Girl Against the Universe by Paula Stokes Published by HarperTeen on May 17th 2016
Source: Publisher, Edelweiss
Genres: Contemporary, Young Adult
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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. Like that time the rollercoaster jumped off its tracks. Or the time the house next door caught on fire. Or that time her brother, father, and uncle were all killed in a car crash—and Maguire walked away with barely a scratch.
It’s safest for Maguire to hide out in her room, where she can cause less damage and avoid meeting new people who she could hurt. But then she meets Jordy, an aspiring tennis star. Jordy is confident, talented, and lucky, and he’s convinced he can help Maguire break her unlucky streak. Maguire knows that the best thing she can do for Jordy is to stay away. But it turns out staying away is harder than she thought.
From author Paula Stokes comes a funny and poignant novel about accepting the past, embracing the future, and learning to make your own luck.
To say I adored this book would be an understatement. Girl Against the Universe was a book that hit all the right buttons for me, and it is doubtless one of the best contemporaries I’ve read this year. (In fact, including this one, only three among the ten or so I’ve read really stick out.) I loved reading about Maguire, and her fight with the Universe. I loved her therapy sessions with Dr. Leed, her fun banter with the girls on the tennis team (high-five for female friendships), the dynamics we see within her family, and the sweet scenes between her and Jordy.
Maguire was a really unique character, and someone who definitely stands out among the contemporary narrators out there. She’s very accident prone, except the accidents usually befall on everyone but her. Interesting, right? It isn’t surprising that she would think that she’s even cursed, in some ways. She starts out in the story being very compulsive about her good luck charms and quite paranoid about accidents happening around her to other people. The little things she does, like knock on wood three times or recite a Chinese prayer 8 times, are the things that really breathe life into her character. Stokes does an amazing job at showing readers, rather than telling, the extent of Maguire’s paranoia.
“As I settle into the chair, I do what I call a five-second check. I scan the furniture, the floor, the ceiling, and everywhere in between. There are people going in and out of the bathrooms, but no obvious hazards. No lurking strangers. When you’re a disaster magnet like me, it makes sense to constantly be assessing your environment for danger.”
I found the way that Stokes’ addressed Maguire’s mental illnesses very realistic and her character in general was just so down-to-earth. Written in a first-person POV, you get to experience each of Maguire’s thoughts and doubts. They’re things that I myself have even thought myself, despite not experiencing the things that Maguire has. Another aspect I enjoyed about Maguire’s condition was how the author managed to tie in psychological terms into the book that helped explain some of Maguire’s actions. As someone who took a Psych class last year, it was great to see connections of what I learned in real life situations. And the therapy sessions that Maguire went to were also some of my favorite scenes!
“‘The first thing you need to realize is that mental health if fluid. It’s not like you have an infection and a doctor gives you antibiotics and then you’re cured. No matter what the two of us accomplish together, you’re still going to have good days and bad days.’”
Along the way throughout these sessions and the assignments Maguire gives herself to get rid of her fear of inadvertently getting people hurt (which becomes a fear of many things) comes along friends and romance. Maguire would rather sacrifice loneliness to ensure other people’s safety in the beginning of the book. But as she starts to come out of her shell and reach out to people, she starts realizing how valuable having people by your side is. Of course, this process comes along slowly, but the end results are totally worth it. Her friendship with Jade and Penn and their support for her really warmed my heart.
And ah yes, Jordy, the star tennis player that Maguire first meets on her way out of therapy sessions. He certainly has problems of his own, and the exploration of said problems (and the way Maguire played into helping him solve them) really made him three-dimensional as a character, too. While Maguire is trying to overcome her fears, Jordy is trying to balance the Pro Tennis Jordy and the Real Jordy – the guy behind the cameras. They both end up helping each other out in the best of ways. While Pro Tennis Jordy is all charm and smiles, Real Jordy can be much more awkward and vulnerable. One of his goals was to find a good balance of those parts of himself, and ultimately discover who he is in the process. Watching his and Maguire’s relationship develop and go through its share of ups-and-downs had me grinning so hard. The romance was adorable, and at a perfect pace with a tinge of teenage awkwardness but overall so very heartwarming.
“‘Now I choose happiness, even if the whole idea scares the crap out of me.’”
Along with developments with friends also comes progress within the family. Maguire lives with her stepdad, mom, and half-siblings. She’s never really forgotten the accident five years ago that left her brother, dad, and uncle dead in a car accident. But through therapy and the new experiences that Maguire goes through, she learns to move forward. We see glimpses of dialogue between her and the members of the family that will really leave you grinning. Her character development in general was just so phenomenal to see, and it’s a journey that I would read again in a heartbeat.
Honestly, Girl Against the Universe had pretty much everything I look for in contemporaries: amazing character development, great friendships, the sweetest romance, a superb family relationship, and refreshing characters that just simply breathe life. I couldn’t help but cheer on Maguire and Jordy as they overcame their problems. My heart ached for them, just as it filled up with hope when certain scenes happened. Despite them having quite different life experiences than them, I could easily empathize with what they were going through. How could I not give such a rating to this incredible book?
Rating: 5 out of 5
Thank you Edelweiss and Harper Collins for the review copy!
Aila J.
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Found my way here because I was showing a friend at work who has been struggling your amazing artwork, which remains one of the coolest things anyone has ever done for one of my books. It continues to live on in a handful of thank you cards and a dozen or so postcards that I still send to people who mean a lot to me and/or who I think might really benefit from the message. And now it’s on my office Teams server. Thank you, Aila. I just wanted you to know your work continues to be a source of inspiration and cheer for myself and others <3
Hi Paula!
Happy new year, and so heartwarming to hear how my art is still able to resonate with people <3 I hope it put a smile on your friend's face, and that 2023 is our year. Thank you for the touching comment!
[…] my shelf of all-time favorites in the contemporary genre. I posted a review that you can check out here, if you want to know why I’m all heart-eyes for it. This post will have some extra […]
Oh Aila, I can't wait to pick up this one with the portrayal of mental illness and the therapy sessions as well. And I kind of love how the psychological parts are explored really well, especially with Macguire's character who sounds really relatable! Love the review hun!
YAY JEANN please enjoy if you get the chance to pick it up! (And I know this comment is uber late haha but I just found this post recently :P)
The therapy sessions were among my favorite scenes, just because they were so damn realistic and flawful – which made them even more amazing. 🙂
[…] Aila enjoyed the tennis in Girl Against the Universe! […]
I totally missed Paula Stokes’ latest book. Thanks for bringing it to my attention. Glad to hear you loved this story. Jordy sounds like an interesting character; I like heroes who is not all charm and smiles, but also awkwardness and vulnerability. Wonderful review, Aila! PS. I love your fanart so much!
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I'm so glad I could bring it to your attention 🙂 Yesss, Jordy was the cutest and swooniesttt <3 The awkwardness and vulnerability fits so well in YA, because that's pretty much what the audience (young adults) experience.
Also thanks so much <3
Is it sad that I've never read any of her books? I promised myself that I'd start with this one this year, and work my way backwards. Glad you enjoyed this one!
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Aww Lekeisha you must rectify that! Definitely start with this one 😀 Out of the two I've read, it is my favorite. I have to start reading her past books too!
Oh my goodness, Aila! I love that fan art so much, like she should make swag for that. I'm looking forward to this one so much; it was actually on my list for top anticipated May releases! I'm glad you liked this one; it only makes me more excited to read it :).
Thank you so much Jess <3 (I know this comment is super late haha but I totally just found this post) Now Paula is sending out the fanart as postcards for a reviewer appreciation giveaway! You should totally check it out on her site.
I really hope you love this book as much as I did when you get the chance to pick it up! It was absolutely amazing, in terms of character and setting and relationships and EVERYTHING. Definitely one of my top contemporaries of this year.
Oh wow, now this is a YA contemporary I can get excited for. Sounds wonderful!
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Yay, I'm so glad I got you excited for it! It really was wonderful, and I hope you think so too if you decide to pick it up.
You should encourage Jenna to read this book since ALL SHE EVER SEEMS TO SPAM ME WITH ARE TENNIS SHENANIGANS I DON'T EVEN FOLLOW.
Haha then this definitely sounds like something she should read. 😛
I haven't heard of this one, but OMG it sounds amazing! Definitely going to have to give it a try now. 🙂 I mean, how could I pass up fabulous romance, great characterization, and strong family dynamics? Thanks for putting this under my radar Aila and, as always, fabulous review! <3
WHAT YESS YOU MUST PICK IT UP ZOE :DD I promise you won't regret it… and if you do, we can have a discussion haha. But all in all, it was ALL THE FEELS and had such a hopeful, positive message that you can't help but love it and the characters. <3
Hola Aila! (How do you pronounce your name exactly?) I was totally trying to do it in my head and was a total fail at it.. so yeah… I'm glad you enjoyed this book so much! I've been trying to get into Contemporary since it's all the rave these days but I've never been able to get into it? I know, I know.. I NEEDS to branch out and stuff.. Yeah, I KNOWWW.
It sound like "Isla" aloud, just spelled differently, hehe. 😛 Hola Keionda!
Okay, I totally get where you're coming from girl. I'm not the biggest fan of contemporary, just because they can come out as so unrealistic and ridiculous to me. But from someone who usually doesn't read contemporary YA, I'm urging you to pick this one up!! It's amazing and gives all the good feels. <3
5 stars – that's awesome! I got this from Edelweiss too but haven't read it yet – definitely bumping it up on my TBR list! Such a great review!
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Yayay, I'm so glad! <3 I hope you love it as much as I did when you get the chance to pick it up. 😀
Who knew, indeed? Gah. Yet another book that makes me forget I'm on a book buying ban to begin with. Sighhhh.
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Aww :') Hopefully you can pick it up from the library or loan it somewhere! Because this is one contemporary NOT to be missed..
I will be picking this one up soon, Aila, and I'm so pleased that this was a hit for you. I've really enjoyed everything that Paula Stokes has written and by the sounds of it, this might be her best. I'm glad that the mental health illness parts of it were explored well. And I love that she has supportive friends. Of course, Jordy sounds quite lovely too and the romance super cute.
Really excited now, Aila! 🙂
Fab review!
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Paula Stokes definitely seems to be a new favorite author for me! I'm totally looking forward to Vicarious and all the books she has coming out in 2017. 😀
The mental health aspects were particularly well-done in this book, and I think that it sends just the right amount of hope/optimism and realistic, down-to-earth messages to really create an impact on readers.
I have had this book on my most anticipated 2016 releases for quite sometime and you have reminded me why I am so excited for it. Your review was brilliant and covered everything without being spoilery. Everything you mentioned in regards to things you like in YA contemporary is exactly me so when this book comes out I am there!
Aw thanks so much! <3 I really do think you'll love the hell out of this book Michelle 😀
This sounds soooo good! I'm glad you loved this book, your review made this book go quite up in my tbr. I hope I can read it soon enough. Loved your review!
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Omg, I really hope you pick it up asap! I don't think you'll regret it 😛 It was such an amazing contemporary.
Great review!
I just finished this book! Loved it for all the reasons you mentioned! It was such a great feel-good and yet real book!
I'm finding myself still thinking about it, which it rare!
Omg, YAAS haha I'm glad we had the same reaction to this wonderful book.
Now that it came out, I'm seriously thinking of doing a reread… Just because I love it so much, hehe. <3
Ohh, I had a great feeling about this book and can't wait to read it.
Now, after your review, I want to read it even more!
It's great to hear it was that good, and that fan art you made is just perfect!
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Yess I'm so glad you're planning to pick this one up! <3
And thank you so much :'> You're too kind!
I wasn't too sure, if I was going to read it. But now that I am starting to see reviews, I think it's something that I will need to read.
Thanks for the review.
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My pleasure! I'm so glad I managed to persuade you 😀 I'm pretty sure you won't regret it.