Anything But Ordinary

Sep 19, 2012 Joy (joyous reads) rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: own

The Gist: Girl woke up from a five-year coma; life around her predictably changed. Her family's drifted apart. She lost her best friend and boyfriend. On top of it all, she's sensing something different about herself: her senses are heightened and she's remembering things from other people's past. She's also getting glimpses of the future - hers and her loved ones. What's happening? Many called her a miracle but some days, she wonders, is she really? Or is she nothing but a freak of nature?

The R...more The Gist: Girl woke up from a five-year coma; life around her predictably changed. Her family's drifted apart. She lost her best friend and boyfriend. On top of it all, she's sensing something different about herself: her senses are heightened and she's remembering things from other people's past. She's also getting glimpses of the future - hers and her loved ones. What's happening? Many called her a miracle but some days, she wonders, is she really? Or is she nothing but a freak of nature?

The Review: Much like Bryce at the beginning when she was innundated by confusion, I had pretty much scratched my head for the better part of this novel. From the vague explanation about her new-found extra-ordinary abilities to dealing with waking up finding your life wasn't what it was, I felt that the novel was a bit disorganized - somewhat all over the place.

There is a lack of cohesiveness that starts from the time she wakes up from coma, creating and fulfilling her bucket list, and the eventual end. Sometimes, it was too much of everything and too little of something definite. Her bucket list - which consisted of things she missed from high school, felt like a random thing used to fill the pages. I thought that if this list came after a certain point in the novel where she found out the consequences of having her ability, then it would've made sense. The order felt wrong somehow.

The narrative has a mystical characteristic that just didn't work when it should. We're talking about a girl who literally slept for five years and woke up with some extra ordinary abilities - magical and miraculous. But Bryce herself didn't seem that vested in what was going on most of the time.

Cicadas usually precedes her visions but for the life of me, I couldn't find the connection. Someone, please...explain this to me like I'm five years old.

So the ending. Yeah. I've tried to wrap my head around it but I've failed so many times. Just because you saw how it ends, doesn't mean you'll go on and make it happen, lady. It's like a morbid version of a self-fulfilling prophecy only she didn't need encouragements from people, she just...let it happened. Ever heard of fighting fate? You can, you know. If you want it enough, that is. Oh but what am I rambling about anyway? It seems futile, considering I wasn't at all clear on how this book ended. I've drawn to my own conclusion that fade to black scenes are soooo overrated.

VERDICT: I read this in less than three hours and it's not because it had me completely entranced. It's because I waited and waited until it got better. Sadly, it didn't live up to its title. I have a feeling that if this book didn't end the way it did, it'd have gotten a better rating. I don't care much for how it ended - the story seemed unfinished.
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Feb 18, 2013 Yinglin Chen rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: sophomore-year

A girl that woke up, and finally realized that she had been in a coma for 5 years, from a diving accident. However, it was definitely unordinary that a girl that has been asleep for 5 years has regained most of her senses right away, although she had a little trouble walking.

5 years, is definitely a long time and many things would change, which happened to Bryce. She had to wake up to and realized that her boyfriend is engaged to her best friend, and her sister has become a junkie.

From this bo...more

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Jan 21, 2013 Jenna rated it 5 of 5 stars

Why You Must Read This:

Compelling plot. Bryce wakes up after five years of being in a coma. Everything is her different. Her once innocent twelve year old sister has become a punk rebel, her friends have graduated from college, and her boyfriend is with her best friend. Major betrayal issues from the start.

It makes you ask "What if?" This could happen to anyone. As Bryce is at the Olympic trials, she miscalculates her dive and hits her head on the pool, knocking her unconscious. Okay, so we're...more Why You Must Read This:

Compelling plot. Bryce wakes up after five years of being in a coma. Everything is her different. Her once innocent twelve year old sister has become a punk rebel, her friends have graduated from college, and her boyfriend is with her best friend. Major betrayal issues from the start.

It makes you ask "What if?" This could happen to anyone. As Bryce is at the Olympic trials, she miscalculates her dive and hits her head on the pool, knocking her unconscious. Okay, so we're not all champion swimmers, but life-threatening accidents are very real possibilities. I found myself wondering what I would do upon waking up in her situation. Sure, a second chance at life is within reach, but could I accept the fact that no one thought I'd wake up and so everyone moved on, including the love of my life? It does make sense, thinking about how much pain the left behind family and friends went through with grief and acceptance, but that doesn't make the hurt any less. It's interesting to see Bryce navigate through all the loss she feels. She'll never get back those five years. The question is, how will she move on and start as a brand new person?

Carter. Carter is cute, smart, and a medical student who is Bryce's first new friend when she wakes up. He wants to be there for her if he'll let her. Not only does the reader see him in a protective role but also as a possible love interest. He is quiet in a way that many main YA guys are not and sits back rather than rushing her into a relationship. Some of the things he does for her, though little, are swoon worthy! He's got some pretty fabulous cooking skills to boot.

The family dynamics are realistic. Bryce's family has basically fallen apart in her absence, which is what you'd expect when a daughter and a sister has been so well loved. Without giving too much away, I enjoyed watching that dynamic again change as Bryce comes home from the hospital and figures out her new role in the family.

The ending. I've been in love with endings lately. Tears will stream down your face as you read the last chapter, which says a lot about Avery's writing ability. I felt so connected to Bryce by the end of the story, and it isn't even in 1st person! Everything comes full circle in this book. I can't think of a more suitable ending. Seriously, the ending sealed this book's rating for me.

What Bugged Me:

Greg, Bryce's old boyfriend. He's kind of a jerk. But knowing that I had such a strong emotional response to a character, again, reveals a great deal about the author's ability to mold amazing prose.

Final Verdict:
Anything But Ordinary reminds us that life is a miracle in which every second must count. A page turner that will rip your heart out (in the best way possible). (less)

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Nov 19, 2012 Calcalsellars rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: coma-diving

SUMMARY: After a disastrous Olympic Trials, Bryce Graham has finally woken up from her five-year coma. Her parents have grown apart. Her old best friend and now ex-boyfriend are - gasp - engaged. Her sister is a sullen teenager who gets hungover nightly and seems to hate her. What will Bryce do?

REVIEW:I found the premise and writing pretty good but I was unimpressed with Bryce herself. Yeah, it takes a while to get back in the swing of things when you've been dead to the world for five years - b...more SUMMARY: After a disastrous Olympic Trials, Bryce Graham has finally woken up from her five-year coma. Her parents have grown apart. Her old best friend and now ex-boyfriend are - gasp - engaged. Her sister is a sullen teenager who gets hungover nightly and seems to hate her. What will Bryce do?

REVIEW:I found the premise and writing pretty good but I was unimpressed with Bryce herself. Yeah, it takes a while to get back in the swing of things when you've been dead to the world for five years - but Bryce only even mentions possibly going to college one or two times, and never once thought about getting a job, moving out...all the things you would think a twenty-three-year-old would want to do, but strangely, Bryce seems to have lost an interest in everything but romance and occasionally what her old friends and family are up to. Also, the sport she worked so hard at and developed such a passion for - diving - she does not miss at all and has completely given up on it. The whole time I was thinking, go out and DO something with your life! I mean, you'd think one would want to after five years of total immobility.

Now the romance part: Bryce had an affair with Greg, her ex-boyfriend and her friend's fiancee. At the same time, she was falling for her doctor, Carter. Eventually she ends up with Carter, of course; but she never resolves things with Greg. The last we hear of him is when Gabby tells Bryce he's run off to sulk somewhere. Bryce doesn't even care, and Gabby forgives Bryce for cheating with her fiancee way too quickly. We only hear a little bit of Greg's past and then he is never explored again, which pissed me off a bit. As for Carter, he's written to not have a single flaw and that kind of thing I think is boring. Who wants to read about perfect people?

Bryce's visions: Stumped on that one. We really never know how she got them, and I don't see why they were so great anyway when in the end they just damaged her brain. Also, when Carter learns she has them he believes it right away, which seems unrealistic.

ENDING: I don't understand the ending at all. It's not clear what happened though I think she pitched herself off a cliff for some weird reason...IF that's even what happened, I really don't think it was a good ending. I mean, who wants to read a book where the protagonist just gives up and dies anyway?

p.s. Why'd I give it 4 stars then? Like I said, the language and a lot of the story were good. It just needed some work.
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Oct 14, 2012 Bookandahug rated it 3 of 5 stars

Bryce Graham, seventeen, is a champion diver and could be headed to the Olympics. Her best friend, Gabby is in the stands holding her breath alongside Bryce's devoted guy, Greg. At this moment, Bryce is poised on the end of the diving board ready to launch herself into the future with all of her dreams coming true. In the same moment, there at the back of the stands, is a man from out of town, sipping a Coke and waiting in the silence with the rest of the crowd as Bryce takes her final leap, sen...more

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Sep 23, 2012 Steffy rated it 2 of 5 stars

I have no idea how I feel about this book. Maybe I will need days to figure it out I don’t know all I know is that I’m completely and utterly surprised and shocked by the development of the story and the ending.
Usually when you read the summary of a book, like it or not you can somehow predict how it will go it was not the case I finished it with a big “What the hell?”
Like it or hate it I doesn’t matter I don’t think this book could let anyone indifferent.
For the most part I liked it, the stor...more

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Sep 06, 2012 Cassidy Fontana rated it 3 of 5 stars

Thanks to an advance reading copy, I got a chance to check out Anything But Ordinary by Lara Avery a few weeks early. The premise to this YA novel is compelling - seventeen-year-old Bryce wakes up in the hospital after an Olympic diving trial gone wrong, only to discover that she missed the last five years of her life, and she's actually twenty-two. Her best friend Gabby and her boyfriend Greg commiserated together... to the point that they began dating each other, thinking Bryce would never com...more Thanks to an advance reading copy, I got a chance to check out Anything But Ordinary by Lara Avery a few weeks early. The premise to this YA novel is compelling - seventeen-year-old Bryce wakes up in the hospital after an Olympic diving trial gone wrong, only to discover that she missed the last five years of her life, and she's actually twenty-two. Her best friend Gabby and her boyfriend Greg commiserated together... to the point that they began dating each other, thinking Bryce would never come out of her coma. Bryce still feels seventeen in her head, as if the dive that landed her in the hospital was just yesterday, but in reality, her little sister Sydney is now seventeen, and running around with a partying crowd that likes to drink, dress alternatively, and stay out late. Bryce's parents have become distant from each other, due to the stress of her accident. Her mom and dad have different ideas about how to structure her recovery, and this leads to more bickering.

The novel's plot kept me reading, even though some of the dialogue was mildly bland and perhaps not as in depth as it could have been. I was interested to see how Bryce would handle the many difficult situations she had to face. I especially would have liked to see the relationship between Bryce and her sister Sydney fleshed out, because I got the impression we were only seeing the tip of the iceberg. A few more flashback scenes of her former life would have helped her loss resonate with readers even more strongly.

One problem is that the Olympic trials plot sparked my interest, and yet the Olympics are barely discussed as a goal of Bryce's. After she wakes up, she realizes she will never be able to compete, and the novel doesn't focus on her coming to terms with this, favoring the romantic triangle instead. This felt sorely lacking because Bryce devoted practically her entire life to training for the Olympics and the loss of this dream is barely addressed.

The extreme insensitivity that Bryce's best friend Gabby displays when confessing that she is now dating Bryce's then-boyfriend, Greg, is almost unbelievable. While Gabby is later redeemed as a character, the initial reveal makes you wonder why Bryce was friends with Greg and Gabby in the first place. Neither of them even call her when she comes out of her coma while they're traveling Europe! I did think that Greg's confusion and cowardice was convincing and realistic, and the messiness and circular nature of the situation made me torn between whether Greg should remain with Gabby or return to Bryce. The slideshow of Greg and Gabby's five years together really captures what kind of bond they've forged in Bryce's absence.

There were moments when the author went a bit overboard in demonstrating Greg's flaws, in an attempt to contrast them with the strengths of the new love interest, med student Carter, who watched over Bryce and read to her while she was in her coma. For example, we see a flashback scene where Greg is smoking and Bryce won't stand within ten feet of him because she is an athlete.

Carter is a likeable love interest, although many aspects of his character are very Gary Stu, such as his extravagant plans to give Bryce her own version of a high school graduation, senior photo, and prom.

Avery does a good job of showing Bryce wavering between her seventeen-year-old self and her twenty-two-year-old self, because while physically she is twenty-two, mentally she is still seventeen in many ways. She feels behind, like a genuine late bloomer, when she attends Gabby's bachelorette party with girls who have already graduated from college and are comfortable drinking and dancing in clubs.

The novel is generally realistic fiction except for a subplot that deals with the visions Bryce unexpectedly experiences after awakening. The visions show her things she couldn't possibly remember from when she was in the coma, and sometimes they appear to predict future events. This is not very well explained, and it adds an element of the magical or mysterious to a novel that is otherwise rooted in everyday life. If the entire novel was magical realism, this might be slightly more believable, but as it is, it feels like a misplaced plot point, designed to give Bryce a "purpose" for coming back to life.

The cicada metaphor that opens and closes the novel is apt, and foreshadows the ending for the reader. Avery does a good job of lulling us into thinking nothing is wrong. I don't want to say too much about the ending, but there are some glaring concerns in regards to how Bryce's loved ones might respond to or misunderstand a decision she made... so while it's poetic in a sense, it's also unsettling.

Despite the above criticisms, common enough in a debut novel, as a reader I did enjoy the book and thought it was worth reading.

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Aug 13, 2012 Stephanie rated it 5 of 5 stars

The Militant Recommender is recommending Lara Avery's Anything But Ordinary this week because it is an Olympic summer and Bryce Graham, our heroine in this extraordinary story, is an Olympic contender. She is a 17 year old diver who, when reporters asked her her secret, replied concentration, or focus... but never mentioned fear. Or space. The lack of it... the length of a cicada (relevent when you read the story), one inch...was all it took to end Bryce's career at the Nashville Olympic Diving...more

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Jul 22, 2012 Kricket rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012, first-reads-and-arcs, drama-rama, sports, teen-fiction, teen-romance, trauma, not-impressed

a promising (and bee-yoo-tiful!) young diver hits her head and wakes up five years later. things have changed. she has missed her chance at the olympics, her family is falling apart, and her boyfriend is now engaged to her best friend. bryce should be paralyzed but by sheer force of will she is walking again almost instantly. but she doesn't want to tell the handsome young intern (who has taken a curious interest in her case) about the strange visions she gets along with blinding pain, because s...more

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Jun 08, 2012 Rachel rated it 3 of 5 stars

Bryce wakes up from a coma at the start of this story. What she realizes very shortly after waking is that she has been gone for five years, and her world has changed. Her adorable, sweet 12-year-old sister is now a harsh, biting 17 year old. Her loving parents are now emotionally distant from each other. The home she knew like the back of her hand has been transformed into a space she barely recognizes. And the icing on top is that her boyfriend and her best friend are now engaged to be married...more

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May 21, 2013 WJ rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult

Opening Line: Most divers forget to see the space, the air.

By all accounts, Anything but Ordinary should be a really great read. The blurb sounds promising: a diver training to be Olympian miscalculates the distance of her dive, ends up seriously injuring her head and goes into a coma. Five years later she's mysteriously recovered and now has strange visions. The rest of the world, including her best friend and boyfriend, have moved on while she's left to pick up the pieces. Sounds promising, ri...more Opening Line: Most divers forget to see the space, the air.

By all accounts, Anything but Ordinary should be a really great read. The blurb sounds promising: a diver training to be Olympian miscalculates the distance of her dive, ends up seriously injuring her head and goes into a coma. Five years later she's mysteriously recovered and now has strange visions. The rest of the world, including her best friend and boyfriend, have moved on while she's left to pick up the pieces. Sounds promising, right?

Avery has a really cool idea here. Unfortunately, the book doesn't live up to the blurb and is actually quite boring.

The MC Bryce is supposed to be a sympathetic character. She's been through a lot and to find out that everyone else has moved on is a really, really hard thing to do. Even though I wanted to like her and wanted good things to happen to her, I found her making way too many Bad Life Decisions to justify any sympathy I might have felt towards her. (view spoiler) Bryce is this weak, fragile maiden that we're supposed to feel sympathetic for but instead I didn't like her much.

Another issue I had with Bryce's characterization is how she didn't seem to be all that sad about not being to dive again. Usually with athletes recovering from injuries and who can't do their chosen sport, there's a period of mourning. Of rage and anger at losing their opportunities. But with Bryce? Not so much. She doesn't really express any sadness about not being to dive. Instead, she's more focused on her love interests, Greg and Carter. Did Bryce actually like diving that much? Unknown.

The plot itself was incredibly problematic as well. Bryce has special powers that are never really explained (view spoiler) and I'm not sure what the point of her powers are either. She just seems to have convenient cases of flashbacks that let her see her family grieving, her boyfriend hiding it out in her barn and Carter reading to her. Anything But Ordinary was boring because I wasn't emotionally invested at all. At one point I was checking the page count because I wasn't sure I could finish.

I think what ultimately disappointed me the most would be the ending. Well. It wasn't much of an ending. I think that it was meant to be poignant, to make us feel sad about the lost potential and the chances that Bryce would miss in the future. Avery was aiming high but she did not deliver. Instead, she left me with a "What the heck" moment and that is never a good way to leave readers.

I will say one nice thing about the book though: Avery's got a pretty good command of language and her use of foreshadowing is accurate. Unfortunately it's let down by the dismal plot and poor characterization. (less)

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Aug 24, 2012 Kate rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: arcs, age-ya, 2012

Bryce is 17 when she hits her head during a diving competition, and 22 when she wakes up from a coma. Bryce feels the same, but everything is different. Her little sister is grown up into a rebellious teen, her parents barely look at each other, and her boyfriend Greg is engaged to her best friend Gabby. Bryce does her best to work through it all, driving herself to walk and make her life normal again, with a little help from Carter, a med student who sat by her side through those five years.

Bry...more

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Sep 06, 2012 Aeicha rated it 2 of 5 stars

The intriguing premise of Lara Avery's Anything But Ordinary is what initially drew me to this book- I mean girl-in-coma-wakes-up-years-later with visions sounds pretty captivating- unfortunately, the book's story execution and character development fell very flat.

Seventeen year old Bryce has a terrible accident on the day of her Olympic diving trials and ends up in a coma. Five years later, she miraculously wakes up and seems to recover swiftly. But everything is different- Bryce is now 22, her...more The intriguing premise of Lara Avery's Anything But Ordinary is what initially drew me to this book- I mean girl-in-coma-wakes-up-years-later with visions sounds pretty captivating- unfortunately, the book's story execution and character development fell very flat.

Seventeen year old Bryce has a terrible accident on the day of her Olympic diving trials and ends up in a coma. Five years later, she miraculously wakes up and seems to recover swiftly. But everything is different- Bryce is now 22, her parents' marriage is breaking, her baby sister is now a rebellious, wayward 17 year old and her BFF and high school boyfriend have moved on. Then Bryce starts to have weird visions, visions of things that happened while she was asleep and visions of things to come. And through it all, Bryce must rediscover who she is and the life she wants to live.

Anything But Ordinary starts with a potentially complex and fascinating premise, but the story never lives up to that potential. This book seems to have an identity crisis of sorts; it can't decide if it's a contemporary or a paranormal or a love story. It has elements of all three, and individually these elements can, at times, be compelling and intriguing, but they don't really mesh well together or cohesively. The story just never finds its balance or flow.

The narration is anything but smooth and has a disjointed, clunky feel to it. At times I found myself fully engrossed in the story, but then the choppy flow would yank me out of the story. The writing itself is not bad, in fact there are quite a few really beautiful and thought-provoking lines, and the actual story being told is worth telling. However, the total story execution and development falls very short.

There are quite a few different arcs focused on in the story (Bryce's new romance, her parents fragile marriage, her sister's rebellion, her BFF and former boyfriend's relationship), yet not a whole lot actually happens from beginning to end. Avery crafts a poignant and insightful look into how Bryce's accident has affected everyone around her, but again the story as a whole lacks cohesiveness. However, I did appreciate the realism and believability found within this exploration. The fragile, distant and almost cold nature of Bryce's parents' marriage in the wake of their daughter's accident and coma feels startling real. And the reckless, desperate nature of Bryce's little sister's rebellion (drinking, smoking, relationships with many guys, etc) is easy to understand and believe.

For the most part, the characters in this book aren't particularly memorable or masterfully developed. I had a hard time connecting with Bryce. I certainly sympathized with her, but found her unrelatable; boring and, at times, unbearably selfish. I neither like or dislike the other important characters (Bryce's parents, her BFF Gabby, old boyfriend Greg and new boyfriend Carter) and never felt genuinely invested in them. But I did really love Sydney, Bryce's little sister. Now Sydney isn't always easy to like or take, she can be relentlessy bratty and makes stupid choices, but she's unabashedly honest and amusingly witty. But more than that, Sydney's pain, fear and desperation is so palpable and real. She's really the one shining gem in this otherwise dull lot of characters.

The ending of this book is annoyingly abrupt and unexpected and had me "WTFing" and scoffing in frustration. Honestly, after everything the author put her characters and me, the reader, through I felt kind of gypped by the ending *stomps foot*

MY FINAL THOUGHTS: I walked away from this book seriously conflicted and disappointed. Anything But Ordinary has a few bright spots (Sydney, a certain level of poignancy, and an arresting idea), but the disjointed flow, dull characters and less than great execution, makes it an overall lackluster read.

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Jun 04, 2012 Jen rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: arc-s, ya-contemporary-challenge-2012

Beautiful cover! 3.75 Stars!

This is a well written, interesting book about making every day count but it broke my heart. I found myself torn throughout most of it, because while I wanted to know, HAD TO KNOW how it all ended...I also wanted to stop reading because it hurt too much at times. *cries* For the record, I was so unhappy with how this book ended that when I went to sleep that night, I actually dreamed it ended differently. (Yes, I'm aware of my issues.)

I can not imagine being in Bryce...more

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Jun 18, 2012 Emily Crowe rated it 1 of 5 stars

This book would've been more appropriately called "Pretty Ordinary." I had such high hopes from reading the first few pages that it was my airplane book for today, but that turned out to be a big mistake. This book has narrative inconsistencies, factual inaccuracies, two-dimensional characters, parents whose actions simply cannot be believed, and dialogue that is both flat & insipid. Still, it's a quick read and once Bryce, the main character, gets her last bit of bad news, somewhere around...more

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Sep 29, 2012 Bistro2012 rated it 4 of 5 stars

Morgan, 17
Lara Avery
Anything But Ordinary
Hyperion 2012

This book was amazing! I loved to read it. when i picked it up, i could not put it down, and I thought the idea was completly original. I would recomend this to readers who are looking for new books to read and are tired of the same story line. This book is well written and keeps you hooked through to the unexpected ending!

This book is about the life of Vryce Graham when she wakes up from a coma 5 years after a disastrous Olympic diving...more

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Feb 25, 2013 Kristen rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: mostly-ya-some-juvenile

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Nov 16, 2012 Mitch rated it 4 of 5 stars

Ok, first of all I must admit that the author Lara Avery lives one floor above me, but I am not being biast. I told her I'd tell her my true thoughts about the book, and I will! In short, "Anything But Ordinary" is a great book. A quick read and an interesting story, that's for sure!

The following contains spoilers.

Bryce is a champion diver with dreams of the Olympics. She is a bright high school student and has a loyal best friend and wonderful boyfriend. The one dive changes everything. She is...more

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Jun 05, 2013 Jenn rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: on-loan

I wanted to like this book so much more than I actually did. I think it could have been developed more.

I think the tension between Bryce, her best friend and her old boyfriend could have been explored more. It was never fully resolved.

The extra senses that she had were never adequately explained. Either make them central to the story, or cut them out. I think it was just in there as a way to point to the ultimate problem that she has and the reason for the ending, but it's insufficient and annoy...more

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Mar 18, 2013 Rhiannon rated it 5 of 5 stars

Recommended to Rhiannon by: My friend Fiona

Shelves: teen-fiction, romance-all-the-way

Wow, what a brilliant book. So touching, I cried and smiled every step of the way that Bryce took. The ending, it was terrible but a ending that fit perfectly with the book. It was amazing, sorry for spoiling something here but when I read Bryce wouldn't survive because there was a smelling in her brain that could kill her I thought:
No! She can't die! She has to live!
But then I was like:
Wait, come on Rhiannon. It would be a miracle if she lived plus this is no fairytale, Lara Avery is writing...more

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Oct 03, 2012 Aninhaa Marcondes rated it 4 of 5 stars

This was such a bittersweet read!

Bryce is a diver with a brilliant future ahead of her, but in a diving accident she enters in a coma, only to wake up five years later.
Her little sister is seventeen, her friends are graduating from college, Bryce slept right through high school...
We follow Bryce as she comes to terms with the things that she missed, with her old friends, and moves on to new things.

Well, I guess the 'visions' could be explained, and weaved better into the story, that is my...more

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Nov 12, 2012 Vikki rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult

This was a novel by first time author, Lara Avery. The story was about a diver who had an accident while diving and was in a coma for five years. The story starts as she wakes up from the coma.
There were problems with the book. Nothing seemed to make sense to me. The parents were by Bryce's side every day she was in the coma. Yet I found them to be very insensitive to her- like not telling her that her old boyfriend and best girlfriend were dating. There were many things like that in the book...more

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Apr 30, 2013 Milena Lim rated it 4 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Mar 31, 2013 Tori smexys_sidekick added it

Shelves: coming-of-age, dark, dealing-with-grief, read-in-2013, romance-mild, will-probably-make-me-cry, ya

Not sure what to rate it.

Anything but Ordinary is a coming of age YA that tells the story of a woman who wakes up after being in a coma for 5 years. Her family has fallen apart, her boyfriend is marrying her best friend, and her memories seem to be trying to tell her something.

I'm not really sure how I felt about this book. On one hand, I enjoyed watching Bryce and her struggle to re orient herself to the present. She is now 22 but still feels 17. On the other hand, I felt so much was going on...more

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Mar 04, 2013 Tim Jones rated it 3 of 5 stars

I did enjoy the build-up of her life once she awoke from the coma. But I thought there could have been more to the oddities that followed her accident. I liked the dynamic between her and her sister, seemed terribly life-life for siblings, and the wrap-up (per say) with her friends ended on a sour notes, which I believe was the only option. The only let down was I wanted a bit more with the magic that surrounded her and her new life.

Also, I would have been much happier had she not consummated he...more

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Apr 19, 2013 Abigail rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Everybody

Shelves: love-the-cover, my-favorites, my-heart-strings-have-been-played, serious-stuff-going-down-man

First off: I loved this book. So much. I loved Carter, Bryce, Gabby, Sydney, everybody. It was so good. I love the plot and characters. It was a really, really good read. I felt happy when she was happy,sad when she was sad, and all that good stuff.
But then.
I love to listen to music while reading, so when i came upon the last chapter *sob* i was listening to When I Was Your Man by Bruno Mars, so let's say i was a little depressed (ok,i may have shed a tear a little) but i really hoped. How was i...more

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Aug 24, 2012 Dedra rated it 1 of 5 stars

The problem with reading an advance copy is that you want to talk about it but you can't tell much without going into spoilers. What sounds like an interesting premise - 17 year old has a tragic accident at her Olympics diving trial (think Greg Louganis), ends up in a coma for 5 years, wakes up and discovers her boyfriend engaged to her best friend and her family is falling apart - descends into ridiculous and implausible situations, inane dialogue and the strangest ending ever. For me, it's a w...more

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Mar 25, 2013 Lectus rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: abandoned

Via http://onlectus.blogspot.com/2013/03/...

So... Bryce has a diving accident and when she wakes up five years has passed. Now she is a 22 year woman with the memories of when she was 17. She is awake and her family is falling apart because - predictable - the strain of her years in comma has been difficult for everyone.

It's not that I didn't like it, it's just that it was boring and I started to feel that I didn't care about anybody. I guess it is a nice story of waking up to find everything c...more

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Jan 09, 2013 Heather rated it 3 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Aug 16, 2012 Brandi Kosiner rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book drew me in from the first words. Bryce is so easy to connect with and I wanted the best for her, and it was painful to go through her journey with her, especially at first when she realized that she lost five years of her life, and everything around her is so uncertain. Lara Avery writes beautifully, inserting just enough conflict, suspense, and character development to leave me hooked.
There is so much leaving me wondering, about her dreams/flashbacks/forwards wondering if they are t...more

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Anything But Ordinary

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