I LOVED THIS.

Seriously, C.K. Kelly Martin is one of my favourite YA authors. I think her novels are so significant and important and everyone should be reading them and every time I finish one of her books, I want to hand them to a million people and be like, YOU NEED THIS! Even if I don't know them! Which makes me sound kind of creepy, but really it's because C.K. touches on so many emotional truths, I feel safe in making the assumption that there is something in her books that all people of the planet earth need and can connect with. The Lighter Side of Life and Death is no exception to this rule.

It's about a sixteen-year-old boy named Mason. He and his best friend, Kat, have sex after a party (first time for both of them) and it's undeniably awesome... in the moment.

After, Mason, who has long crushed on Kat, wants to take it to the next level. But Kat--when she can look Mason in the eye--is adamant about not jeopardizing their friendship. Too bad having sex with your best friend isn't exactly a moment you can go back from. The only thing Mason can do is wave goodbye to the relationship they might've had and watch what's left of the one they have deteriorate and deal with the fall out. His night with Kat has alienated him from his other best friend Jamie. To make matters worse, he has to deal with a whole new family dynamic: his dad's fiance moved in with her cranky 13-year-old daughter and an adorable handful of a six-year-old. And a PSYCHO CAT. A distraction is definitely in order.

Luckily (?), distraction comes in the form of Colette, a twenty-three year old woman, and the chemistry between her and Mason is undeniable...

DUM DUM DUM.

I don't even know where to start. I'm so excited about this book and I only just finished this like an hour ago, so I'll just turn this into a list of things I loved about it and try to be coherent:

1) No one out there writes sex like C.K. Kelly Martin. I really admire and appreciate the way she tackles the subject. She is straightforward and shameless in her prose (right on!). The way the characters internalize and experience all these firsts is so thoughtfully and sensitively handled. She respects her readers and her characters and I think--and not just because of how she handles this subject--anyone who wants to write a YA should read one of her books before they even attempt it. PEOPLE: this is how it's done. (In my humble opinion.)

2) The realism. Her books are the most realistic YAs out there. Nothing is sensationalized, but everything is beautiful and honest and raw. EVERYTHING. This is what I mean about emotional truths--CK just understands how extraordinary and hopeful and devastated we can all be by the most everyday things, which is why her books are so relateable and wonderful. She makes these fantastic observations about loneliness and confusion and change and love and friendship and family that just LEVEL ME repeatedly. She could tackle any kind of situation and I'd just GET IT, whether or not I've been through it exactly, because there is something so universal in her narratives and the way she relates her characters' experiences. I think that's so so so special and it is not something I see in YA every day.

3) A book about a 16-year-old teen and a 23-year-old woman could easily veer in Preditor/Prey Cautionary Tale Land. Which would be dull, to be honest. Not so with The Lighter Side. MY FAVOURITE THING about it is Mason and Colette both took responsibility for what they embarked on with each other and they were very adult about it. Maybe someone wants to argue with me that a sixteen-year-old guy can't be adult or make responsible decisions in this kind of situation or that Colette was taking advantage but I don't believe that applies here (also it is worth noting that Mason is the age of consent). I'm not ~condoning~ their relationship in that way but because we have the benefit of reading the story through Mason's POV, it is undeniable that he knew what he was doing and he didn't just dive head first into it. I don't want to give spoilers, but the way it unfolds and how it is dealt with is just flawless, in my mind. ALSO I think there was something really feminist in the way CK tackled it and that always makes me happy.

4) I love how Mason navigated his new family's dynamics (THE CAT WAS HILARIOUS, oh my God, that was awesome) and the way all of his friendships were changing. Mason didn't isolate himself even as things fell apart. There is a pretty big cast characters in this novel but the way Mason socializes (I so would've had a big crush on him from afar if I went to high school) and the way he interacts with all of them (they are not recycled versions of the same sounding board) is distinct and brings out something different in each one. I loved all of the characters in this novel because I got to know them all. The friendships were varied and cozy and I loved it. I think Mason's high school life, where he is on the social ladder, how he works within his group, is probably what most people experience and it was just nice to read about.

5) This is the second time CK has written a novel from a boy's POV. The first was Nick from I Know It's Over. I didn't think of or compare Mason's voice to Nick's voice ONCE as I read this book. Mad props for creating two incredibly distinct male voices.

6) The tone is a bit of a departure! It has Martin's trademark honesty, her trademark intelligence and again, trademark leveling observations, but there is a difference in tone. There is a wryness here! A lot of fun-- Mason internalizes his angst differently than Nick and Finn do (but this is not a comparison--all three of those characters are going through EXTREMELY different things) and it's just a testament to her skill as a writer. As with all of her books, The Lighter Side is an absorbing read and hard to pull yourself away from. The situations are so realistically and deftly handled I never know how they are going to conclude because as we all know, in real life, it's never so simple as heading straight for a happy (or tragic) ending. That is always the case with CK's novels. She gives her audience credit and does her characters justice.

7) After I closed the last page I just sighed and hugged my copy. TRUE STORY.

GO READ IT NOW.

Also, oh MAN, nobody ask me what my favourite C.K. Kelly Martin book is or I will just curl up into a ball and cry because I WON'T BE ABLE TO PICK and the idea of being forced to choose is very upsetting.

(I guess if you HATE ME you could ask, but.)