This Is the Story of You, a first blog review

The days leading up to the launch of a book can be excruciating.

Does anyone know the book exists? Will anyone care? How will the book find its way in the world? Will readers find in those pages what you hoped to write into those pages—in this case, the story of the compassion and community that arise in the wake of a monster storm on the Jersey shore?

This past weekend, thanks to the New York City Teen Authors Festival (and David Levithan), I had the opportunity to read the first page and a half of This Is the Story of You to a beautiful gathering at the New York Public Library, as part of a panel that also featured Carolyn Mackler, Luanne Rice, and Francisco X. Stork (and David). On Sunday afternoon, I saw the book in a bookstore for the first time, thanks to the mega Books of Wonder signing.

When I returned from New York, I learned that Jennifer Hoppins, a beautiful writer who had received Story as part of a giveaway, had been working on a review of the book for her blog, Imagined, Remembered, Believed. It's a rather extraordinary review—a weaving together of fictions and personal truths, a gorgeously written post about life and loves.

I share it here. With gratitude to Jennifer for making this season of waiting less lonely, and for allowing me to exhale.

Thank you.