ALL THE UGLY AND WONDERFUL THINGS by Bryn Greenwood

 

“I liked learning things. How numbers worked together to explain the stars. How molecules made the world. All the ugly and wonderful things people had done in the last two thousand years.”

SYNOPSIS

As the daughter of a meth dealer, Wavy knows not to trust people, not even her own parents. Struggling to raise her little brother, eight-year-old Wavy is the only responsible "adult" around. She finds peace in the starry Midwestern night sky above the fields behind her house. One night everything changes when she witnesses one of her father's thugs, Kellen, a tattooed ex-con with a heart of gold, wreck his motorcycle. What follows is a powerful and shocking love story between two unlikely people that asks tough questions, reminding us of all the ugly and wonderful things that life has to offer.

        I was left speechless after reading this book. I really don't know what to say. I have mixed opinion about this book and a mixed feelings with the characters. This book spans to 13 years if I'm not mistaken where the hero Kellen, 24 years old, first met Wavy, an 8 years old child of his boss (kinda) Liam. Liam is a meth dealer and he asks Kellen to do things for him mostly dirty things to take care of. It all started when Kellen went to the farmhouse of Liam and there he got into an accident while riding his motorcycle and Wavy witnessed what happened which led her to help him. From then on, they became friends and Wavy kinda developed feelings for Kellen since he always takes care of her and her brother Donal from buying their groceries to sending Wavy to school and even buying her shoes every school year. Since their parents are both drug addicts, they forgot about taking care of their children which led Wavy to act as the adult in their household. Their father doesn't even live with them and instead stays with his mistress which is only a few block away from their house!

      To be honest, I didn't really feel the romantic chemistry between Kellen and Wavy because what I see is a big brother who wants to take care of his little sister. At first I thought what Wavy felt with Kellen was a harmless crush but damn! That girl really loved him. Maybe because Kellen always made her feel important and not invisible. He even understands her assertiveness to not being touched, not eating in front of people and even not speaking with anyone. Kellen and Wavy's relationship is so taboo for many reasons but after reading this, you'll realize why they can't stay away with each other regardless of what people say about them and fought their love against all odds. This is a really compelling book that's why I can't stop reading it. Also, this is my first time reading a book wit multiple POVs so it was really interesting to know what every character thinks. The only POV we did not get was Sandy, Liam and Val despite them having a huge role in Wavy's life. But overall, I enjoyed reading this. You have to be open minded when you read this so you do not go one sided when understanding every character and why things happened the way they did. 👍

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5