Girl Against The Universe by Paula Stokes

• Author: Paula Stokes
• Published: 2016
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Rating: 4/5

Maguire is bad luck.  No matter how many charms she buys off the internet or good luck rituals she performs each morning, horrible things happen when Maguire is around.

Girl Against The Universe – My thoughts:

I got this book in my May 21016 UPPERCASE subscription box, and the first thought was oh some girl having a hard time with tennis hates her life and wants to move away.  Well, I was so wrong.  As soon as you start reading you get a therapy section and after a few pages I was completely taken by the main protagonist a girl name Maguire.  The book starts with Maguire attending one of her therapy sections; she suffers from PTSD and other mental health illnesses.  Maguire believes she is cursed due to some tragic events that took place in her life the most traumatic to her was the car accident she was in with her father, brother and uncle and she was the only one that survived.  In order for Maguire to be able to deal with the everyday world she would do a few rituals like throwing salt over her shoulder and say a prayer, by thinking she was cursed she isolated herself became withdrawn.  On one of her therapy section she meets a boy name Jordy on her way away nothing much was said but after a few encounters at the therapist office they became friends. Both Jordy and Maguire were given assignments to help with the therapy and in time they developed a wonderful friendship.  During one of the therapy sections Dr. Daniel Leed suggested Maguire do some type of activity and so she decided to do the tryout for the tennis team.  There she meets the rest of the side characters which I have to say I LOVED ALL OF THEM!!!   Maguire’s family was very supportive and her step dad omg what a great supportive stepdad.

Now I will say very little about the side characters, if you want to know more you will need to pick up the book and see for yourself J.  I will start with Jordy, I can’t say enough about him. I loved him, he was Maguire’s support all the way from the moment they met until the end of the story he was a rock for her totally love him!  Penny, Jordy’s sister well she’s just as amazing as her brother the wild child, but not really wild.  Jade, another amazing friend for Maguire.  Kimber, well at first I thought I was going to have a problem with her but once Maguire opened up to her she totally shocked me by being understanding and supportive as well. Last but not least Dr. Daniel Leed I like the way he challenge Maguire got her talking of course that is his job but I think the interaction between Dr. Leed and Maguire was a nice one to read.

I really loved this book, like the way the author handled and dealt with the mental health issues, I think it was so well done.  I loved how there was no insta-love even thought this is a YA contemporary story, and the support and love from the side characters was perfect.  I don’t know exactly what I was expecting this book to be about but I am glad I was able to read it, I loved every page.  Go pick up a copy you won’t regret it!