The premise of this book sounded so interesting. I read the blurb and it captured my attention straight away. I also loved the idea of the happiness index cards and I’ve even started doing them myself so I can start concentrating on the positives of days instead of the negatives! 

Sixty-five days after the death of her older sister, sixteen-year-old Juniper Lemon discovers the break-up letter addressed to “You” Camilla wrote the day she died. Juni is shocked—she knew nothing of this You, and now the gaping hole in her life that was her sister feels that much bigger. She’s determined to uncover the identity of You and deliver the letter. Maybe that would help fill the hole, even if only a bit.

But what Juniper doesn’t expect is that in searching for You she will unearth other notes and secrets—and that may be just what she needs to sort out her own mess.
I fell in love with each and every character as soon as they were introduced. There’s the bad boy next door trope but what I loved, is that Israel turned the trope round on its head and added so much more development to the character. I also loved how Israel conveyed the issue of grief and how Juniper deals with it but also how she embraces it and accepts that the grief is always going to be a part of her. Although some of Junipers actions in certain situations were wrong (and she was called out on it in the end!) I can understand where she was coming from and why she did those certain things. The character of Juniper had such a huge character arc and I was so proud of her at the end of the book; I wanted to cry!

One of the things that I didn’t like about this novel was that we never actually find out who You is. I know the reason why the author didn’t reveal it (the reason is given at the end of the book) but I just really wanted to know who it was and I finished the book feeling like it was incomplete because of it. However, it only took away a little bit of the reading experience for me.

“Pain… is like the good times: something that comes and goes. There’s nothing you can do about that. The important thing… is to live each moment for what it is.”

– Julie Israel, Juniper Lemons Happiness Index

 
The plot itself was very intriguing. I was kept on the edge of my seat all of the way through and it was brilliant how little snippets of information about each of the characters was revealed at different intervals of the book. We find out some of the characters secrets and it just made me love them even more!

Overall, I really did enjoy reading this book. Apart from not finding out who You is, this book was very fulfilling and I can’t wait to own the finished copy!

Warning: contains triggers for death, depression and abuse. 

Disclaimer: this book was sent to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review