Review: Golden by Jessi Kirby

So if you haven't heard, I've been in a bit of a book rut.  It has been ugly and lasted over a month.  I mean, WHY IS LIFE SO CRUEL???   I won't go into the whys or what I speculate are the contributing factors of why it happened, but join me in the epic happy dance that it is over.  Seriously.  Join me.

Golden has been on my to-read list for a while now and I have had it reserved at my local library since the 2nd week in August.  However...it makes it kind of difficult to read a book when the person that checks it out before you decides to not return it.  Ever.

Still, things have a way of working out and once I got tired of waiting, I decided to go ahead and buy the book.  Best. Decision. Ever.

This book blew my mind.

As a person who has lived her life a bit on the shy side, every now and then I find myself on a serious binge of the "what ifs".  And trust me, I'm old enough to have plenty of them.  Now don't get me wrong, I absolutely love where I am in my life, but sometimes I think maybe I should have been a bit more adventurous.  A bit more risky.  A bit more confident.

"I've got this tiny pang of regret when I think of how much I have probably missed out on in the last few years because I was too scared to take a risk, or too shy to speak up, or too worried to be bold.  It is my one wild and precious life, after all."

I mean, was Jessi Kirby in my head or what???

Parker Frost is a seventeen-year-old high school senior with her whole life in front of her.  She has done everything she was supposed to do in life -- good girl with good grades and acceptance at a good college.  But as graduation nears, questions arise.  What if things were different.  What if her choices were different.  Were her choices even choices?  Or were they a reflection of something else?

Enter her friends Kat and Trevor.

Trevor.   Talk about serious heart-flutters <3

And Kat.  We all need a friend like her.  Even at my age (which we won't discuss).

And a road trip. 

And a 10 year old journal.

I don't want to write a book report.  What I do want to do is convince you to read this book.  I loved the way the story, the romantical parts, the a-ha moments evolve.  I didn't feel like anything about ths book was forced and every page had me nodding in agreement or smiling with the swoons or taking my little pink post-it-note flags and marking places I want to go back and reread because they made that much of an impression.  And looking at it right now, the number of flags is pretty impressive.

And well, then there is the time when Trevor said "I'd take my time with you."  I mean...

Oh yeah, and there is a bit of a mystery.  But I'm going to let you find out about that part on your own when you read it.  Because you need to read it.  Trust me.