Title: Art & Soul
by Brittainy C. Cherry
Date of Publication: April 20th 2015
Genre: Young Adult | Contemporary
I had always been the invisible art student in high school.
Passed by. Glossed over. Unnoticed.
Now I was Aria Watson… that girl.
After one bad decision, and being labeled a slut, I was no longer unseen. I was the whore. The ignoramus. The tramp.
I would never be invisible again.
Particularly to Levi Myers. He was the odd boy with the beautiful soul who accepted and understood the broken girl inside me.
Falling in love wasn’t the plan. But how could I resist his promises of hope? Of forgiveness? Of a future I had stopped dreaming of?
We were shattered. We were scarred. We were something strange and beautiful.
We were two lost souls holding on to the only thing that could keep us together.
Each other.
This book was
ir·re·sis·ti·ble [ìrri zístəb'l] adjective
1. overpowering: not able to be resisted or successfully opposed
2. very desirable: so desirable as to be very difficult to resist
hate [hayt] verb
to dislike somebody or something intensely
Okay, first of all, let me say this: I hate the topic of teenage pregnancy. I will never ever feel sympathy towards teenagers who get pregnant. It’s their fault. Yes, it’s a fault no matter what a miracle a baby is. Teenage pregnancy sucks and the topic gets me annoyed because girls who get pregnant before they’re even out of high school are stupid, idiotic females. (Please don’t throw eggs at me!!) Anyway, I’m saying this because when I learned that Aria got pregnant, I immediately thought, “Oh, ugh. She’s an idiot. How will I like her character now?” So I started the book wary about Aria and a bit disappointed because I might not be able to connect with her for the rest of the book. But you know what? I liked Aria. I liked her a lot. I loved this book a lot more.
a•dore [ə dáwr] transitive verbto love somebody or something intensely
I adored Art & Soul. With a witty title, eye-catching cover, an intriguing blurb and those rave reviews, I just knew I had to read it. When I finally did, well...what’s not to love?
“It was hard being loved too much by someone because as time went by their love started feeling like a chokehold.”
Anywaaaay, as I said earlier, I didn’t like Aria off the bat, but you know what changed my initial impression of her? Levi. I saw her through Levi’s eyes and when he thought that she’s beautiful, I agreed; when he thought she’s like an art, I got convinced of the same thing; when he thought she was worth loving, I thought so, too. In short, I understood Aria.
The start was different for me with Levi, though. I took a liking to him right away. Why? He got me in “the rest of my boxes included my Harry Potter collection, The Hunger Games, and The Chronicles of Narnia, every Stephen King novel, along with dozens and dozens of other books.” Uhm, hello? A guy who loves to read, plays the violin, has a great taste in music and a word wizard to top it all off? Swoon.
depth [depth] nouncomplexity or profundity of character or thought
Another thing I loved about this book was its depth. While reading, I could really feel the emotions of each character. I really empathized with Levi, what with him trying so hard to bring back his relationship with his father who makes it hard for him to do so. Aria also got her fair share of daddy issues and I was all kinds of sad and angry at his father at some point because he practically disowned her when she needed parental support the most at that trying time.
This book, despite being a YA Contemporary managed to tread into sensitive topics delicately and in a mature way. It didn’t go into teenage pregnancy lightly, and the consequences with the family, friends, and society as a whole were very realistic. That dreaded C-word, oh gosh. It was heartbreaking to witness young people experience so much emotional turmoil involving both parents. But as I said before, Ms. Cherry’s approach was realistic.
art [aart] noun
the creation of beautiful or thought-provoking works, e.g. in painting, music, or writing
“Art was everything right and wrong in the world. It understood what words couldn’t say.”
I think this book is a work of art. It’s just so beautiful and thought-provoking as the definition provided. Like any work of art, it’s not perfect but it’s in the matter of one’s perspective. I really enjoyed this book and I learned a lot from it.
The friendship and family relationships were central parts of this book and for that, I’m extremely relieved. Of course, I love romance but in a story like this, if it just focused on that, it would be kind of ruined, I think, and the overall effect of the book would be less than desirable.
So to avoid more rambling from me, I’m gonna leave it here: read this book because it’s unique, it’s beautiful, it’s moving and it’s honest. I loved this book and I hope you would, too.
5/5 Artful & Soulful Stars
Love,
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