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Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Oh what a wonderful read, I am still smiling! Thanks to Mary Eileen for recommending this book and then giving me her ARC. I just loved Park and I grew to understand and love Eleanor. Eleanor is big, awkward with bad clothes and bright red hair. She is the oldest of a very large family. Her mother makes bad choices with men and her latest stepdad is a drunk who beats his wife and when Eleanor expressed her hatred of him, her mother sent Eleanor away for a year to live with her brother and his wife. Now Eleanor and her brothers and sisters all sleep in one bedroom; there is no door on the bathroom and Eleanor doesn’t even own a toothbrush. Park comes from a family that is the opposite of Eleanor’s; always enough food, and love and support. It is Park and Eleanor who slowly, but surely find one another first through comic books, then music, then conversation. None of their relationship and then their romance is easy, but they find each other and hold on. I didn’t want to put this book down; I loved both of their voices and I especially loved how Park protected and fought for Eleanor and how he saved her through his actions and words. I want to read this book over again and again and I don’t ever say that.

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