A Breath too Late [Rocky Callen]; 2020 YA Releases

A Breath too Late by Rocky Callen sounds like the kind of book that is going to have very flowery language. I mean, the synopsis talks about a boy made of brushstrokes. Ah, I’ve personally always adored books that do this–which is weird as I tend to avoid poetry–but I know it’s not to everyone’s taste. I’m also getting some very Before I Fall vibes from the death theme of this novel.

In all, I think I’ll read it. It seems intriguing enough.

For fans of Girl in Pieces, All the Bright Places, and Girl, Interrupted comes a haunting and breathtaking YA contemporary debut novel that packs a powerful message: hope can be found in the darkness.

Seventeen-year-old Ellie had no hope left. Yet the day after she dies by suicide, she finds herself in the midst of an out-of-body experience. She is a spectator, swaying between past and present, retracing the events that unfolded prior to her death.

But there are gaps in her memory, fractured pieces Ellie is desperate to re-assemble. There's her mother, a songbird who wanted to break free from her oppressive cage. The boy made of brushstrokes and goofy smiles who brought color into a gray world. Her brooding father, with his sad puppy eyes and clenched fists. Told in epistolary-like style, this deeply moving novel sensitively examines the beautiful and terrible moments that make up a life and the possibilities that live in even the darkest of places. Perfect for fans of the critically-acclaimed Speak, I’ll Give You the Sun, and If I Stay.