I have loved Jackie’s books in the past, but Everything Comes Back to You is something special. I finished this one in three days because I couldn’t put it down. And with how hot it’s been, that’s really saying something! Keep reading this book review of Everything Comes Back to You for my full thoughts.
Summary
Lennon is excited and apprehensive about starting high school, where her older sister is going to be a senior. Then her sister drops a bombshell: she is pregnant. Her Palestinian Canadian parents are devastated, and Lennon finds herself under even more pressure to be a “good girl” – a role autistic Lennon has always played well. But after a chance encounter with John, a white boy in the grade above, Lennon finds herself nursing a crush on someone her parents would definitely not approve of—which only seems to intrigue her more.
As Lennon and John are drawn together and pulled apart throughout her four years of high school, Lennon wrestles with feelings of shame and yearning, obedience and rebellion through the lens of her autism, trying to both please her parents and herself. When a relationship with a different boy challenges her notions of family and happiness, her way forward becomes clear, even if it might mean losing everything and everyone she loves.
Review
(Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)
Everything Comes Back to You explores the idea of goodness being tied to identity, to guilt and shame, to purity and virginity. There’s the heavy weight of parental expectations, of tying ourself to being the ‘good’ girl, the good daughter. And we end up living for their expectations, to what they think of us, and to what future they want for us. But when will we live for ourselves, for what we want, and the future we want. How long can we keep swallowing down what we want, before we fully disappear? When being the favorite, being in the good graces, requires us to be ‘easy going’.
If we try to carry someone else’s dreams on our backs, plus our own, our back is going to break. Everything Comes Back to You is about the right person and the love we have for them, but the ways the world can still tear us apart. How love isn’t enough when it forces us to pick between ourselves, our love, and the support we need. It’s a raw and heart wrenching book about Lennon’s character growth. When we realize that something is right, but it’s not the right time and how desperately we try to find it. About what she is willing to do to live for herself, to have these difficult conversations, and figure out what she wants.
Find Everything Comes Back to You on Goodreads, Storygraph, Blackwells, & Libro. fm.
Tour Schedule
| Tour Date | Tour Hosts | Type of Post |
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July 16th
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@RedReviews4You | Bookstagram + Tiktok |
| @christinabookshelves | Bookstagram feed post + Reel | |
| @readcomolaflor | Bookstagram only | |
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July 17th
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@dorianhellfire | Bookstagram + Blog |
| @wheresmyboookk | Bookstagram feed post + Reel | |
| @sugar_spice_and_storied | Bookstagram feed post + Reel | |
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July 18th
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ThatCydney | Bookstagram only |
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July 19th
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Readwsabr | Bookstagram only |
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July 20th
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Utopia State of Mind | Bookstagram + Blog |
| Gramsgarden_lfl | Bookstagram feed post + Reel | |
| Metaphors and Miscellanea | Bookstagram + Blog | |
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July 21st
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@bonggirlinabookworld | Bookstagram only |
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July 22nd
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Little Corner Reads | Bookstagram only |
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Bookstagram only |