In the Hope of Memories

First, thank you to Red Sparrow Press, and Olivia Rivers for a free copy of this eBook via NetGalley.

Hope is dead. A few days later, four of the people closest to Hope are sent on a scavenger hunt where they search for her graffiti artwork and her letters for the next clue. There's Erik, who has a secret which will change his entire future. Aiden, with OCD, believes people must stick to the rules. Kali, who is depressed, self-harms and suffers anorexia nervosa. And finally, Sam, who almost died following a bomb explosion at school.

The characters were wonderful. In this YA book, Rivers really explores four DIFFERENT people. Very different. I found myself relating to one character in particular, and the way she is fleshed out is so real and raw. Rivers explores the REAL burdens of someone suffering OCD, their daily life, thoughts, and actions. She explores teen depression, eating disorders and self-harming in a very realistic way. There's the stereotypical jock persona, but, of course, there's always more than meets the eye, and the bitterness of someone left visibly wounded after a tragedy, who must now put up with the stares, comments, and reactions from people they meet. The characters each tell the story from their own perspective, where we get to know the REAL them, and then they are also seen from the other perspectives; first impressions. It was fantastic character development!

The story itself was one I didn't struggle to keep up with. As these four people work together to figure out the clues, putting their trust into each other, and often moments of dislike. Hope, essentially, wishes to leave her friends with a better life. Each character has one thing they must do in hopes of overcoming something that Hope believed was holding them back from themselves. It was really interesting to see how these tasks actually affected them, and why Hope had thought it was very important. The end didn't fail either, right until the last page it was full of a well put together story.

I very much enjoyed this book and I look forward to reading others by Olivia Rivers.

Wow, just wow! I loved this book. Each character had his/her own voice and style. You didn't need to know the title of the chapter to know who you were reading about. The story was woven together between Kali, Aiden, Sam, and Erik by Hope's last wish for a scavenger hunt. You never meet Hope while she is alive but the notes and clues she leaves plus the insights from each character makes you feel like you did. I won a free book of this one but it in no way influenced my review. And I am so glad I did! Keeper shelf is where it is now.

I loved this book! Such a great story and lovely connections between people!

While this book is contemporary, it certainly isn’t a light and easy read. It deals with a ton of tough issues: OCD, anorexia, going blind, and sexual orientation, among other things. This book explores some hard subjects, but the way it dealt with them was perfect in my eyes. It wasn’t gentle with the subjects, nor was it too rough. It’s hard to explain, but I felt the author executed it perfectly.

Olivia Rivers also did not shy away from very interesting characters. As you can read in the synopsis the four main characters are extremely unusual and each have starkly different personalities. Not many authors can pull off writing a book from two perspectives, but Olivia pulls off writing from four different perspectives and she makes it totally believable. Each character has such a unique voice and it’s really interesting to see things through each character’s perspective.

I’m not usually too fond of comparing boos because it can sometimes be misleading, but the scavenger hunt aspect of this book really reminded me of the list that Sloane sets up for Emily in Since You’ve Been Gone. The scavenger hunt Hope sets up for her friends brings up old memories and gives readers more insight into who Hope was and how different her relationship was with each of her friends.

Another crazy thing that I didn’t realize until I got to the end of the book and, searching for more to read, I read the About the Author Page and turns out she’s in college! How are there so many amazing authors that are so young?! I really find it pretty inspiring.

This book is about what it means to be human, especially when being human seems to be the hardest thing in the world. I will be sad if this book doesn’t become the next book everyone has on their shelves.

That being said, if you have never enjoyed a book that is written from multiple perspectives, I wouldn’t recommend this book. Multiple perspectives have never bothered me, especially when they are pulled off really well like this book.

I received a copy of this from netgalley for review.

I kind of flew through this book. It was that good. I felt teary at times and the book just made me feel.

Before a teenage girl, Hope, dies, she makes up a scavenger hunt for her friends. She wants them to see their value and understand that even flawed, they can be amazing. Erik is the jock she loves. He is going blind and hasn't told anyone. Aiden is a really smart boy with OCD who fears pretty much everything in life. Sam is an unknown gender who was blown up by a bomb. He/she has their lives together more than the others, but has no money and is in love with his/her best friend. Kali is Hope's younger foster sister. She is angry and hates herself. She is a cutter, anorexic, and takes pills. Hope brings all four of them together and leads them around NYC with clues and art. She finally explains why once the hunt if over. She has a message for each person that makes them release even more how much they loved Hope and how she affected their lives.

I received this copy from Netgalley, in exchange for honest review.

Breathtaking, inspirational, heart aching, unforgettable.

I fell in love with this novel, how could I not? There was so much inspiration in that book, and afterwards you will find yourself filled with Memories yourself. IN THE HOPE OF MEMORIES fits the title perfectly. Cover was what caught my attention first, it was something that I could just look at it and once I read the description, I knew that I had to check the book out. I had always loved books that had to do anything with traveling or some sort of adventure, self-discovery. IN THE HOPE OF THE MEMORIES was unlike any other travel and adventure books I read before, it brought 4 of Hope’s friend’s together, and had them accomplish something they wouldn’t had on their own. I kept on flipping the pages, because I wanted to see if they would accomplish their task. As I read the novel, I felt like I was going on the scavenger hunt along with them. It was an adventure of a lifetime.

I loved that the author wrote the novel from multiple point of views. It’s a way that a reader can glimpse into Erik, Kali, Aiden & Sam’s point of view and see how each other is thinking, feeling about this scavenger hunt that Hope set up for them. I think it was inspiring what she did for them, and I know that she did because she loved each one of them, in her own way. It was fascinating to read about each character, because each one of them were different but at the same time, they were struggling with something. Erik, with losing his sight, Aiden with OCD, Kali with eating disorder and Sam, dealing with aftermath of bombing. You could see how each one of them changed by the time that they finished up the scavenger hunt. By the end, I loved each one of them. In a way, I had a feeling that I was on their adventure along with them, as if they became part of my friends. Their emotions, their adventures were real.

Of course there were emotions that went through me while I was reading this novel. The way that Hope was described, she is a type of person that cared so much about others, a type of person that I would love to have as a friend. I knew why she was loved, and I knew that she would be missed. As book progressed, I found myself missing Hope along with everyone else. IN THE HOPE OF MEMORIES was the first novel that I have read by OLIVIA RIVERS and it won’t be the last. There was nothing about it that I dislike, I couldn’t get enough of Aiden, Erik, Kali and Sam’s journeys. I know that this story will end up being one of stories that will stay with me. A book I’m grateful that came across.

First off, anyway who loves Looking for Alaska should read this because this is similar to John Green's story but just done so.much.better!!! This story just captured my heart and didn't let it go and not only that but it's diverse and refreshing AF! Racial stereotypes, other sterotypes, autism, ocd, anorexia, self harm, disability from blindness, mobility and disfigurement and gender fluidity. All in one book! YASSS!

I won't lie Hope definitely suffers from a bit of pixie manic dream girl but we're really only getting the other's perfect memories of her as she was loved so much by them. She did seem pretty great though and it was easy to see how she could be herself but also something a little different with each of them - the teenage girl in love with Erik, the voice of reason with Aiden, the big sister with Kali and the fangirl with Sam.

"It was rare to see Hope not smiling. Even when her lips weren't, her eyes were."

Each character was different in their own way and all dealing with different things. Aiden was a particular joy to read. He had autism and OCD and to see him explain about the different things he did and felt and why we did them, or felt them was really great. We also see a highlight on racial stereotyping with people avoiding the 'black guy in the hoodie.'

"It's always seemed strange that my hoodie makes people feel uncomfortable, because I wear it so I don't have to feel at all. I hate random things touching my skin."

Aiden had such interesting ways to explain his tics such as his obsession with odd and even numbers, particularly the number five. I also loved how counting ended up being a big deal for him at the end of the book AND the number five. It was really cleverly done.

Kali was the one character I didn't really like. She's quite an unlikable character - despite her issues with her biological parents, she doesn't have that much to excuse her behaviour. She's living in a good home with parents who love her. She's beautiful but 'hates' her beauty yet she likes being skinny so is anorexic. I know there's more to anorexia than that and it's more of a control issue but i felt her reasoning contradicted slightly. She's also mean to the others a lot out of spite and she was just one of those characters that takes me a long time to warm up to.

Erik was just a sweetheart. Tall. good-looking and a 'jock' he's battling the stereotype that he's dumb yet he loves reading and is great at memorising quotes from literature. His own issues with telling his parents about his condition was heartbreaking and I totally teared up when he finally spilled the secret.

Sam was particularly great. They go by the 'they' pronoun rather than 'he' or 'she' and seeing the others struggle with this, particularly Erik, was funny and loved how Sam explained it - "I'm just Sam." Sam's dealing with not only being in a wheelchair but also disfigurement in their face and hands but their overall mind-frame is great. I didn't particularly like the format of Sam's chapters which were all computer speech as Sam is a tech genius but it did make it fast to read and I liked Sam's pint of view. Their contrasting issues with Kali was very intriguing - Sam is disfigured because of a tragedy and Kali is disfigured because she does it on purpose - and Sam's honest way of calling Kali out on her BS was fabulous.

"That's how you know if people really matter - when they're not there anymore, it's like part of you isn'y there, either." Sam holds up their scarred hand and laughs wryly. "And let me tell you, it hurts to lose part of yourself."

This story just hooked me in from the very start to the very end when I had tears in my eyes and oh, so many feelings in my chest. I HIGHLY recommend for anyone who a fan of John Green, Nicola Yoon or just some great YA contemporary!

Hope died, and left behind four people whose lives are spiraling out of control and they don't even know it. Kali needs to mend her relationship with food. Sam needs to learn how to trust in love. Aiden needs to learn to break rules. Erik needs to come to terms with going blind and tell his family.

This story covers so many bases that need to be more exemplified in modern teen fiction. We need more kids in foster care, we need more discussion on eating disorders, we need more people in non-gender binary positions. This story was a beautiful blend of artful, imaginative writing, and characters who, though sometimes a stereotype, are always painfully relatable.

Kali spoke to me most, as a foster kid who self-harms and suffers from anorexia/bulimia. It hurt almost how flippantly she exposed herself to the world, cuts and all. I'm not sure I've seen that sort of representation before, so self-assured and self-toxic. It put a new spin on our classic "quietly hidden suicidal victim. Kali was terribly beautiful, and terribly broken. She didn't hide behind some facade, she bared her wrists to the world.

Sam was a nonbinary person, and though I was glad to have that representation for the first time in a book I read, I wasn't sure how to feel that they were a victim of a bomb attack as well. I felt that it was almost too much to have the one nonbinary gay person be afflicted with such trauma. Was it to make the fact that they are (SPOILERSPOILERSPOILER) intersex more acceptable?

Aiden and his struggle with OCD and a verbally abusive father was refreshing, ESPECIALLY because we saw so much from his point of view. Yeah he was "weird" and "geeky", but we emphasized with him and understood how it felt inside his head.

Erik was probably the least relatable to me, but that's okay. He was a normal dude with a normal life in white upper class America, but that didn't mean he wasn't smart and that didn't mean he couldn't suffer. It was another unique perspective on what we might consider a stereotypical representation of a person.

All in all, this book is about stereotypes, and how even if a person seems to fit the bill, they are always multi-faceted. There is always more to a person, and there are always things we won't understand and will have to overcome. This was a beautiful and haunting read. I recommend it to anyone who wants to try out something new in the YA genre.