Spoilery Book Reviews

If I Fix You by Abigail Johnson

Back of the book

Some things are easy to fix...

But are some meant to stay broken?

When sixteen-year-old Jill Whitakers mum walks out – with a note as goodbye – only Jill knows the real reason she's gone. But how can she tell her father? Jill can hardly believe the truth herself.

Suddenly, the girl who likes to fix things – cars, relationships, romances, people – is all broken up. It used to be, her best friend, tall, blond and hot flirt Sean Addison, could make her smile in seconds. But not anymore. They don't even talk.

With nothing making sense, Jill tries to pick up the pieces of her life. But when a new guy moves in next door, intense, seriously cute but with scars – inside and out – that he thinks don't show. Jill finds herself trying to make things better for Daniel. But over one long, hot Arizona summer, she realises she can't fix anyone's life until she fixes her own. And she knows just where to start.

My thoughts

This book toes a line that may make some readers uncomfortable. Daniel is 21, Jill is 16 and there is flirting and tension of relationship interest. The characters quickly become aware of their own age gap and almost, sort of, respond appropriately. But they both still kinda want to get with each other, but lie to themselves that they are spending time together as friends. I believe this book commits no crimes upon handling this subject because it does not support the age gap relationship and ultimately the characters choose not to pursue it further. Their actions fall within what could be reasonably expected from heartbroken people desperate for support and the book never tells a story that this age gap love is okay.

When I first read this book, I was upset with how the plot line chose to go. I really wanted Jill to get into a bad relationship with Daniel, or wait, and get together when they were older. I didn't like Sean at all and didn't want Jill and Sean together. Now that I am older I am SO glad it doesn't go that way and I would HATE any book that delved into the relationship with that age divide and pretended it was okay (Twilight, anybody?).

For me it managed to flirt with the dangerous idea and respectfully put it aside. Jill does seem very mature for her age, coming to the realisation that it was better to break their hearts early before deeper feelings were involved. I don't think I could have had that kind of emotional intelligence at sixteen.

What struck me as odd was despite the emotional trauma both Jill and Daniel were experiencing or had experienced, there was no mention of mental illness. There didn't even seem to be signs of it. Even if a book doesn't mention depression, their character might fall into certain behaviour patterns like over-sleeping or insomnia, low mood and other general depression symptoms. Despite Jill being super awkward around Sean and impulsive in one or two occasions, she was chugging along just fine. Daniel we don't know the details of his daily life but with Jill it seemed a little strange. Not bad I guess, just bizarre that these characters could have healthy coping mechanisms for their problems and not fall into a hole of depression. Wouldn't that be nice.

The main criticism I have for this book is that things turned out too nicely in the end. The plot twist that Jill is not her fathers' daughter was great and made sense, however when things fell into place at the end, I realised the characters were just faffing around holding themselves back the whole time. All Jill had to do was listen to Sean's side of the story. Then wham, bam, he's no longer the guilty party and she can fall in love with him and live happily ever after. The barriers that were holding the plot hostage so that it could become a completely fleshed out story just seemed a bit weak.

Overall I like this book with it's themes of self-discovery, family and friendship. It introduces a very sensitive topic with flirtation between characters with an inappropriate age gap, but handles it very well and appropriately. That kind of story that explores the very real and often intense emotions and still says, 'no it's not okay' I feel is an important one. Books like this can be a great learning tool and discussion starter for the life lessons we don't want people to have to learn by living it. We want our teenagers to learn as many painful life lessons by NOT living them out, but preventing them in the first place.

(this took a really weird left turn of topic discussion at the end woops)

TL:DR

It's okay, Jill and Daniel don't end up together so don't burn the book and yell at the author. Things turn out a little too smoothly, but that's how most happy endings feel, like a little lie.