Blog Tour: WHEN WE WERE INFINITE by Kelly Loy Gilbert

Title: When We Were Infinite

Author: Kelly Loy Gilbert 

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Rating: 4/5 Stars
Hardcover, 368 Pages
Publication Date: March 9th, 2021

Summary: All Beth wants is for her tight-knit circle of friends — Grace Nakamura, Brandon Lin, Sunny Chen, and Jason Tsou — to stay together. With her family splintered and her future a question mark, these friends are all she has — even if she sometimes wonders if she truly fits in with them. Besides, she’s certain she’ll never be able to tell Jason how she really feels about him, so friendship will have to be enough. Then Beth witnesses a private act of violence in Jason’s home, and the whole group is shaken. Beth and her friends make a pact to do whatever it takes to protect Jason, no matter the sacrifice. But when even their fierce loyalty isn’t enough to stop Jason from making a life-altering choice, Beth must decide how far she’s willing to go for him—and how much of herself she’s willing to give up.
 

(CONTENT WARNING: This review contains mentions of suicide and suicidal ideation.)

I received an advanced copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review as part of the WHEN WE WERE INFINITE blog tour, and I'm so glad that I did, because I ended up really enjoying this read! So without further ado, let's get into my review:

As the summary explains, the story follows Beth, a senior in high school whose core group of friends is her entire life. After being abandoned by her father, all she wants is to have her small group of friends forever, and for them to stay together until the end of time. But then after witnessing abuse in Jason's home, their friend group falls off the track, and while tragedy strikes and the fallout ensues, Beth scrambles to try to keep her friends together, wanting to hold them close and never let them go again. But her friends have other plans -- even if Beth doesn't want to acknowledge that life will always, always move on, and sometimes leaving is a necessary part of that. And so she tries to keep everyone together, especially Jason, while giving away more and more of herself every time.

This book deals with a lot of important topics, such as loss, domestic violence, abandonment, grief, and mental health. While Beth is dealing with the normal anxiety of being a graduating senior, all of these external forces in her life are also piling on more worry and panic, and instead of facing it, she chooses to cling to a fantasy where everything in her life is going to stay the same. But eventually, she learns why that isn't a successful practice for anybody. While at times this book could feel dark, intensely sad, and incredibly emotional, I finished it feeling a sense of understanding and even hope, because it showed me that even through all of these terrible things that we go through, and even through all of the things that we don't want to change, life will always change, whether or not you're on board with it. As someone who dreads change (although maybe not as much as Beth does, who is also struggling with abandonment issues), I resonated with that deeply.

Something else that I really enjoyed about this book is the way it addresses Beth's feelings of anxiety about graduating high school and leaving her friends. That was a feeling that I remember being very, very real for me when I graduated -- and I wasn't even going that far away! It's a major step in a teenager's life that basically throws you headfirst into the unknown, and with that comes a lot of feelings of panic and nervousness even among the excitement of starting a new school and traveling somewhere new. It's definitely a bittersweet feeling, and I'm so glad that this book addressed it.

Overall, WHEN WE WERE INFINITE was a stunning novel that tackles so many important topics, both serious and sweet, from mental health to the incredible bonds that you can make with friends. If you're looking for a powerful read that digs deep into your heart and really makes you feel all sorts of incredible emotions, then I definitely recommend adding this one to your TBR!

We'd like to once again thank Simon & Schuster for inviting us to be part of this blog tour! If WHEN WE WERE INFINITE sounds like the type of book you'd be interested in, don't forget to add it to your TBR!