Review: Anything But Ordinary by Lara Avery

Anything But Ordinary by Lara Avery

An inspiring, bittersweet love story about making every day count.
Bryce remembers it like it was yesterday. The scent of chlorine. The blinding crack and flash of pain. Blood in the water.
When she wakes up in the hospital, all Bryce can think of is her disastrous Olympic diving trial. But everything is different now. Bryce still feels seventeen, so how can her little sister be seventeen, too? Life went on without her while Bryce lay in a coma for five years. Her best friend and boyfriend have just graduated from college. Her parents barely speak. And everything she once dreamed of doing—winning a gold medal, traveling the world, falling in love—seems beyond her reach.
But Bryce has changed too, in seemingly impossible ways. She knows things she shouldn’t. Things that happened while she was asleep. Things that haven’t even happened yet. During one luminous summer, as she comes to understand that her dreams have changed forever, Bryce learns to see life for what it truly is: extraordinary.

Publishes in US: Sept 11th 2012
Source: Disney Hyperion for honest review

About Lara Avery:
Her site: http://laraavery.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/LaraAvery
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/laraaverybooks
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5626114.Lara_Avery

Bio (from her site)

Lara Avery is a recent graduate of Macalester College, and a contracted writer for Alloy Entertainment. Her first novel, Anything But Ordinary, is set for release in 2012. Lara’s writing has also been featured in The Onion AV Club, Bennington College’s plain china: Best Undergraduate Writing of 2009, and on various stages in New York City as a participant in The Moth StorySLAMS.

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     This book drew me in from the first words. Bryce is so easy to connect with and I wanted the best for her, and it was painful to go through her journey with her, especially at first when she realized that she lost five years of her life, and everything around her is so uncertain. Lara Avery writes beautifully, inserting just enough conflict, suspense, and character development to leave me hooked.
     There is so much leaving me wondering, about her dreams/flashbacks/forwards wondering if they are true to life, or only in her head. I was so torn with the Greg situation, and I can totally understand all three sides. Its messy, and it is realistic, and it kept me hooked.
      I also hung onto every scene with Carter. I pictured him kinda like John Carter in ER, and the image stuck with me. I liked Carter on TV, and I like the Carter in Anything but Ordinary as well.
      Speaking of characters, I so felt for and wanted to smack Sydney all at once. I can totally see where she is coming from and what she must be feeling though.
     The ending. Oh the ending. First I was furious, then I wanted to throw something, then I felt like crying. And then realized how poetic it was and felt like giving Lara an ovation for having such guts to write what she did.
     Honestly, I think this will be a book that is either very well received or not liked at all. But I am of course on the loved it side of things, and Lara Avery is an author to watch for me.
     Bottom Line: I was immersed in Anything but Ordinary. Superb main character with a cast of memorable secondary characters. Sad but weaved with the theme of hope, fight and strength.

My question to you, my lovely readers:
Do you wish you could have dreams of things in the future?

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