Sorry I’m a little late posting this today, but this book! Oh, it’s so good, and felt so real. And as someone who has been on lots of airplanes and spent time in lots of airports, I could relate. I loved it. I just loved it. And I’m so happy to be part of this blog tour – thanks Fantastic Flying Book Club! Don’t forget to enter the Rafflecopter giveaway at the bottom of the post!
The Chaos of Standing Still takes place in a single day at the Denver airport, where Ryn is stranded on New Year’s Eve. She’s trying to get home to San Francisco, although that city has never felt like home. Home will always be Portland, where she grew up, and where she lost her best friend. It’s been nearly a year to the day, and the last place that Ryn wants to be on the anniversary of her friend’s death is at the Denver airport. But then she meets Xander, when she literally runs into him and then mistakenly exchange phones. She doesn’t want anything to do with other people, but she can’t help it – he challenges her and makes her smile and is so cute. Lottie, her late best friend, would have agreed. While they’re both stuck at the airport anyway, why not partake in a little bit of adventure, hmm? That’s what Lottie would do.
3 Things I Loved
- Ryn. I absolutely loved Ryn as a narrator. She was flawed, but her anxieties and her grief were so real and raw and heartbreaking that I was with her every step of the way. I could see a lot of myself in her, and that always compels me to continue reading a book.
- Xander. Of all people for Ryn to bump into, she picks the guy in the Muppet shirt. I loved him from the very first time they met, because he was nerdy and also because he brought Ryn out of her shell. He’s a great partner for her, even if only for the day.
- Lottie. One of my favorite aspects of the book was the back and forth between Ryn’s memories of Lottie and their friendship as time ticks down to the anniversary of her death. Ryn sees her as a whole person, and that means that we, as readers, see her that way too. Lottie was as much a character in this book as Ryn and Xander were.
Dislikes/Problematic Content
I can’t think of anything glaring, but I loved this a lot, so I might be a little bit biased. One thing I can say for certain – I loved how Ryn’s anxiety and grief were handled. They were a part of her, and it wasn’t treated like something that necessarily needed to be fixed. It was honest and real and was just… Ryn. I loved that. I loved it so much. More YA (and really, just more books in general) need to treat mental illness as just a part of the person and less something that needs to be fixed or like it’s a flaw. It’s just a thing that happens. It just is. And that’s okay.
Rating
A reminder of the rating scale:
- Red = DNF, I hated everything
- Orange = Ugh, no thank you
- Yellow = I mean, I’ve read worse, but there were problems
- Green = This was good!
- Blue = Oh my gosh, I loved this book!
- Purple = This is the unicorn of books and I will be rereading it until the binding falls apart and EVERYONE should be reading it!
This was a cute, fluffy, contemporary YA, and I dug it. I’m giving The Chaos of Standing Still a BLUE rating. Plus, it’s a New Year’s Eve book, and we don’t get a lot of those! I highly recommend.
Thank you to the publisher, NetGalley, and the Fantastic Flying Book Club for the advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. And a special thank you to the FFBC for allowing me to be a part of the blog tour for this book!
About the Author
Jessica Brody knew from a young age that she wanted to be a writer. She started self “publishing” her own books when she was seven years old, binding the pages together with cardboard, wallpaper samples, and electrical tape.
After graduating from Smith College in 2001 where she double majored in Economics and French and minored in Japanese, Jessica later went on to work for MGM Studios as a Manager of Acquisitions and Business Development. In May of 2005, Jessica quit her job to follow her dream of becoming a published author.
Since then, Jessica has sold over twelve novels for teens, tweens, and adults including 52 Reasons to Hate My Father, The Karma Club, My Life Undecided, and the three books in the Unremembered trilogy, the first of which is currently in development as a major motion picture by the producers of The Vampire Academy, Zero Dark Thirty, Life of Pi, and Slumdog Millionaire. In 2016, she will release two new contemporary novels, A Week of Mondays (August) and Boys of Summer (April), and in 2017, her debut middle grade novel entitled, Addie Bell’s Shortcut to Growing Up, will hit bookstore shelves.
Jessica also writes books for the Descendants: “School of Secrets” series, based on the hit Disney Channel Original movie, Descendants!
Jessica’s books are published and translated in over twenty foreign countries. (Click here for a full list of foreign sales and publishers.) She currently splits her time between California and Colorado.
Giveaway
- Prize: 1 copy of THE CHAOS OF STANDING STILL by Jessica Brody
- Starts: November 27th
- Ends: December 7th
Happy reading!
-A.
Snark & Squee 
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