As part of the tour organized by Pinoy Book Tours, I have the first part of an excerpt from one of the most awaited books of 2014, Say What You Will by Cammie McGovern (published in the UK under the title Amy and Matthew).
John Green's SYNOPSIS.The Fault in Our Stars meets Rainbow Rowell's Eleanor & Park in this beautifully written, incredibly honest, and emotionally poignant novel. Cammie McGovern's insightful young adult debut is a heartfelt and heartbreaking story about how we can all feel lost until we find someone who loves us because of our faults, not in spite of them.
Born with cerebral palsy, Amy can't walk without a walker, talk without a voice box, or even fully control her facial expressions. Plagued by obsessive-compulsive disorder, Matthew is consumed with repeated thoughts, neurotic rituals, and crippling fear. Both in desperate need of someone to help them reach out to the world, Amy and Matthew are more alike than either ever realized.
When Amy decides to hire student aides to help her in her senior year at Coral Hills High School, these two teens are thrust into each other's lives. As they begin to spend time with each other, what started as a blossoming friendship eventually grows into something neither expected.
EXCERPT
Amy's emails started in late July and kept coming all summer. Each one made Matthew a little more nervous:
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From: aimhigh@comcast.net
I just slipped into my mother's office to look at the names of my new peer helpers, and I'm so happy! Your name is on the list! I thought maybe I'd scared you by coming right out and asking you to apply. I realize it's an unusual setup, but try not to think of it as my parents offering to pay people to be my friend. I know there's something unsettling and prideless in that. I prefer to think of it this way: my parents are paying people to pretend to be my friend. This will be much closer to the truth, I suspect, and I have no problem wit this. I'm guessing that a lot of people in high school are only pretending to be friends, right? It'll be a start, I figure.
The note made him anxious, but still he wrote her back:
From: mstheword@gmail.com
I don't mind, Amy. It's a good job, plus your mother says we might get community service credit.
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From: aimhigh@comcast.net
Community service credit? For a paid job? I'm trying not to take this personally, Matthew, but does the job sound so onerous you should get both money and volunteer credit for doing it?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR. Cammie McGovern was born in Evanston, Illinois, but moved to Los Angeles when she was seven years old. She is the author of three adult novels, THE ART OF SEEING, EYE CONTACT, and NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH. SAY WHAT YOU WILL is her first novel for young adults. She currently lives in Amherst, MA, with her husband and three sons, the oldest of whom is autistic.