A Map of the Known World by Lisa Ann Sandell

 

Summary (from goodreads.com) : 

Cora Bradley dreams of escape. Ever since her reckless older brother, Nate, died in a car crash, Cora has felt suffocated by her small town and high school. She seeks solace in drawing beautiful maps, envisioning herself in exotic locales. When Cora begins to fall for Damian, the handsome, brooding boy who was in the car with Nate the night he died, she uncovers her brother's secret artistic life and realizes she had more in common with him than she ever imagined. With stunning lyricism, Sandell weaves a tale of one girl's journey through the redemptive powers of art, friendship, and love.

Wow, this book was outstanding. I could tell from the first page that I was going to be hooked and that I was going to love it. It's all about Cora and her family dealing with the death of her older brother. All summer Cora avoided going places and stayed inside isolated, drawing maps. Maps of places that she wanted to go when she got out of her town. Then school starts and everything changes. She connects with Damian, her brothers best friend, who was in the car with him when it crashed. But he got out alive. Her family hates him, blaming him for the death, but Cora starts to see that he knew a completely different side of her brother, and that maybe she was wrong about him.

I could really relate to Cora, and her growth throughout the novel was brilliant. The way that her brother was a part of the story through flashbacks was great and I felt like he was as much a character in the book as anyone alive. Damian's character was drawn perfectly. He had so many layers. I thought that the romance between Cora and Damian was paced perfectly also. It wasn't a "boom they're in love" or a "I'm going to have them fall in love on the last page" thing, it was perfectly in between. I would normally tell about something that I didn't like, but I don't think that there was anything.

Overall: I loved it! 5 stars!