Review: Finding Yvonne by Brandy Colbert

Title: Finding Yvonne
Author: Brandy Colbert

Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Rating: 4/5 Stars
Hardcover, 288 Pages
Published August 2018

Summary: Since she was seven years old, Yvonne has had her trusted violin to keep her company, especially in those lonely days after her mother walked out on their family. But with graduation just around the corner, she is forced to face the hard truth that she just might not be good enough to attend a conservatory after high school. Full of doubt about her future, and increasingly frustrated by her strained relationship with her successful but emotionally closed-off father, Yvonne meets a street musician and fellow violinist who understands her struggle. He’s mysterious, charming, and different from Warren, the familiar and reliable boy who has her heart. But when Yvonne becomes unexpectedly pregnant, she has to make the most difficult decision yet about her future.

My review for this book was originally posted on TeenReads.com.

Ever since I read Brandy Colbert's Little & Lion, I knew I was going to continue to be a fan of her work. So when I found out about Finding Yvonne, I immediately added this book to my TBR. And now I'm so glad that I got the chance to read it, because this book took me on an emotional rollercoaster that I couldn't tear myself away from!

As the summary explains, Yvonne isn't totally sure what she wants to do with her life. She thought she had it all figured out with music, but then she loses interest in it. She thinks she's marginally good at baking, but not good enough to make a career out of it. Basically, it's senior year, and she has no idea what she wants to do with herself once she leaves high school, and she finds herself caught in the middle. Not only that, but she's also caught between two boys, Warren and Omar, and some shocking news that can tear her entire life apart. All while mourning the loss of her absentee mother while also subconsciously praying that she'll eventually decide running away was a mistake and come back.

I really liked the way that this book tackled uncertainty in its many forms. Yvonne wasn't sure about a lot of things in her life --- just a few being her friendships, her relationships and her potential careers. It felt really raw and honest to see her struggling with those things, and I feel like that's something that a lot of teenagers can definitely relate to.

Also, I know the summary explains it already, but I hadn't read the book summary for quite some time before picking up the book (an oversight on my part, I know), so when I found out that Yvonne was pregnant, I was completely shocked. I even had to stop and text my friends about it because it was such shocking news that I really wanted to tell someone! And then seeing how Yvonne chose to go forward from there and how she came to her decision about everything made it all the more important of a story.

There were two things about this book that I wasn't 100% sold on. One was definitely the insta-love between Omar and Yvonne. The fact that they'd only met once before and then they were suddenly going on dates and hooking up and getting really intimate with each other kind of threw me for a loop. Not because that doesn't happen with some relationships in real life (because it definitely does), but because it seemed like the romance between them may have been forced just for the sake of the plot, which made me a little bit sad. And speaking of plot, the other thing that I was a little disappointed with was the way that the book seemed to rush toward the end, with all of the (seemingly) most important aspects of the story being crammed into the last few chapters. I wanted more of what happened after Yvonne found out and how things were handled, but instead, it felt crammed into just a few pages and sort of brushed aside, even though it was arguably one of the most important plot points in the entire story. (However, just because I didn't enjoy those particular things didn't mean this was a bad book --- it was still an excellent story that I couldn't put down and wanted to know more about!)

Overall, I really enjoyed reading Finding Yvonne. It was such an easy book to breeze through, and I definitely enjoyed all of the ups and downs that came with the story. I finished this entire book in 12 hours and immediately had to stop to write down my review and get my thoughts about it out, because this is the type of story that hooks me and I really want to share it with people. So if you were on the fence about reading this book and weren't sure if you should pick it up, I definitely encourage you to, because it's a quick, easy read, and you certainly won't be sorry!