<em>The Impossible Vastness of Us</em> is the first contemporary YA that Samantha Young has written and at first, I wasn't sure if I was going to read it. Any of her younger stories gives me pause because of my rage after reading <em>Out of the Shallows</em>. I'm scared to try any other NA books by Young because of my experience with Jake and Charlie.

I'm still not quite sure why I picked this book up, other than it's a Samantha Young and I enjoy most of her books so I caved and boy am I glad that I did because I enjoyed getting to know India, Finn and even Eloise.

India Maxwell is moving across the country, away from her friends and everything she's ever known because her mother met someone and got engaged. She moved away from her California suburban home to the upper crust of Boston society. She went from being the popular poor girl to a rich newbie that nobody knew and then thanks to her soon to be step-sister, the rich newbie that nobody wanted to get to know. India hasn't had an easy life. She's dealing with a bunch of stuff from her past and having to build defenses against a new school and a new life isn't easy for her. Her mother is happy with her new love and he's got a daughter that is India's age but she's made it very clear that they won't be besties. So India does what any normal person would do. She keeps her head down and gets on with life.

She has no interest in becoming a part of the family that her Mom is trying to blend. She's got issues with male figures of authority and her step-sister isn't an easy person to be around, especially since she's got a boyfriend that India is way attracted to.

Against India's better judgement, she becomes entangled in a friendship that can't go anywhere and she's put in a situation that she can't get out of and there's so much going on in her new life that she starts to flounder a bit and the reader is treated to some real character growth in India. I thought Samantha Young did a great job of showing us just how much India, Finn and Eloise grew from the beginning of the book to the end. They became a unit that I wasn't prepared for and the secrets they kept were some pretty big secrets.

I came to learn that not everything is as it seems and pain hits everyone, no matter how poor or rich you are. India had her issues that she was working through and so did Finn and Eloise. I thought Samantha Young did a great job of portraying India's mothers struggles to fix her relationship with India. I loved seeing India really come into her own and accept her new life and deal with her issues with Theo and separating him from her past. India was a great protagonist that wasn't perfect but was relatable.

Finn and Eloise were great characters in their own right. Sure, they frustrated me from time to time, especially Finn's hot and cold attitude but once everything is out in the open and they warm up to India (who never deserved their scorn), my attitude toward them changed. Eloise's situation was a hard one to read about because I just wanted to hug her close and keep her safe from everything but I was really glad with the way that her story wrapped up.

Overall, this was great addition to Samantha Young's backlist. I really connected with all of the characters, even bitch ass Bryce and I was cheering them all on to get their happy endings. This was an entertaining read from beginning to end and I definitely recommend this book to anyone wanting a fun contemporary YA with characters that are put through the wringer and come out on top in the end. It's good, I promise!

<strong>Grade: 4 out of 5</strong>

I'm just going to start this review by saying 5 stars is NOT enough. What did I just read? My heart literally aches for the characters in this book. This was NOT what I expected when I picked this book to review, it is SO much more. I am literally at a loss for words when I think about this book, and the emotional pull it has. I really wish I was a writer and could wax poetic about this, but...I am just me and if you do one thing in your life, read this book, have your teenager read this book. There is no sex, there is talk of it and some making out, however if you let that be your focus you really lose the big picture. This book tackles some of the harshest realities kids face these days, and you will NOT be sorry you read this, of that you can be sure. This book is told entirely through India's point of view.

Every once in a while, a book comes along that is not only thought-provoking and unique but is also culturally relevant and comes as an inspiring surprise from a very unlikely source. Such is the case with “The Impossible Vastness of Us” by Samantha Young.

An already established fan of this author’s multitude of steamy, angst-filled romance novels, I was not at all prepared for the journey I was about to embark upon when I first began the story of India, Finn and Eloise. From start to finish, I was drawn to this trio’s unlikely friendship and was enveloped by their troublesome saga. Bound together by their secrets, fear, hatred and doubt, these three friends form an unbreakable alliance and persevere against those determined to break them down through elitism, prejudice and denial.

Set against the backdrop of high school hierarchy, “The Impossible Vastness of Us” explores some very sensitive and volatile subject matters. It’s a story that doesn’t necessarily have the ending you’d expect, but has an ending that feels necessary and real. It's also a story you won't soon forget.

5 stars!

First some facts about this book:
-it’s a page turner;
-high school drama BUT among Boston Blue Bloods (Gossip Girls much? Love it!);
-near disaster averted;
-everyone is hiding something so have fun guessing the secrets;
-the heroine is resilient beyond anything else. You’ll wish to have a daughter just like her. Or to be her;
-brooding hot guy on the horizon. Mysterious, distant, more than handsome and … hiding secrets of course!
-coming of age story really well executed plus characters diversity.

So let’s get in the nitty gritty of some of these facts.

-Page turner. I did not want to stop reading. Of course it happens when the kids are hunting you to help with the finals, the dog is making “puppy eyes” to have her walk and hubs just has to have his shirt ironed. This called for extreme measures.I pretended going to the gym and hid in the parking lot just to finish this story. One pound more maybe but I was so relieved!!!
I was the first surprised by my addiction!
I’ll be honest here: so far I only had read “On Dublin Street” by Samantha Young. Everyone was raving about the book. I really did like it I but could not totally grasp all the fuss. Sure it was a very good story and I enjoyed myself. I just wasn’t wowed by it.
I was not prepared to be knocked on my butt by this YA story! Yet the bruises on my left cheek are testimony to me falling head over heels for this book ;-)

-High School drama among Boston Blue Bloods.
When I read the blurb of The Impossible Vastness of US I was really intrigued. I love YA and this seemed my cup of tea: a teen uprooted from her low-middle class life to enter Boston high society thanks to her mom marrying a Blue Blood. In her new school she’ll discover she is not alone hiding secrets. A step-sister and her gorgeous boyfriend plus high school “clique” complete the cast.
Of course you have students lashing at others, rumors being spread all this while wearing Prada and walking in Jimmy Choo. This is sinfully decadent for me! I never gossip but my guilty pleasure is reading gossips and witnessing girl fights in High School halls. You won’t have real cat fights but claws are out and tongues are sharps!

-Near disaster averted.
The first pages were not promising. I began rolling my eyes, thinking the heroine was just a brat and that teenagers did not really speak like that “Eau de Teenage Turd”, “Freak with me”, etc.
Really I was all: “Oh Hell what have I done requesting this book?”
Well Hell must be frozen because soon enough I was really sucked into the story.

-Everyone is hiding something.
Well the title is The impossible vastness of Us, implying there are many depth and layers to the character’s lives.
If India’s secret is soon uncovered we have to wait a little longer to find what Finn’s aloofness hides and even more to get to Eloise’s secret. Honestly I did guessed most of the secrets but it was heart breaking nonetheless.
It reminds us sometimes we can be trapped in our life, buried under guilt and shame. But we are our own enemies as often we should not hide but shout. Everyone has a right to be accepted for who he/she is. No matter what.

-The heroine is resilient beyond anything else. You’ll wish to have a daughter just like her. Or to be her;
India had suffered so much and it was really hard reading about her suffering as a kid. She is scarred and keeps reliving her past from time to time. Never again will she be so helpless. Control is of the utmost importance. India was a wonderful character to get to know. She’s been through so many things but refused to turn into someone bitter and self-centered. She has a huge inner strength and she really was the pillar of this story. Any mother would be proud to have a daughter like her.
Strong, independent, determined, smart, beautiful and caring.
-brooding hot guy on the horizon. Mysterious, distant, more than handsome and … hiding secrets of course!
Finn was gorgeous. I mean male model gorgeous. His family was also crazy rich. He had everything he wished right? Right? Well no. Even star students hide something and can feel lonely inside.

Trapped even.


-Coming of age story really well executed plus characters diversity.
I won’t spoil your fun but the diversity of topics featured in this book is one of its main assets. Readers looking for complex and diverse issues affecting teenagers and people in general won’t be disappointed.
What Samantha Young achieved was really brilliant: changing my perception. The character’s evolution or rather the character “reveal” was faultless. From a preconceived idea about many of them I discovered right alongside India that no matter what, everyone has secrets and can hurt. Wealthy or not you still suffer the same. You sometimes hurt others just to protect them. Hell’s road is paved with good intentions.
These engaging characters hurt. They hate, they love, they forgive…they grow up. It’s life. It’s messy. It’s just beautiful.


So did I love it? A thousand yesses!
Would I recommend it? Definitly.
I even plan on buying it in my mother language as a gift to my teenage daughter. I love bonding through books with my kids!

Last parting note just for Samantha Young: pretty please Mrs Young if you could give me even more of these characters I would be in heaven!

India has kind of accepted her place in life. She's in high school. The most popular girl in junior year. She's nice to everyone - every clique. She works hard at all the extra curricular stuff, because she needs to get into a good college - she wants to be a District Attorney one day - to lock bad guys away forever!
But everything she shows to the world; all that power and control, is just a facade. She's only existing. She's not really happy, she's not tough and confident. Every positive feeling towards people has been killed years ago.
And then suddenly her superficially perfect life gets even more complicated!
Her mom moves her from California to Boston! To move in with mom's new mega-rich lawyer fiancé Theo and his private-school daughter Eloise.

... standing in cheap clothes in that big, expensive house, I suddenly felt this overwhelming fear that I would never find my power here, my control. I felt awkward. Unsophisticated. Uncultured.


Let the fun times begin! Because now she is so not the most popular girl at school anymore. And it's also not really good for making new friends when she's falling for her new sister's boyfriend!
But also ... everything is not really as it seems with all those new people!

What will happen with India in Boston??
Will there be a Happy End??
READ THE BOOK TO FIND OUT! ☺

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I really had no idea what to expect - I was afraid that the story was a bit too young for this old blogger. But pffft. I didn't care!
You immediately like India. You know she's been through a lot and she had to fight for her place in life and school. But now she's in Boston and it gets even worse. She's not the only person with a past or with secrets.
You can't stop reading - you have to know what happened to everyone, what their secrets are, what they are trying to hide. Who is in love with whom? I loved it.
The story has shades of Gossip Girl and 90210 and so many other tv shows! It all really feels like you're watching it on tv - on the edge of your seat because it's all so mysterious and sad and heartbreaking and sweet and touching and romantic and funny and secretive and ugh. I just loved it!
The story touches some very serious and tough real-life problems. This book should definitely be on the reading lists of highschoolers!
But of course it's not all sad and problematic. There are sweet and adorable and funny and even sexy moments too!
Perfect YA romance! I loved it!
I hope we - or rather Sam - will come back to this story again one day! I would love to hear how their life is like at college or even later!

THE IMPOSSIBLE VASTNESS OF US was such a heartbreakingly beautiful and adorable Young Adult story. After fighting and hiding for so long, India and her new friends, are this close to finding their places in life ... and love. Run to your nearest amazon to find out if they do - and also - get your own Finn - this one is MINE! ☺

After being a long time fan of Samantha Young's contemporary romances I'd never read any of her YA books and so I didn't really know what to expect from this book, but as I liked the cover and the blurb sounded interesting I wanted to see if her writing would be just as enthralling in a different genre than what I was used to reading by her.
As the story begins and you get introduced to India the main focus of the book, I found that I really liked her and connected easily with her character. When her mother Hayley tells her that she has met someone and is moving her across the length of the country to Boston from California I just thought that this was going to be another book about a teenager who is rebellious and gets into lots of trouble but how very wrong was I. This is a story about trying to fit into the life and society of the rich and the powerful and that if you weren't born into it you will never truly belong.
Samantha young sensitively covers quite a number of serious issues including abuse and prejudices in this book, some are what most of us face whilst growing up with all the teenage drama that goes on at high school, others are issues that no matter that you are a rich or poor kid they can still happen to you. There's also a focus on the hierarchy and popularity that goes on amongst the students that happens, whether be it at a private or state school it's no different. We also see what goes on at home behind the closed doors of the elite and the privileged, the fact that just because they have money it doesn't protect and prevent them from being treated badly by those who are supposed to love and care for them. It's quite hard hitting at times and is a total eye opener that nothing is what it at first seems.
The story that binds and connects India, Finn and Eloise made me blubbering wreak and had me working my way through a box of tissues, they have to face so many painfully awkward dilemmas and situations that they eventually get through whilst trying not to hurt each other. The friendship and trust that they put into one another was very endearing and so emotionally heart warming. Samantha Young has written an outstanding and thought provoking story that has made me love her writing even more. I can't praise this book enough.
A brilliant and well deserved 5 Stars!

This book really surprised me, it wasn't the easy quick and light YA romance I found myself thinking it was going to be, it was so much more and I really loved it. Full of bright characters dealing with realistic problems, I was swept into India's world and relationships. I found myself wondering what was going to happen and how these kids would survive through the issues that they were all dealing with. It was a story about family and trust and love, but also about the aftermath of abuse and loss and fear of self acceptance. Well written I will definitely recommend this to my students.

India is the daughter and Haley is the mom. She meets Theo and falls in love with him. They both move to the Boston area. Ella is her soon to sister and is dating finn. They have been together for 2 years. India shakes things up with Ella friends. There are some secrets and I really loved Ella and India relationship. I liked that they grew to become sisters. There are secrets being kept in this book, but wasn't a fan of the dirty secret and how she felt. I loved India friendship with Gage and Charlotte.

The abuse storyline and Eloise's coming out wer both gripping and handled well. I did feel like India spent too much of the book discussing Finn and how gorgeous he was but overall a good read.