Book Review: The How & the Why by Cynthia Hand

Release Date: November 5, 2019
Read: October 11-18th, 2019
Publisher: HarperTeen
Series: Standalone
Format: ARC, 464 pages
Source: Publisher in exchange for honest review

Description from GoodReads:

Today Melly had us writing letters to our babies…

Cassandra McMurtrey has the best parents a girl could ask for. They’ve given Cass a life she wouldn’t trade for the world. She has everything she needs—except maybe the one thing she wants. Like, to know who she is. Where she came from. Questions her adoptive parents can’t answer, no matter how much they love her.

But eighteen years ago, someone wrote Cass a series of letters. And they may just hold the answers Cass has been searching for.

Alternating between Cass’s search for answers and letters from the pregnant teen who gave her up for adoption, this voice-driven narrative is the perfect read for fans of Nina LaCour and Jandy Nelson.

Review:

Contains minor spoiler:

   I hope you're happy about who I chose for you. I hope you're happy, period.
   I read my first Cynthia Hand book in August 2013, and have read seven more since. Each one better than the last. Romance, comedy and serious, are all some of the books Cynthia Hand has mastered, and they are great for all occasions. I read my first serious Cynthia Hand book in 2016, when I had won a copy of The Last Time We Say Goodbye. I have not read anything remotely similar since.

   When they announced The How & the Why, I knew it was going to be important. Adoption is not a popular trend in YA, I think I've seen maybe four books that feature adoption. The How & the Why included in that number. Cynthia Hand writes #OwnVoices novels when it comes to her serious topics, The How & the Why included. Although it does not tell her own story, she certainly tells someone else's.

   The story is told from the rotating perspective of a 16-year-old girl who's pregnant and going to put her baby up for adoption, and the baby, 18 years later.

   I have friends and family who have been adopted, and am very open about wanting to adopt some day. In lots of movies that feature adoption, I find that the child has some tragic backstory where the parents were killed or the child was abandoned in a fire station. But that's not always the case in real life. I liked how Cynthia Hand chose to shine light on the fact that kids get pregnant, and it may not be that they do not want the baby, but rather that they are still kids themselves.

   I also found myself appreciating the storyline where Cassandra's mom needs a heart transplant. It's kind of funny really, the friend who introduced me to Cynthia Hand's more serious books, has had a heart transplant. Having been apart of her life before, while and after the transplant, I have grown to know how a person lives when their heart is failing. Even if I experienced it mostly online. From what I have experienced, The How & Why felt genuine in regard to how it was portrayed.

   I recommend The How & the Why to anyone who wants to try something new and serious with splash of fun. The How & the Why will certainly not be my last Cynthia Hand book.

Rating:

Favourite Quote:

"It's easy for me to imagine your future. You grow up to beautiful and smart and strong and good. Someone is there to pick you up when you fall down, to kiss your scraped knee, to make your birthday cakes and sing songs to you and teach you about the world. You're loved. Every minute of your life. You're so loved, and you never doubt that, even when things get tough. You're loved.

That's the future, Baby Star. that's what I know to be true, because I'll be there too, even if you don't know me, even if you can't see the ties that bind us. I'm under the same sun as you the same moon, walking the same earth, and I'll be thinking about you every day, every step. I'll be hoping for the best.
I'll be loving you.
S"

Recommend to People Who Enjoy:

Young Adult, Contemporary, Realistic, Adoption stories, family, college