REVIEW: Amy and Matthew by Carrie McGovern

Amy and Matthew by Carrie McGovern

RATING: 

GENRE: YA Contemporary/Romance

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Amy loves Matthew and he loves her back. This is their story.Amy is unflinchingly honest about her limitations. Born with cerebral palsy, she can’t walk or talk without help. But trapped inside this uncooperative body lies a brilliant mind and a luminous spirit – a girl capable of truly loving and worthy of being loved in return.Matthew has his own set of challenges – a mind consumed by unwanted repeated thoughts, obsessive rituals and a crippling fear that he can't explain. But underneath all of the anxiety lies a deep seed of hope for someone to come along who believes in him…This is the story of Amy and Matthew. It may not be a fairy tale romance or set in an imagined world far from our own. But the love they share is real. And yes, there's magic in it.

MY THOUGHTS:First of all, I have to start off by saying what a fabulous cover this is! The chalk affect to make the heart is a fantastic idea and on the black background it is simple yet effective. And I think this is a great way to explain this book - simple yet effective. There are no extravagant plots just a simple, realistic love story which is very enjoyable to read about.

The novel follows Amy - a girl with cerebral palsy and her last attempt to have a normal year at high school. To do this, she enlists the help of fellow students to be her guides for the year. One of these is Matthew - a socially awkward boy with a severe case of OCD. Soon, Amy and Matthew become very close with Amy helping Matthew with his OCD and Matthew helping Amy to realise she is beautiful despite her condition. The story follows the fiasco of prom and the rocky road when Amy goes off to college.

This story is very character driven. The plot is very simple with not much really happening apart from one big event at the end. The main focus of this novel is the development and relationships of the characters. It highlights mainly the positive changes in Amy and Matthew as a result of their relationship together. For me, I prefer books which is mostly plot orientated but putting that aside, the writing of this book is fantastic.

This book has all the emotions! It makes you laugh, cry and definitely become shocked towards the end. The twist about 3/4 the way through the book is quite a shocking one and sometimes a bit unrealistic for the characters in the book. One thing I did not like about the book is the insensitivity it has when talking about sex. There are many mentions about this issue and the way Amy handles it is very forward and I believe that someone of her character would have a different attitude to the issue.

Overall, a book with all the emotions that is different to any I have read before. It is very character driven so if you prefer plot based stories this may not be for you but it is still worth giving it a read.