The Opposite Of Always- Justin A. Reynolds

Published By Macmillan

Book Review By Gemma E McLaughlin

I’ve done it again. This week’s book Review is, once again, something a long the lines of a love story. I’ve just been so excited about this kind of book recently and this one caught my eye immediately, because of course, I knew it would offer me a story of two people falling in love, but what I couldn’t possibly know is how much more it had to offer. Within the pages of The Opposite Of Always, I found young love, heartbreak, grief, laughter, tears and somehow everything in between. It was all tied together perfectly of course, with a twist of time travel.

The book is set from the perspective of our main character Jack King, who is instantly relatable and easy to root for as a self-described ‘master of almost’. He always seems to be just missing out on all the best things life could offer him but over the course of the book his life takes an exciting turn that changes this. While visiting the college he intends to go to after finishing up his final year of high school, he goes to a party and meet Kate, they speak with an almost electric ease and humour that sends them on a wonderful, though of course a little twisted, path to love. It is when everything seems to finally be on track for Jack O that the happiness he has found is taken in Kate’s untimely death. All he wants is to see her again and his wish comes true, as everything starts back up again at the day they met, Jack finds himself willing to do anything to stop her death, leading us into the main plot of the book following his journey.

What I love about this idea is that we get to see Jack’s character grow and change at every page, as an ever-evolving, sweet and innocent character it hurts the reader to see him in pain, and makes his triumphs feel even more incredible. Telling the story from his perspective provided an insight into that intense desire, dream, of seeing her again and the way it came to affect him and his story. The other characters remained prevalent all through the book, which shows that immense effort went into the emotions and backgrounds of every side character, something which I believe to be a sign of great literature.

This story is lovely and heart-warming in ways that I would have never thought to read, or indeed write about, before The Opposite Of Always found its way to my hands and shortly after, my heart. I recommend this to all as simultaneously the lightest and heaviest book I’ve read and hope the rest of the world enjoys it as deeply as I have