I included Every Exquisite Thing in a blog post about the hot YA novels you need to add to your summer reading list:

This brand new release from the author of The Silver Linings Playbook is on my summer reading list. In this coming-of-age story, good girl Nanette is drifting through her quiet suburban life—until her teacher gives her a copy of the cult classic The Bubblegum Reaper . She obsesses over the book, and is challenged to confront the conformist way she's been living. But when she chooses a different path, she realizes every choice has a cost. Critics are praising this for its strong female lead and numerous Catcher in the Rye references.

Pretty disappointed in this. I did not like the characters and that was an immediate turn off for me. I wouldn’t recommend it.

In Matthew Quick's Every Exquisite Thing, we meet Nanette, a junior in high school who has just been introduced by her favorite teacher to a life-changing book. This book is out of print, and has been almost since it was first published decades earlier. Nanette is eventually able to meet the author of this book, a man with the unlikely name of Booker, and become friends with him. When she presses him for more details about the book, answers to questions about the ending (who among us hasn't wanted to do the same?), he explains that he simply can't tell her.

"We can't know for sure."
"Why?"
"The story ends."
"But you could write more."
"No, I can't. There's no more to write."
"Why?"
"Just the way it is. The story ends where it ends."

I think we can all understand Nanette's frustration.

Besides obscure poets and her own independence, Booker also introduces Nanette to Alex, a boy angry at the bullies of the world and determined to defeat them. Nanette struggles to know what she should do with her life as high school graduation approaches. Should she be and do what she likes or what makes everyone around her comfortable and happy? And what exactly is it that she likes?

This book is full of teenage angst about how we become whom we are meant to be. It was a really good book, but I can't precisely say that I liked it, but I think maybe I did. This is exactly the kind of book that I can see developing a following. High school students will love it, especially if they aren't overly concerned with being like everyone else. This book was sad and thought-provoking and I think the dramatic teenaged me would really have found a lot of meaning in it. I think I would have read it multiple times and I think it might have prompted me to question what I wanted in life and the direction I wanted it to take. I think that would have been a good thing.

I really liked The Silver Linings Playbook and The Good Luck of Right Now, but I didn't feel like this was one of Matthew Quick's best books.

Thank you so much for the opportunity to read Every Exquisite Thing. We've purchased copies for our libraries and teens have been enjoying the book as much as I did.

Unfortunately, "Every Exquisite Thing" did not qualify for a Marvelous Novel of the Month on my website (The Marvelous Site) and I do not post negative reviews on my site . . . only all things marvelous. I have given more detailed thoughts about the book to the publisher.in the feedback section.

I think I hyped this book up in my head to the point that it wasn't quite the instalove I expected, but after looking back I didn't find myself disappointed that I read it. I would definitely recommend for fans of the authors' previous books and for those that are looking to try something a little different!

Not my fsvorite, I much prefer ed forgive Me Leonard Peacock to this title. Disappointed.