Review: Because You’ll Never Meet Me by Leah Thomas

10 July, 2015 Reviews 7 comments

I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Review: Because You’ll Never Meet Me by Leah ThomasBecause You'll Never Meet by Leah Thomas
Series: Because You'll Never Meet Me #1
Published by Bloomsbury Publishing Australia on July 2nd, 2015
Pages: 344
Genres: Contemporary, Sci-Fi
Format: Paperback
Source: Publisher
Amazon Good BooksBook Depository
Goodreads
three-half-stars

In a stunning literary debut, two boys on opposite ends of the world begin an unlikely friendship that will change their lives forever.

Ollie and Moritz are best friends, but they can never meet. Ollie is allergic to electricity. Contact with it causes debilitating seizures. Moritz’s weak heart is kept pumping by an electronic pacemaker. If they ever did meet, Ollie would seize. But Moritz would die without his pacemaker. Both hermits from society, the boys develop a fierce bond through letters that become a lifeline during dark times—as Ollie loses his only friend, Liz, to the normalcy of high school and Moritz deals with a bully set on destroying him.

A story of impossible friendship and hope under strange circumstances, this debut is powerful, dark and humorous in equal measure. These extraordinary voices bring readers into the hearts and minds of two special boys who, like many teens, are just waiting for their moment to shine.

I have to admit, I never would have read this book if the publisher hadn’t put it in my hands and said, “There. Read it.” They didn’t say they would shank me if I didn’t, but I’m pretty sure it was implied.

And I would have been missing out. MISSING OUT, PEOPLE. If I hadn’t decided to read it.

Because You’ll Never Meet Me is a clever, fascinating look into the lives of two very special boys. One who was born without eyes but with the ability to observe his surroundings via echolation, and the other born with electromagnetism – what seems, at first, to be an allergy to electricity.

The story cleverly follows their letters to each other. A correspondence that grows from stranger hood, to a bond so intensely strong that I almost cried at their trials and tribulations.

Ollie and Moritz don’t seem to have anything in common at first, apart from both of them being very isolated, incredibly lonely boys. One of them isolated physically out in a cabin in the woods and the other isolated from his peers and other people because he feels like a freak.

I’m not going to go into too much detail about the book. That would be bad. Bad, Kat. Bad.

But the thing I didn’t expect is how atmospheric it was. I got such a sense of Ollie’s isolation, and the world of devoid he lived in. And such a sense of Moritz’s pain and suffering. Yet both boys filled me with so much hope that I fell into little pieces while reading it. Both boys made me love them with their candor and voice and Thomas should be praised for crafting two such dissimilar yet compatible characters.

A stunning book, a story well told and two characters who made me fall in love with them. You can’t ask for much more than that.

Kat Kennedy

Kat Kennedy

Co-blogger at Cuddlebuggery
Kat Kennedy is a book reviewer and aspiring author in the Young Adult genre. She reviews critically but humorously and get super excited about great books. Find her on GoodReads.
Kat Kennedy

7 Responses to “Review: Because You’ll Never Meet Me by Leah Thomas”

  1. Amber
    Twitter:

    YAY! I am so glad you liked this one, Kat. I was actually worried about what you would think of it. I read it last month, maybe a day or two after it came out and I was amazed. Seriously, amazed. I’ve been throwing this book at people ever since. 🙂 That reminds me, I think there’s a word or two missing in your first sentence. Anyway, I loved this one a ton. I had my eyes on it since last year around November or December and requested it as soon as it was possible on NG. Ha.
    Amber recently posted…One Day I Will Take Pretty Pictures (The Bookshelf Tag)My Profile

  2. Carina Olsen
    Twitter:

    Ahh! Gorgeous review Kat 😀 I’m so thrilled that you liked this book so much. But damn it. Now you have made me want it too. How mean of you 🙂 It looks so gorgeous. And it sounds so so heartbreaking and cute and ugh. I want it now. But yeah, I can’t buy it, since limited space, so only reading it if what happened to you might happen to me too 😉 Probably not :p So might end up buying it at a later time after all ;p Anyway. Thank you for sharing your thoughts about it sweetie 🙂 So happy you weren’t disappointed by it.
    Carina Olsen recently posted…Waiting on Wednesday #196My Profile

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