Adam Silvera - More Happy Than Not

Silvera, like [Benjamin Alire Senz], is a beautiful writer. Aarons story is heart-wrenching, funny, inspirational, and eye-opening. This is a really special novel from an extremely gifted new writer.

Silveras debut is equal parts gut-punch and warm hug, not to mention sweet, funny, creative, and a really welcome entry to YA with regard to having characters coming from a lower socioeconomic background.

Adam Silveras debut novel, More Happy Than Not has everything a reader could want: a cool setting, intriguing characters, and a romance thats more than just your average love story.

Silveras debut novel asks some intense questions about love and sexuality A stunning novel.

Huffington Post

Poignant So engrossing that once you start it, you wont be able to put it down. Dont say we didnt warn you.

This is a cry-on-the-subway book, so watch out.

Every now and again I read a book that requires me to drink several glasses of water afterward because Ive cried myself dehydrated. This is one of those books My goodness, it is incredible.

Aaron is one of the most interesting, authentic teen narrators Ive met, and his story is told with incredible courage and unflinching honesty. Silvera managed to leave me smiling after totally breaking my heart. Unforgettable.

Adam Silvera explores the inner workings of a painful world and he delivers this with heartfelt honesty and a courageous, confident hand. Combine these with a one-of-a-kind voice and a genius idea, and what you have is a mesmerizing, unforgettable tour de force.

Adam Silvera is a voice missing in YA fiction. The honesty of his words and his ability to tell a story make you realize that weve been waiting for him. Im blown away.

A debut as deft as it is sharp, as honest as it is assured, and, above all, extremely moving. Silvera pulls his punches with an energy, daring, and intensity that left me spellbound and reminded me why I love to read.

An important new voice in YA literature. In More Happy Than Not Adam Silvera has created a passionate, searing narrative with characters who feel unique and totally familiar. I found myself rooting for Aaron Soto and his family from page one An unforgettable read.

Inventive and daring, Silveras gritty debut kept me turning pages until 2 a.m. His writing crackles with challenging questions, searing and timely.

Adam Silveras More Happy Than Not is a fantastic magic trick I havent stopped thinking about since I finished reading and suspect will stay with me for some time to come.

Adam Silvera harnesses a certain reckless energy and unleashes it through the voice of Aaron Soto. Aaron Soto is astounding, full of heart, wit, youthful energy, and a deep desire to be honest about who he is in the world. He sinks into your skin so you cant stop thinking about him even when you arent reading. High on story, character, and some perfectly executed twists, I loved this book.

It turns out the Leteo procedure isnt bullshit.

The first time I saw a poster on the subway promoting the institute that could make you forget things, I thought it was a marketing campaign for some new science fiction movie. And when I saw the headline Here Today, Gone Tomorrow! on the cover of a newspaper, I mistook it as something boring, like the cure for some new flu I didnt think they were talking about memories. It rained that weekend, so I hung out with my friends at the Laundromat, chilling in front of the security guards old TV. Every single news station was interviewing different representatives of the Leteo Institute to find out more about the revolutionary science of memory alteration and suppression.

I called bullshit at the end of each one.

Except now we know the procedure is 100 percent real and 0 percent bullshit because one of our own has gone through it.

Thats what Brendan, my sort of best friend, tells me at least. I know him as much for his honesty as I know Baby Freddys mother for her dedication to confirming the gossip that comes her way. (Rumor has it shes learning basic French because her neighbor down the hall may be having an affair with the married superintendent, and the language barrier is a bit of a block. But, yeah, thats gossip too.)

So Leteo is legit? I sit down by the sandbox no one plays in because of ringworm.

Brendan paces back and forth, dribbling our friend Deons basketball between his legs. Thats why Kyle and his family bounced, he says. Fresh start.

I dont even have to ask what he forgot. Kyles identical twin brother, Kenneth, was gunned down last December for sleeping with this guy Jordans younger sister. Kyle was the one who actually slept with her, though. I know grief just fine, but I cant imagine living day by day with that knowing the brother I shared a face and secret language with was ripped out of my life when the bullets were meant for me.

Well, good luck to him, right?

Yeah, sure, Brendan says.

The usual suspects are outside today. Skinny-Dave and Fat-Dave who are unrelated, just both named Dave come out of our local bodega, Good Foods Store, where Ive been working part-time for the past couple of months. Theyre throwing back quarter juices and potato chips. Baby Freddy glides on by with his new steel orange bike, and I remember when we used to give him shit years ago for still needing training wheels but the joke is on me since my father never got a chance to teach me to ride at all. Me-Crazy is sitting on the ground, having a conversation with the wall; and everyone else, the adults mainly, are preparing for this weekends community event of the year.

Family Day.

This will be the first time were celebrating Family Day without Kenneth and Kyle, or Brendans parents, or my dad. Its not like Dad and I were gonna have father son wheelbarrow races or father son basketball games; besides, Dad always paired up with my brother, Eric. But father son anything wouldve been better than this. I cant imagine its any easier for Brendan, even though his parents are both alive. It might be worse, since theyre just out of reach in boxy jail cells for separate crimes: his mother for armed robbery, his father for assaulting a police officer after he was caught dealing meth. Now he lives with his grandfather who is thugging it out at eighty-eight.

Everyones going to expect smiles from us, I say.

Everyone can go suck it, Brendan replies. He pockets his hands, and I bet theres weed in there; dealing pot has been his way of growing up faster, even though its pretty much what landed his dad in prison eight months ago. He checks his watch, struggling to read what the hands are saying. I have to go meet someone. He doesnt even wait for me to respond before he walks off.