Title: That Night
Author: Amy Giles
Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Pages: 320
Pub Date: October 23, 2018
Publisher: HarperTeen
Book Source: publisher via edelweiss
My Rating: 5 of 5 stars
Synopsis: The year since a mass shooting shook their Queens neighborhood has played out differently for Jess and Lucas, both of whom were affected by that night in eerily similar and deeply personal ways.
As Jess struggles to take care of her depressed mother, and Lucas takes up boxing under the ever-watchful eye of his overprotective parents, their paths converge. They slowly become friends and then something more, learning to heal and move forward together. But what does it mean to love after an unspeakable tragedy?
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*** POSSIBLE SPOILERS ***
I was wowed by this book. I went into it without any expectations, really, because I haven't read Amy's other book (her debut from 2017). I was hooked immediately upon starting this one. This book is told from two perspectives; Jess and Lucas. Both of these teens lost a brother in a mass shooting a year prior. Both of them are coping in different ways; both were effected in different ways. Jess' mother is gravely depressed and barely leaves her bed—effectively neglecting and isolating the only child she has left. This leaves Jess feeling as if she must pick up the slack as far as caring for the home as well as her mother. She is desperate for a job. She is also missing her best friend, who is away at a different school with therapeutic benefits for her PTSD from the shooting. And Lucas? He boxes to deal with the stress and cope with his loss. Though, this is only when he can dodge his mom, who has turned into a helicopter mom post-shooting. Lucas also sees a therapist and takes meds.
The two come together when Jess gets a job at the hardware store Lucas works at. Working alongside Lucas is tough at first, but the two tentatively become friends and then much much more.
Now, before you jump to conclusions, DON'T WORRY! There is no instalove and this book does not promote throwing yourself into a relationship to get over your loss. No; this book promotes so much more than that. Lucas is very open about being in therapy and taking medication for anxiety. He also sheds some tears in the book, which is nice to see. Stigmas be damned! I love the positivity toward therapies of many kinds—talking to someone, medication, physical exercise, etc.—that were present in this story. This book also covers the topic of suicide and it is done well and respectfully.
We live our lives like survivors, weaker in some places, but stronger in others. Scarred, but healing.The romance is truly just a bonus in this book. It has a realistic build-up and the chemistry between Lucas and Jess was fantastic. They made me laugh with their banter and cry with their emotional healing, both together and apart.
Another thing I feel is important about this book is that the shooting, as well as the shooter himself, wasn't a highlight of this book; it wasn't sensationalized in any way. It was something that happened, but the book was about the way people cope with grief and how they move on afterward, not the terror of the actual shooting.
Life is either about moving forward or looking back. We're moving forward again, but we'll never forget what's back there behind us.Overall, this was one of my top ten books of 2018! I loved every moment of reading it. The character arcs were great and the way everything from therapy to mental illness was portrayed was just perfect. The romance enhanced the story, but didn't serve as a stand-in for true grief counseling and management. This book left me in tears, but it also gave me comedic relief and had me laughing out loud. I cannot recommend this one enough!
