Reviewed by Samuel Redfearn, age 16<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been exactly a year since Leo\u2019s sister and closest friend, Nina, died. She can\u2019t even remember the accident. They had been driving around with Nina\u2019s boyfriend, East. She remembers singing along to \u201cTime After Time\u201d, Nina drinking her strawberry smoothie, East laughing with them both. After that, though, it\u2019s all blank. Without Nina, Leo feels unmoored, unable to interact with people. The only one who understands is East. He was the only one who was there, and from the way he remembers Nina, the only one who loved her the way Leo did. As time goes on, though, Leo realizes that East remembers everything about the accident, but he won\u2019t even tell her. Leo begins to question whether she can ever be happy without knowing the events of that night and whether happiness will ever be possible without her sister by her side.<\/p>\n
The choice to tell Leo\u2019s story in reverse chronological order, moving backward toward the accident rather than away from it, makes this book captivating. It also creates a natural flow for the story, as events escalate in emotional intensity the closer they get to the accident. Foreshadowing is easy to work in, with Leo often thinking about or discussing events that the reader has yet to experience. It does make the pacing of the story confusing, although this is mostly alleviated by the headings of each chapter, which inform the reader when and where the next event is taking place. The biggest issue with the story would be that often it is difficult to know whether the reader has missed a character introduction or plot element, or if that aspect of the book simply hasn\u2019t been introduced yet. Because it\u2019s told from Leo\u2019s perspective, characters that Leo is familiar with at the beginning of the book become less well-known throughout, which makes the writing style convoluted at times. Piecing together Leo\u2019s experience is extremely engrossing, though, with the emotional impact that is achieved here being almost palpable, and certainly worth the occasional confusing moment. Leo\u2019s family are all well-developed characters, with her mother, father, and stepmother all feeling the loss of Nina in different ways. Since the story is told largely from Leo\u2019s point of view, none of these characters\u2019 feelings are ever fully revealed, which humanizes them and adds greatly to the atmosphere of the story. Anyone 13 and up who enjoys mysterious and engaging stories about family and remembrance would enjoy this book.<\/p>\n
4 stars<\/p>\n
Find this book in our catalog: N\/A<\/p>\n
Call Number: N\/A<\/p>\n
335 pages<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Reviewed by Samuel Redfearn, age 16 A Year to the Day by Robin Benway It\u2019s been exactly a year since Leo\u2019s sister and closest friend, Nina, died. She can\u2019t even remember the accident. They had been driving around with Nina\u2019s boyfriend, East. She remembers singing along to \u201cTime After Time\u201d, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":52,"featured_media":7311,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[120,54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-book-reviews","category-teen-reviews"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/18\/files\/sites\/18\/2023\/09\/A-Year-to-the-Day-Cover.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5ZwbD-1TM","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3986,"url":"https:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/2017\/teen-volunteer-awards-2017\/","url_meta":{"origin":7302,"position":0},"title":"Teen Volunteer Awards 2017","author":"Jane Gov","date":"August 8, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Our teen volunteers are amazing! During the 2016-2017 school year, our volunteers collectively: worked nearly 5,000 hours wrote 64 articles helped increased library teen program offerings by more than 35 programs helped increased library teen program attendance by nearly 1,500 In addition, there are some star volunteers we want to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Agendas & News"","block_context":{"text":"Agendas & News","link":"https:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/category\/agendas-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/18\/files\/sites\/18\/2017\/08\/volunteer-title-image.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/18\/files\/sites\/18\/2017\/08\/volunteer-title-image.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/18\/files\/sites\/18\/2017\/08\/volunteer-title-image.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/18\/files\/sites\/18\/2017\/08\/volunteer-title-image.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3834,"url":"https:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/teens\/2017\/teen-advisory-board-april-2017\/","url_meta":{"origin":7302,"position":1},"title":"Teen Advisory Board — April 2017","author":"Jane Gov","date":"April 12, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Pasadena Public Library, Teen Advisory Board, 4\/10\/2017 \u00a0 Present: \u00a0Angel (Meep), Brittany, Genevieve, Liliana, Lucy, Madison, Maya, McKenna, Nina, Sophie \u00a0 Pre-meeting assignment: suggestions for Teen SRC prizes \u00a0 Agenda \u00a0 Debrief - (3 minutes each; 15 minutes) Breakin\u2019 News - Nina, Maya Teen Game Night - Jane G. 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