Book Review: How I Lost You by Janet Gurtler

Grace is losing her best friend Kya. Kya is losing her common sense. Me, well I’m losing my non-existent sanity. At the end of the day though, Janet Gurtler never loses the reader. (I’m sorry, you’ll have to excuse my puns yet again.)

There are a few things Grace Anderson knows for sure. One is that nothing will ever come between her and her best friend, Kya Kessler. They have a pact. Buds Before Studs. Sisters Before Misters. But in the summer before senior year, life throws out challenges they never expected. And suddenly the person who’s always been there starts to need the favor returned. Grace and Kya are forced to question how much a best friend can forgive. And the answer is not what they expected. (Goodreads)

What I love about How I Lost You is how accurately portrayed the unraveling of Grace and Kya’s friendship is. It starts off with a muted bang, foreshadowing the events to come. There’s uncertainty and outright refusal in the beginning, but by the end of the story, it’s quite easy to know what will happen. I’ve fallen out of friendships, and How I Lost You is quite a good portrayal of how.

This book is raw. Nothing can cover up the pure emotion of this story. Grace and Kya are both going through their own stories, yet it’s still heartbreaking and emotional. What strikes me about it is how well Janet Gurtler introduces their stories. She manages to make it an integral part without having it take over the story, if you know what I mean.

In other words, she can write. Throughout the novel, Grace’s voice is so well depicted. On one hand, she’s a teenager who can’t always make the right decisions. On the other hand, she’s the perfect choice for a protagonist. Gurtler manages to make her voice interesting, intriguing, and integral. (See the alliteration I did there? I’m such a genius… not.)

How I Lost You is so unique. There’s so much paintball throughout the novel, and I love it. This is the first story I’ve read that makes paintball an important part of the story. Honestly, I ate it all up. “Real” sports are over now, to all you YA authors. Thanks to Janet Gurtler, I’ve moved on to a new type of ball. Paintball.

I read this book in one sitting. So yes, I ended up finally going to sleep at two in the morning, but hey, it was SO worth it. Honestly, I don’t miss the sleep I missed. How I Lost You over sleep, any time, any day. If I’m willing to sacrifice my sleep for this read, any other reader should at least give How I Lost You a try.

Rating: 8 out of 10

Book Info:
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire (January 1st, 2013)
Length: 309 pages (Paperback)
Genre: Young Adult, Fiction, Romance, Drama, Coming of Age, Friendship
Completed: November 2013