My first initial impression of A Void The Size Of The World by Rachele Alpine was that it was going to be a contemporary YA book that’s part thriller, part dealing with grief. My impression was wrong, as it turns out. And that’s not exactly a great thing. I really had some expectations but this book just did not live up to those expectations.

A Void The Size Of World is told from the perspective of Rhylee, who is younger sister to track star Abby. Rhylee has had a long time crush on her former best friend Tommy who happens to be Abby’s boyfriend. One day Rhylee and Tommy kiss and realize they were meant for each other. This leads to Abby’s disappearance. And so, the rest of the book is about how they deal with Abby disappearing.

In all honesty, I was just really bored while reading this book. I would have DNFed except that I wanted to know what happened to Abby. As it turns out, spoiler, we don’t exactly find that out. There are some hints dropped, but nothing that comes out and says what happened. So for me, I did not really care about the characters, the plot was slow, and I didn’t get the payoff I was hoping for. This wasn’t for me, but that’s not to say it won’t be for you.

3.5 stars

A Void the Size of the World
Rachele Alpine
Simon Pulse, July 2017
ISBN 978-1481485715
Hardcover

From the publisher—

A haunting novel about a girl who must face the consequences after her actions indirectly lead to her sister’s disappearance.

Rhylee didn’t mean to kiss her sister’s boyfriend. At least, not the first time. But it doesn’t matter, because her sister, Abby, caught them together, ran into the dark woods behind their house…and never came home.

As evidence mounts that something terrible has happened to Abby, no one wants to face the truth. Rhylee can’t bring herself to admit what she’s done: that she is the reason her sister ran away. Now Tommy, Abby’s boyfriend, is the prime suspect in her disappearance, and Rhylee’s world has been turned upside down. Slowly, Rhylee’s family is breaking—their lives center on the hope that Abby will return. Rhylee knows they need to face the truth and begin healing—but how can they, when moving on feels like a betrayal? And how do you face the guilt of wishing a person gone…when they actually disappear?

Just how responsible is one person for the actions of another? That’s a tough question and it’s at the heart of A Void the Size of the World. While it’s true that Rhylee was wrong, on so many levels, to kiss her sister’s boyfriend, should Rhylee feel that’s Abby’s disappearance is entirely her fault?

It would be easy for the reader to point fingers at Rhylee and, if other characters (besides Tommy) knew what she had done, they certainly would blame her but is that really fair? Yes, Rhylee let her hormones get the best of her but she’s a teenager and we all know what hormones and emotions are like at that age. A huge part of growing up is learning how to control and contain such things but such self-discipline doesn’t come easily and we need to cut this girl some slack. More importantly, she needs to cut herself some slack but that’s a much, much harder thing to do when the guilt is so overwhelming.

While Rhylee isn’t the most likeable protagonist I’ve come across, other characters show their warts, too, and her little brother, Collin, is the only one I liked much. Maybe it would be better to say that I just didn’t feel them very much even though I knew the devastation that had come into their lives. I’m not sure where the disconnect came from but perhaps being continually bombarded by grief and anger and guilt can naturally cause a sort of withdrawal.

On the whole, this book left me just a little dissatisfied but one thing in particular stood out to me as a good thing. Some might say the author didn’t play fair with the ending but I strongly disagree; I won’t say anything further about this because it would be a spoiler. Suffice it to say, Ms. Alpine left me thinking 😉

Reviewed by Lelia Taylor, July 2017.

I enjoyed reading this book. It definitely kept me wanting to know what happened next. The characters were well written but I still had a lot of questions that didn't get answered. Rhylee was a hard character for me to feel sorry for. She just seemed really selfish and not very emotional when it came to her sister. The ending was disappointing to me. I did enjoy the mystery and what little romance there was. I was provided a ebook in exchange for an honest review from netgalley.

I wasn't too sure about this book at all. I didn't like the cheating. I noticed that she became more like her sister after Abby left. I noticed that there was sci fi in this book, but there really no answer of why her sister left. I wanted more closure of why she left. But I also understand that life is like this book. I didn't like the cheating and not telling the truth. This book was okay, but I wanted more family interaction.

I had some mixed feelings about this story. The very well developed characters and mystery of the story kept me reading. I wanted to know what happened to Abby. Was she really gone? Did someone kill her? Was it an accident? Is she still alive and just exacting revenge on her sister? I needed to know! But then the ending happened and I learned nothing. I was mad. I didn't understand how the author could leave me hanging like that, but then I realized her genius. This story is so well written that it feels real. The characters and situation could happen in real life and so she couldn't give me a neaty wrapped ending with all the answers, because that's not what happens in real life. Nicely done, Rachele Alpine!

I hadn't heard of this book until the publisher invited me to read it. I loved the premise and was excited to get to it. Sadly, I was quite disappointed.

I struggled with Rhylee. She is very selfish and it was hard to root for her. She lies during the entire story. I could almost understand not wanting to tell anyone at first, but then all of these horrible things happen to Tommy and she just keeps quiet. And then when he said he needed to leave because he was worried for his safety, she's like NO YOU CANT LEAVE ME. Oh, but she's completely pushed him away and is ignoring him. For me, that was unforgivable

Plot wise, it was pretty bland and got monotonous quickly . I loved the idea of Abby disappearing after a fight and I couldn't wait to find out what happened. Except it never was explained. There's hints of a maybe suicide and hints of a maybe accident and it's never cleared up {or maybe it just wasn't clear to me?}

Overall, it had a lot of potential, but it lacked a certain sort of tension I was expecting. Something kept me reading, but I couldn't tell you what it was.

**Huge thanks to Simon Pulse for the invitation to read this title**