Puddle Jumping by Amber L. Johnson

Synopsis:
When it comes to love there’s no such thing as conventional.

Everyone thinks Colton Neely is special.

Lilly Evans just thinks he’s fascinating.

Once friends when they were younger, their bond is cut short due to her accident prone nature and they go their separate ways. Years later, they meet again and Lilly learns that there is something special about the boy she once knew, but she has no idea what it all means. And she’s not sure if she’s ready to find out.

When he walks through the corridor of her school the first day of her senior year, she knows that it’s time to get to know the real Colton Neely. The more she learns, the deeper she falls.

Their friendship grows into love, even as Colton does not express it in words. But one decision threatens to break down the world that Lilly has tried so hard to integrate into and she must figure out if the relationship can survive if they are apart.

    

My Review:
4 stars — YAY!!!  This little novella has pulled me out of the reading slump I was in!!

I was immediately captured and sucked into this little YA book — it was written in a really engaging way, and I found Lilly’s voice to be very frank, matter of fact and sassy.  It really felt like you were going through her memories with her.  I loved the progression of Colton and Lilly knowing each other as children, then having some gaps and meeting each other again before finally getting to be friends (and more) in senior year of high school.

I was torn on the romance aspect — I enjoyed the butterflies and was actually endeared by the little moments where their relationship progressed.  But I guess I just didn’t see a lot of those concrete things about why one person loves another person.  Yes, there’s a chemistry thing that you just can’t help — but what exactly drew her to him to want to hang around with him?  I wish I could have seen more of their interactions, instead of just being told that they had enjoyed being together.  But maybe I’m overthinking it too.  It’s just that it sometimes felt like we were told he was so much more than his Asperger’s, but so much of the book was focused on how their relationship was different, and how their interactions had to be different, that I missed something there.  This is why it didn’t get 5 stars from me…I’m a romance junkie, so while I loved all the eye opening aspects of this story, I just wanted more from the romance.

I really really did love getting a glimpse of what being with a person with Aspergers would be like…and I found Colton to be epically endearing and sweet, and I just melted a little at how much he loved Lilly (even if he showed it in different ways).

Sometimes the relationship felt a bit unhealthy, but it was kind of addressed in the story, so I let that slide.

So yeah.  Devoured this in an afternoon, and it made up for all the unenjoyable reads I’ve been having lately.