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352 pages, Hardcover
First published June 3, 2014
Forgiveness is a divine act.
”I thought I screwed everything up,” I say.
He smiles. “You’re only one person. In the whole universe. You can’t screw everything up.”
My dad called us mermaids, but I knew we were more than that. We were fish. We were best friends.My Best Friend, Maybe reminded me so much of First There Was Forever because both are AMAZING portrayals of the complexities of female friendship. But what distinguishes My Best Friend, Maybe is that it goes far beyond exploring the reasons why a friendship suddenly ends. When Coley agrees to go with her former best friend Sadie to Greece, she confronts her growing discomfort with her religious upbringing as well as her identity as a girl on the cusp of adulthood. The startling truth of why Sadie asks her former friend to Greece in the first place allows Coley to gain a better understanding of the different forms of love - from friendship to romantic love.
Sadie was mine and I was hers. I knew it the way I knew my backbone held me up.
I was wrong.
She’s been lying. For so long.And yes, there is a little romance -- but it feels so natural and not at all trite. I think the following sentence from the book will assuage any fears of a typical romance-dominated YA contemporary: But it turns out even the perfect boy can’t guarantee a perfect day. YES GIRL YES. It is so refreshing to see the rejection of the "boy-arrives-now-our-issues-are-over" trope we see 24/7 in YA contemporary.
Probably since we were little kids.
Forever.
“Coley?” she says. “What are you thinking?”
I stare at her. I’m thinking about her lying because it’s the part I can think about, the part I know is wrong. Because I can’t even try to think about everything else yet.
But we don’t have to be grown-ups today.Even when we understand why a friendship fell apart, it doesn't mean that the remaining shards should be put together. We all grown up, and life throws us in a million different directions where 'You & I' may not even recognize why we became 'You & I.' It is gut-wrenchingly scary to realize when a friendship has run its course, but it is often what is right. My Best Friend, Maybe explores this heartbreaking reality with two wonderfully complex friends, set against the lush backdrop of a summer in Greece.
Today is a summer day. And there’s nothing in any part of the world as fun as a summer day with Sadie Pepper.
“Do you really need for me to get milkshakes?” she asked. I did. I clearly did. But that word “need” sounded so pathetic. I needed her to want to get milkshakes. I needed her to rank all her friends for me so that I could hear my name at the top of the list. I was afraid I was sinking lower and lower on it, and if I sunk too low on Sadie’s friend list, I might sink out of real life.
It’s impossible to sleep long enough on an island this beautiful. All of this beauty makes me wonder why God decided we ever have to sleep in the first place.
But now we’re here, across the world in a cave in Santorini where the sun is so strong it almost has a smell and the stairs carved into the sides of the cliffs allow you to see everything at once and yet have a million surprises a day.
“Yes?” Sam says.
“I thought I screwed everything up,” I say.
He smiles. “You’re only one person. In the whole universe. You can’t screw everything up.”
“Look, I don’t know what’s happening with your father. After all these years I’m finally going to apologize and I hope he’ll hear me. But no matter what happens, you’re my kid, my daughter, okay? And when you get home, the first thing I’m going to do is listen to you.”
Below us, the pathways and sidewalks and stairways are jammed with people reverently watching as the sun kisses the horizon and sinks slowly into the sea.
I can’t believe the colors. The volcano is a black silhouette on a molten rainbow of canvas.
The restaurant hushes, the crowds below are still. Everyone is holding her breath at the beauty and grace of the moment. The energy buzzes around us, silent but excited, happy, joyful.
Then the sun is just a sliver of brightness, a neon line peeking out from over the sea, saying good-bye until tomorrow. And then it’s gone.
To my surprise, the entire island erupts in applause for the sun and the sea and the energy and one another and I know my mom is somewhere calling this vacation lavish and unnecessary and dangerously fun, but to me this is a God moment.