Things I Should Have Known - Claire LaZebnik

Things I Should Have Known by Claire LaZebnik
Genre: YA Realistic Fiction

Blurb (on back of book): Things Chloe knew: Her sister, Ivy, was lonely. Ethan was a perfect match. Ethan’s brother, David, was an arrogant jerk.
Things Chloe should have known: Setups are complicated. Ivy can make her own decisions. David may be the only person who really gets Chloe.
Meet Chloe Mitchell, a popular Los Angeles girl who’s decided that her older sister, Ivy, who’s on the autism spectrum, could use a boyfriend. Chloe already has someone in mind: Ethan Fields, a sweet, movie-obsessed boy from Ivy’s special needs class.
Chloe would like to ignore Ethan’s brother, David, but she can’t—Ivy and Ethan aren’t comfortable going out on their own, so Chloe and David have to tag along. Soon Chloe, Ivy, David, and Ethan form a quirky and wholly lovable circle. And as the group bonds over frozen-yogurt dates and movie nights, Chloe is forced to confront her own romantic choices—and the realization that it’s okay to be a different kind of normal.

MY OPINION: ******

I really loved this book. This was a one-day read but it was enjoyable, amazing, poignant, and honest.

This book is about a girl named Chloe. Her older sister, Ivy, is on the autism spectrum. Chloe is dating James, a hot boyfriend that Ivy one day admits she's kind of jealous of. Well, not exactly jealous... more like wishful for the same thing.

Ivy is twenty-one but the whole time, I thought of her as a teenager. Sure, she had autism so her thoughts and words and actions were not as mature as a twenty-one-year-old, but it was hard for me to think of her as already being an adult.

I really loved reading this book. It took me a short amount of time but I loved it. I read it for a school project... no, that makes it sound like it was a forced read. It wasn't. I read it for fun and it was such a beautiful read that I decided to make a collage on it for school.

Chloe. I really liked her but at some points, she was kind of pushy. Huh, I don't think I ever really fully love the main character. She was real though... I could feel her pain and her heartbreak and her irritation and anger.

David. Loved him. He was sweet and different and I loved how it showed how he was living with two faces: the school one and the sweet one who loves his brother (who is also on the autism spectrum). David seemed like a popular kid to me but it turned out he didn't have any friends? Okay then...

Ivy. Sweet and fun to read about. I loved her character and I loved how she was portrayed as being confused and sad and mad and happy. When she came out as gay in the end, I was REALLY surprised. I did not see that coming. I mean, I did, once we got to see Diana, but before that, I had no clue.

Ethan. He was adorable and sweet and hilarious. I really did feel for him. It made me want to cry when Ivy told him she was gay and that she wanted to just be friends. He had to run away and I was saddened.

This book showed examples of people being rude and cruel and hurtful to those who are different. I thought that that was a really nice to thing to add into this story because it showed the sides of people that are not so good but that are here. Those people exist. Everyone has thought or even said something mean to someone else. I love how this book acknowledged that fact.

I do know that my reviews have been getting progressively shorter and shorter and that's because I tend to ramble and rant and I don't really want to do that anymore. It makes you guys bored. Sometimes. Unless my rants are really entertaining?? (I know they're not). Anyways, I really loved this book and put it onto my SIX star shelf, which is a pretty hard feat for a book.

I would recommend this book to true, honest readers who are looking for a gorgeous story of love and life.

Main Character: Chloe
Sidekick(s): Ivy, David, Ethan, etc
Villain(s): Autism, bullies, etc
Realistic Fiction Elements: This book was all very real to life.