ARC Review: Fans of the Impossible Life

Fans of the Impossible Life: Kate Scelsa 
Publication Date: September 8th, 2015 

Ten months after her recurring depression landed her in the hospital, Mira is starting over as a new student at Saint Francis Prep. She promised her parents she would at least try to act like a normal, functioning human this time around, not a girl who sometimes can’t get out of bed for days on end, who only feels awake when she’s with Sebby. 

Jeremy is the painfully shy art nerd at Saint Francis who’s been in self-imposed isolation after an incident that ruined his last year of school. When he sees Sebby for the first time across the school lawn it’s as if he’s been expecting this blond, lanky boy with a mischievous glint in his eye. 

Sebby, Mira’s gay best friend, is a boy who seems to carry sunlight around with him like a backlit halo. Even as life in his foster home starts to take its toll, Sebby and Mira together craft a world of magic rituals and secret road trips, designed to fix the broken parts of their lives. 

As Jeremy finds himself drawn into Sebby and Mira’s world, he begins to understand the secrets that they hide in order to protect themselves, to keep each other safe from those who don’t understand their quest to live for the impossible.

The initial synopsis for this book was "This is the story of a girl, her gay best friend, and the boy in love with both of them." What would that make you think of? A bisexual love triangle, right? Wrong! It was not a bisexual love triangle. I was looking forward to this book for that particular reason, so I think when I didn't get that I was disappointed. It was more of a book about friendship, which in that respect was good. If I had to compare this book to any book, I think it would be I'll Give You the Sun, except there is more of a focus on friendship instead of family. 

Have you ever dreamt about reading a book with your favorite characters just doing nothing? Like they aren't doing anything significant, they are just hanging out with each other for the entire book - because I have lol. And that's also how much of this book played out. They weren't ever really doing anything, but it wasn't awful because the characters were really interesting and had great personalities. Of course, the characters all had tragic stories to tell. All three main characters are really easy to care about because  Kate Scelsa adds perfectly crafted secrets at just the right moments so that they really hit home.

"When do they bring out the pig's blood and dump it on the head 

of the awkward girl with telekinetic powers?" Sebby asked.

"Not until ten, I think."

Mira, Jeremy, & Sebby (Sebastian) all have chemistry. If this book wanted to go in the direction of a bisexual love triangle, it would have completely worked. Sebby is my favorite character in the book - he's outgoing and nothing seems to bother him. Coincidentally, he's also the one who is having the hardest go at life. To me it seems like he never wants to put the burden of his life onto his friends. Mira and Jeremy also are going through their own problems, and I don't even think how they deal with them is more or less healthy than how Sebby deals with his problems. It really made me think about what sets people apart with their problems? Or is it really just luck if they make it through them?

"We’re all just trying to survive however we can."

I was conflicted on my rating for this book. The first 200 pages of the book were good, but they felt directionless. I wasn't sure where the book was going and to me, there was too much dialogue and not enough plot. After I was finally able to see a direction in the book, I wasn't able to put it down. It was addictive and based on the rest of the book I would easily give it 5 stars. Sadly, for 200 pages I was upset with the fact that I couldn't see a plot. I also felt like the book was a bit rushed at parts I thought were important and slower at parts I didn't really care about. Which is why I'm giving it 3 stars. I fully recommend this book to you if you enjoy diverse books. You might even like the first half of the book, but after the first half I promise you will LOVE it! 

- Jocelyn