Review: What Light by Jay Asher

"People think what they want. That's what I've had to accept. I can fight it, but that's exhausting. I can feel hurt about it, but that's torture. Or I can decide it's their loss." - Jay Asher, What Light

My initial intention was to read several Christmas-themed books, and schedule them for upload throughout December. Obviously...that didn't happen. So instead, I come sliding in on the last Wednesday of the month to bring you the only Christmas-themed book I actually got a round to reading!

What Light follows Sierra, whose family has owned a Christmas tree farm since before she was born. For eleven months of the year, she lives in Oregon, helping her parents grow and chop down endless rows of trees. But come Thanksgiving, they pack up and migrate down to California for the holiday season, where they open a tree lot to help families find the perfect tree. Although having two lives always means missing one, Sierra can't imagine living her life any differently.

This Christmas, though, there's also Caleb--a boy with a past and an affinity for Christmas trees, who won't get off Sierra's radar. Any relationship possibilities are already complicated by an expiration date--but the future is uncertain, and it may be Sierra's final Christmas in California. Is any relationship worth saying goodbye?

This book. Was. Adorable. It was an adorable ball of cheese, and I thoroughly enjoyed it, especially after having to go three+ months reading nothing but the texts required for my university courses. (I mean, some of those were also very good. But still.)

I'm going to re-state this, because it's worth emphasizing: this book is so cheesy. Sometimes unbearably so. But when you've been buried under school-induced stress for 13 weeks, unbearable cheese is pretty much exactly what you need. I also found that there was no real overarching conflict through the story--it was more comprised of several smaller issues that resolved themselves quickly, which meant that the climax was...well, not very climactic. It was more of a calm story, with less tension than other similar romantic comedies.

That being said, it was still very well written--pulled me in, and I couldn't get enough of Caleb and Sierra. (Because, again, they are adorable.) There was potential for it to do more, but what it did, it did well.

Final rating: 3.8.

Until later,

- Justyne