Rock

Title: Rock
Author: Anyta Sunday
Publisher: Sunday Publications
Release Date: October 1st 2014
Genre(s): Contemporary, YA, NA
Page Count: 251
Reviewed by: Ele
Heat Level: 2.5 flames out of 5
Rating: 5 stars out of 5
Blurb:

Igneous.

When Cooper’s parents divorce, he finds himself landed in Week About—one week with his mum and one week with his dad.
Only, it’s not just his dad he has to live with. There’s Lila, too: The other woman, the one who stole the rock-solid foundation of his life.

And then …

There’s Jace. Lila’s son. Lila’s smug, regurgitated-fish-scale-blue eyed son.

All Cooper wants is to have his family back the way it once was, but there’s something about this boy that promises things will never be the same again.

Sedimentary.

Resisting the realities of his new life, Cooper and Jace get off to a rocky start. But rocky start or not, after hundreds of shared memories together, they forge something new. A close … friendship.

Because friendship is all they can have. Although it’s not like they are real brothers…

Metamorphic.

But how does that friendship evolve under the pressures of life?
Under pressures of the heart?

I hated this book.

I LOVED it.

It didn’t matter that the characters’ actions made me angry. It didn’t matter that, sometimes, they seemed too oblivious or too naive to things that were so obvious to the reader. It didn’t matter that I believe some of the angst could have been avoided. And most importantly, The Letter! It simply doesn’t matter. All that matters is…

“Memories crash into me with every thrust. We’re standing in the cave on our toes, arms wide, imagining what it would be like to fall into the stars.

Like this. It feels like this.

Hats off to the author for the pulling off the present tense, single POV narrative. This takes serious skill, people. Anyta Sunday nailed it.

The story stretches over a period of 10+ years, and, as I reader, I felt I was there with them, while the characters were growing up. I watched them changing, facing challenging, falling in love, trying to run from it….and failing.

The kids, including Jace, are thrown in a pretty shitty situation. A family breaks and another one takes shape, and personally, I believe that this was portrayed very realistically. Not all teenagers react the same, and the way Cooper reacted felt very true to his character.

The secondary characters matter to the lot. This story is their story too. I cared for them, despite their mistakes.

There are so many things and scenes that will forever stay etched to my memory. The cave, the rocks, the prom night, the “pretending scene”, the greenstone fishhook, the concerts….

Initially, I intended to ate it with 4 stars because….

Spoiler: The letter! THE LETTER! I get that the author wanted to achieve the “it doesn’t matter”. But the letter issue was what drove the plot for the most part of the book. And in the last few scenes it doesn’t matter? It felt like a cop-out. It would make more sense if the MCs opened it but decided to ignore the obvious truth. And that whatever the answer, it wouldn’t matter.

But then I realised that this book touched me so much and evoked all these feelings in me, that I kept thinking about it for two days straight. It was my first thought before I fell asleep and the first when I woke up. And for this, it gets all the stars.