You by Charles Benoit

Title: You
Author: Charles Benoit
Release Date: September 1st, 2010
Source: Around the World ARC Tours
Synopsis from Goodreads:
A note from the author:
It's easy to forget that we spend our early teens afraid. We're afraid of fitting in, standing out, or being ignored. We worry that we'll never get a date, never get into college, and never amount to anything. Just like everyone predicts.

It's also easy to discount these fears. Looking back, it seems impossible that we would have stayed awake all night worrying about what someone else thought of our clothes or that we ever doubted our abilities, our potential. But that's only because we know how the story ends.

I wanted to write a book that started with these fears as givens, bottling them in tight and capping them off with that artificial indifference genetically required of all teens. Kyle Chase is not a bad kid. He's not a good kid, either. He's a typical kid. He's any kid. And, at one point in your life, he was you. 

So, based on the ARC cover practically being swallowed by one line praise, and the first three pages inside being filled with paragraphs of praise, I had really, really high expectations for this book. Too bad it didn't meet them. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't a bad book by any means, and I really liked it, just not nearly as much as I expected to.

I did love the narration. A lot. I've never read an entire book in second person, and I was surprised by how easily I got used to it. Kyle was pretty cool as the main character. He had some snarky humor that I enjoyed. His fatal flaw is anger issues, big time. Besides Zach, the antagonist (though it's not evident at first), and Kyle, most of the other characters fell pretty flat. I had a hard time picturing most of them.

I think that part of the reason that I didn't enjoy this book as much as I thought I would is because, despite what the author says, Kyle isn't me. In fact, slacker Kyle basically slams straight A honor roll kids, like me. There were a few times that Kyle did think things about his teachers and the school that I know I've thought before. I have to hand it to Charles Benoit, he really got the teenager mindset right. 

Basically, I really enjoyed this book, and devoured it trying to get to the end. Which is, well, you'll see. 

Characters: 8/10
Plot: 9/10
Originality: 9/10
Writing: 9/10
Ending: 9/10
Overall: 44/50 B+
Cover Comments: I love this cover, the shattered red glass is very striking and makes a point on the black backround.