Series Review: Is this series worth your time? Does it get better as the novels progress? Or does it get worse? Find out below:
Synopsis for Every Day (from Goodreads):
Every day a different body. Every day a different life. Every day in love with the same girl.
There’s never any warning about where it will be or who it will be. A has made peace with that, even established guidelines by which to live: Never get too attached. Avoid being noticed. Do not interfere.It’s all fine until the morning that A wakes up in the body of Justin and meets Justin’s girlfriend, Rhiannon. From that moment, the rules by which A has been living no longer apply. Because finally A has found someone he wants to be with—day in, day out, day after day.
Series: Every Day Trilogy
Author: David Levithan
# of Books: 3 (Every Day, Another Day, Someday)
There is a prequel novella: #0.5 Six Days Before
Book Order: Companion (Another Day), Chronological Sequel (Someday)
Complete?: Unsure
Genre: Young Adult, Romance, Contemporary, Magical Realism
Heat Rating: warm
Point of View: First Person, Single
Publication Dates: August 2012 – October 2018
Source & Format: Public Library–Audiobook
Why I Picked it Up / My Expectations:
David Levithan writes one of my all time favourite novels, Will Grayson, Will Grayson. But despite that, I’ve never read any other title by him.
Every Day is a book I’ve seen floating around over the years so it caught my eye when I was browsing new audiobook series to read. I immediately loved the concept and was excited to see what would happen in this story.
The Concept:
This is such a cool idea for a story and I’ve never read anything like this before. I like the feeling that there is something bigger happening in this world and there is a bit of a mystery to it. Unfortunately, it doesn’t get elaborated on too much (this is more of a romance with extenuating circumstances than the other way around).
What’s cool is that this story had me thinking about ethics and morality and what it means to live your life. It had me thinking about how we treat and view others, especially when we focus on outward appearance.
The Plot of Every Day:
As I said above, this is a romance that has some extreme circumstances. Finding out why A moves from body to body, or how, takes a back seat to A’s obsession with Rhiannon and being with her. Which is fine, but as you’ll read below, I kinda wanted more.
The Characters in Every Day:
I really didn’t empathize or sympathize with A by the end of Every Day. A does some pretty silly things without truly thinking about the consequences and that annoyed me. By the end, it seemed like A didn’t matter what he did to those other lives so long as he got to be with Rhiannon and I just didn’t agree with that.
Rhiannon is also a bit of a dud if you ask me. I never grew to like her character but I think part of the reason is that she is never elaborated on other than as the object of A’s affections. She also does some pretty questionable things (in my opinion) but I did appreciate her candor near the end of the story.
The Romance in Every Day:
I was not sold on this; which really sucked because this is definitely the whole premise of this story. I just didn’t see the connection between these two. They share one day and they start this all-consuming romance that just irked me.
It also seemed to me that Rhiannon was trading one unhealthy relationship for another–never a good thing.
Why I Won’t Be Reading Another Day:
Another Day is Rhiannon’s companion novel and seeing as I didn’t love her, I’m not going to listen to 9 hours of her drab inner monologue. It also doesn’t look like it is going to answer some of my burning questions in terms of A’s life so I’ll just wait for the third novel.
My Expectations For the Rest of the Series:
I still have a lot of questions about why A changes from body to body so I hope we get those!
–July 10, 2019– Book #3: Someday
I wouldn’t say I was overly impressed with this novel besides the fabulous audio production. While I liked that the focus shifted more to A’s ability to wake up in different bodies and why that might be the case, I just found that nothing really got resolved. This novel takes on a somewhat philosophical (and often ethical) approach to one’s life and I like how that was explored through various character POV. But in the same breath, I think I needed some closure. The ending felt abrupt and I am just as confused about where the future is headed as I was in the first book…only someone keeps telling me that is the answer I seek.
Series Rating: 3/5
Every Day 3/5 | Another Day N/A | Someday 3/5
A very cool concept that unfortunately gets overshadowed by an angsty teenaged love.
Read if You Like: YA contemporary, teen romances, magical realism
Avoid if You: want more of a fantasy/mystery plot
- Just One Day by Gayle Forman (Just One Day Series #1)
I LOVE David Levithan, and I liked Every Day, but it wasn’t a favourite. I haven’t read the companion novel either – I am sceptical of reading the same story from a different perspective from back in my Twi-hard days.
I do love David Levithan though. He mostly writes standalones, which I know isn’t so much your thing, but if I may suggest a couple I ADORED Boy Meets Boy, The Lover’s Dictionary (you can read that one in like an hour. It’s a relationship told through different ‘definitions’ of words having to do with love. It’s not for everyone, but I just loved it) and of course Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist (another one I would recommend reading in one sitting it you can. It’s just gorgeous reading).
Lydia Tewkesbury recently posted…Want
Thank you for the suggestions! I’ve always been curious about Boy Meets Boy but I’ve never heard of the Lover’s Dictionary–it sounds super cool!
He seems to write unique stories and I enjoy his writing. I just did not overly enjoy the characters he crafted here.
It’s hard to enjoy a book when you don’t really connect with either of the main characters! I’ve seen this book around so much, but I’ve never really looked into it for some reason. I do want to read David Levithan’s writing though eventually, so I may pick up another one of his books instead!
I can usually tolerate a lead that I’m not overly fond of in fantasy or dystopian novels but in a character driven story like this, you really have to like the characters to want to keep going.
He seems to have a lot of other unique titles out there and I know I will be exploring some of those in the next year because I do enjoy his writing style overall!