Made You Up by Francesca Zappia [Book Review]

TITLE: Made You Up

BY: Francesca Zappia

GENRE: Young Adult, Romance

PUBLICATION: May 19th 2015 by Greenwillow Books

RATING:

Reality, it turns out, is often not what you perceive it to be—sometimes, there really is someone out to get you. Alexandra fights a daily battle to figure out the difference between reality and delusion. Armed with a take-no-prisoners attitude, her camera, a Magic 8-Ball, and her only ally (her little sister), Alex wages a war against her schizophrenia, determined to stay sane long enough to get into college. She’s pretty optimistic about her chances until classes begin, and she runs into Miles. Didn’t she imagine him? Before she knows it, Alex is making friends, going to parties, falling in love, and experiencing all the usual rites of passage for teenagers. But Alex is used to being crazy. She’s not prepared for normal. 

First, there is a prologue that for me, is really cute. 🙂 Second, this book is PURE FICTION. Why do I need to remind you what you already know? I’ll explain later. This book is adorable. Yes, it deals with mental health, which NOT AT ALL adorable, but I find the romance and the friendships in this book adorable. The whole concept of Alex thinking Miles might not be real, or the things she sees around her, is just a good point of a conflict for a novel. It’s not as good as Eliza and her Monsters(this author’s other work) but still really entertaining. That’s all the good that I can say about the plot.

But I want to focus on the serious aspect of this book. The Mental Illness. Maybe the author had some research but there are some things that I think might offend or affect people who have real issues. The way the medication or treatment featured in the story might give a wrong message. I don’t know how to explain this much but IF YOU WANT TO READ THIS BOOK, and I suggest you do, treat this as nothing but pure fiction made for your entertainment. Ok?

Moving on, I love Miles and Alex. I love that even though Alex is really ill, she’s a strong person. She doesn’t let anyone mistreat her. I just love her. And Miles. Miles is so adorable and evil at the same time. Really. The whole school fear him. And if I’m in school with him, I’d be too. The romance between these two is just the cutest. It doesn’t start right away, but the hints here and there are just so cute to read, it has me invested.

There are sideplots, the usual side plots in YA contemporary. Teenagers acting foolish. Bullies. Mean girls. Girls hate girls. Teens hate parents. By the way, this is why I rarely read YA Contemporary. Same things always happen in this genre. 🙂 But since I love Alex and Miles, I went with all the things I dislike. Our MCs are both history buffs so yeah, Nerd Alert people.

There’s a twist that had my jaw dropped. It was also creepy. But I liked it, no matter how awful it was. It also made me tear a bit. There’s also a hint of sexual abuse, so be warned but it wasn’t addressed until the ending.

Overall, this is a sweet, engaging story you wouldn’t want to miss. It was touching and mysterious. I recommend this to all YA lovers.

Have you read this book? What do you think? Have you read anything similar? Let’s Chat…

Happy reading,

| Bookstagram | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Blog |