage problems he learned to deal with. Having a parent you think you can't please is pretty normal for a teenager. That may be a teenager over analyzing things. That may be a parent not knowing how to deal with a teenager. Or a parent having favoritism ... that's not far from reality either. Eleanor's life is full of things so wrong in so many levels. I think the sweetest thing about their relationship was how they were both (okay mostly Park) trying to understand each other because things are different in their own home. 

There may be a ton of issues in here that may be overwhelming and incomprehensible but isn't that how teenagers are like sometimes? They try to carry the the whole world on their own. Or they tend to make a big deal out of everything. Every insecurity and every other thing they can't comprehend. every pimple and freckle. They tend to over analyze. Sometimes they don't and adults can't even tell what's worse. It gets better kids. Take it from your loving aunt.

P.S. I was a mess in that part when Park's mom finally understood ...

Five stars.