Hi friends! Happy Monday, I hope you’re all doing well, keeping safe and staying sane! Today was I don’t even know what day of staying in and working from home, but I think it went smoothly. I had to go into the office on Friday afternoon to get some paper stuff done, but that will be the last time I go for a while. It snowed here and that just made everything else that much more miserable… but I’m getting through!

Today I’m going to be posting my review of Jennifer Niven’s novel Holding Up the Universe.

Holding Up the Universe by: Jennifer Niven: People see Libby as “America’s Fattest Teen” but what they don’t see is the hurt she’s been trying to hide since her mother passed. Libby just wants to see past her flaws to show the world how beautiful she really is. Jack is one of the popular guys in school, but what people don’t know is the struggle he faces every day to remember who people are. When the two meet after an unfortunate game gone wrong, it starts a friendship that makes the other seen in a different light. This novel was very fast-paced and that had a lot to do with the short chapters and the interesting characters Niven created. The plot of this novel was just okay, two teens who have different issues fall in love; it felt like this novel fell under the ‘need to have found love to feel better’ trope and that put the reader off. The fact that Niven created interesting characters was good and that is what propelled the reader further. Libby became really strong and fearless and brave, her character arc was enjoyable to read. Jack had his own struggles that he was starting to overcome, which was fascinating to read and follow along, but the feeling they needed to fall in love to feel wanted was a poor storyline. The secondary characters were great and really helped bring the story to life. For the most part, this was an engaging, informative read with good characters, and a weak plot.