It wasn’t that I needed his approval to exist. Even in this time of frissons and jittery stomachs, I knew my power without Elijah. I didn’t need him to kiss me. I just really wanted him to, and that wild desire made my body feel like it was on fire. Let’s be honest. I was in love, and it was the kind of love that made me forget myself.

Title: Everything Must Go

Author: Jenny Fran Davis

Series: Standalone

Publication: October 3rd 2017 by Wednesday Books

Pages: 416

Source: Publisher in exchange for a honest review

Summary from Goodreads:

Flora Goldwasser has fallen in love. She won’t admit it to anyone, but something about Elijah Huck has pulled her under. When he tells her about the hippie Quaker school he attended in the Hudson Valley called Quare Academy, where he’ll be teaching next year, Flora gives up her tony upper east side prep school for a life on a farm, hoping to woo him. A fish out of water, Flora stands out like a sore thumb in her vintage suits among the tattered tunics and ripped jeans of the rest of the student body. When Elijah doesn’t show up, Flora must make the most of the situation and will ultimately learn more about herself than she ever thought possible.

Told in a series of letters, emails, journal entries and various ephemera, Flora’s dramatic first year is laid out for all to see, embarrassing moments and all.

A Listical of Thoughts:

• A huge plus in this book is its self-aware, hilarious narration. It’s fresh, funny, and feminist. YES PLEASE.
• This is a great story of making mistakes and trying to find ways to fix them… in an out of whack sort of way. It was awesome.
• I loved reading Flora’s journal entries, though that was the extent of the narration. While I would have preferred a more traditional narration with this story, the unconventional journal entries did work – just not my favorite.
• WHITE PRIVILEGE, but self-aware privilege that checks itself before it wrecks itself? It was interesting, and I have sort of a love/hate relationship with it. (Still great, though)
• The characters were great. Strange, but great nonetheless.
• I love that this focused on Flora after she had already fallen in love, rather than the typical falling in love story.
• I will say this, though: I hate how focused Flora was on how she looked throughout the entire book. I wanted more focus on other things… not details on clothing choices and hairstyles.
• The “no shell-speak” is probably my favorite part of this book. No talking about people’s outside shells, rather, you complement their ideas and thoughts rather than how they did (or didn’t) do their hair that morning. I am hardcore adopting this into my life.
• And because I feel I’ve run out of things to say, here is my favorite quote from the book. Read it, love it, REMEMBER IT!

Girls are not machines that you put kindness coins into until sex falls out.

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