Reviews: Girl Against the Universe

Hey look! A book review!



I just finished Girl Against the Universe by Paula Stokes and, let me tell you, this book was awesome!

This book follows Macguire, a teenage girl who, after surviving a number of accidents, including one that killed her father, uncle, and brother, believes she is "cursed". She develops a phobia of getting in cars with people other than her mother, and being in situations where she has no control over the situation. Macguire relies on "5 second checks" to survey the scene of every situation and prevent accidents from occurring. As you can probably guess, this makes her a pretty anxious person.

Macguire has dealt with this for 5 years but after her mom tells her about a family trip to Ireland, she, with the help of her therapist, decides to do something about it. 

I adored this book so much. Like Macguire, I have a very real anxiety about cars. Mine is geared more towards driving, but I understand the dread that comes with plans that require you to have to put yourself on the road. I have also opted out of situations that would force me to drive, even when they sounded super fun. So, following this story, I really felt inspired by her pushing herself to overcome her fears.

I had heard a lot of reviews about this book, and I knew there was a romantic aspect to it. I am very glad that this book didn't fall into "Romance fixes all your anxiety" and instead had Macguire pushing herself for herself. She definitely has become one of my new inspirations. 

Jordy, the love interest, was also dealing with his own things. She meets him in her psychiatrist's office and together, they help build each other up without depending on each other to "fix" them. I adored him!! He was so sweet and funny and I really liked how he was a more realistic portrayal of a guy instead of being perfect.

This book dealt with a lot of female friendships as well as family dynamics, which was refreshing to see. Macguire's family was made up of her mom, her stepfather and her stepsiblings. I really enjoyed that the stepfather played a huge role in helping Macguire instead of having the "evil" stepparent trope. Plus, there wasn't really any resentment or weirdness with the family unit, which I really loved.

I rarely give books a 5 star rating but I have to say, this book was definitely a 5/5!

Also, while researching more into this book, I found an excellent playlist by BookiEmoji that you can check out here!

Have you read this book? Let's chat in the comments, or tweet me @raineedayze!



Always, Raineedayze