REVIEW: What You Left Behind by Jessica Verdi

What You Left Behind by Jessica Verdi

Publication Date: August 4, 2015

Publisher: Sourcebooks
Source: Received from Publisher 

Buy it at: Amazon / Barnes and Noble

*This eARC was received from the publisher, but it did not influence this review in any way *

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Synopsis (from Goodreads):

It’s all Ryden’s fault. If he hadn’t gotten Meg pregnant, she would have never stopped her chemo treatments and would still be alive. Instead, he’s failing fatherhood one dirty diaper at a time. And it’s not like he’s had time to grieve while struggling to care for their infant daughter, start his senior year, and earn the soccer scholarship he needs to go to college.

The one person who makes Ryden feel like his old self is Joni. She’s fun and energetic—and doesn’t know he has a baby. But the more time they spend together, the harder it becomes to keep his two worlds separate. Finding one of Meg’s journals only stirs up old emotions, and Ryden’s convinced Meg left other notebooks for him to find, some message to help his new life make sense. But how is he going to have a future if he can’t let go of the past?

DONT. GET. ME. STARTED. ON. THIS. BOOK!

Soooooo....can you tell that i'm unhappy? Huh? Can ya?!?!?!?!

Ok so there are so many things that I loved about this story....and then there are sooooooooo many things that I hated about this story!

How do I begin, guys? Well let me start by saying what I loved about the book. Ryden was actually a pretty good dad. He had such a difficult time with his baby girl in the beginning of the book, but I loved seeing his character growth and seeing how much he wanted to make his baby girl happy. That right there melts my heart. I also loved Joni as the crazy funky new "friend" that essentially helps Ryden let go of his past and move on from all the pain he was holding on to. His mom though, his mom is the real MVP for supporting her son no matter what and letting him make his own mistakes in his own time, She knew right away that some of his ideas were never going to work out, but instead of pushing her opinion on him and telling him he wasn't allowed to do something she let him see for himself that the idea was not good. I think that's great parenting! 

Now, let's get into what I hated about the book, well what I can actually tell you anyway. I hate MEG! I understand why she did what she did, but I just can't forget her for how she did it. I think that it was the most selfish thing a person could ever do to someone they love. Don't fall for her sweet girl act guys, she was a liar and I really don't like the lies she told! And don't even get me started on her parents! I mean they are just horrible people. There is absolutely no reason in the world for them to handle the situation as they did. Meg was there daughter and they should have put more feelings into that fact than into any other feeling they felt. Then there was Ryden's relationship with Joni. I mean I loved that she helped him move on but I kind of feel like it was way too soon. 

And the ending! I mean, I feel like there was so many things that I needed resolutions for. I still have so many questions!

So overall, I have mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand I loved the happy ending that came about after all the notebooks were found and everything was finally put to rest, but the things that I disliked I REALLY disliked. But I also have to admit that I thought the writing was really good and the situation as well as the characters reactions seemed pretty realistic. So that's all I have to say for that lol