The Infinite Moment of Us by Lauren Myracle

Release date: August 27, 2013
Author info: Website | Twitter | Facebook
Publisher: Amulet Books
Pages: 316
Format: Egalley
Source: Publisher provided through Netgalley
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For as long as she can remember, Wren Gray’s goal has been to please her parents. But as high school graduation nears, so does an uncomfortable realization: Pleasing her parents once overlapped with pleasing herself, but now... not so much. Wren needs to honor her own desires, but how can she if she doesn’t even know what they are?

Charlie Parker, on the other hand, is painfully aware of his heart’s desire. A gentle boy with a troubled past, Charlie has loved Wren since the day he first saw her. But a girl like Wren would never fall for a guy like Charlie—at least not the sort of guy Charlie believes himself to be.

And yet certain things are written in the stars. And in the summer after high school, Wren and Charlie’s souls will collide. But souls are complicated, as are the bodies that house them...

Sexy, romantic, and oh-so-true to life, this is an unforgettable look at first love from one of young adult fiction’s greatest writers.

From the moment I saw The Infinite Moment of Us' cover and read the synopsis, I knew I wanted to read it. I'd read a couple of Lauren Myracle's earlier books and recalled having liked them and heard lots of great things about Shine, so I was excited to revisit her books. As much as I'm in love with the cover (because, gosh, I really am. I can't stop staring at it!), the book itself just didn't do it for me.

I'm one to get emotionally attached to fictional characters very quickly and easily, and yet I just couldn't find much sympathy for these characters. I mean, I guess I liked Wren sticking it to her parents and their controlling ways, but I also was mad when she contemplates not going through with her decision for a boy. Past that, though, I couldn't find a lot of qualities about either Wren or Charlie that stood out, that made me want to know them better. I found I cared about Tessa, P.G., and Dev a whole lot more than either of them.

I also thought the relationship between Wren and Charlie felt... Forced? I'm not sure if that's the right word. I wouldn't exactly label it insta-love, but it verged on it, and I never got what made them so perfect for one another, I guess. Their relationship is also what takes up pretty much all of the book and it leaves little room for the ending, which, as a result, felt rushed. It seemed to me that Lauren Myracle was like, "Oh! I got so immersed in writing sex scenes and crazy girl moments that I only JUST remembered that ending. Here it is." It was supposed to be an emotional climax and I just didn't feel it.

With all of the contemporaries I've been reading, I'm wondering if I've hit a wall of tolerance. I need more than just a privileged kid and a non-privileged kid who get together and deal with their guilt and feelings of inadequacy, or books that seem to strive for a pseudo-intellectualism by making their characters "intellectual". As much as I hoped I'd love it, The Infinite Moment of Us was just not what I'd hoped. It really left me feeling very meh. I think I'll just stick to looking at it.