Book Review | The Inexplicable Logic of My Life by Benjamin Alire Sáenz

Title: The Inexplicable Logic of My Life
Author: Benjamin Alire Sáenz
Publication: March 7th 2017 by Clarion Books
Series: Standalone
Pages: 464
Genre: YA Contemporary/Coming-of-Age
Copy: ARC Provided by Publisher & Netgalley
Summary: The first day of senior year:

Everything is about to change. Until this moment, Sal has always been certain of his place with his adoptive gay father and their loving Mexican-American family. But now his own history unexpectedly haunts him, and life-altering events force him and his best friend, Samantha, to confront issues of faith, loss, and grief.

Suddenly Sal is throwing punches, questioning everything, and discovering that he no longer knows who he really is—but if Sal’s not who he thought he was, who is he?

This is a cute, simple, coming-of-age story about Sal, who is you're average but adorable MC who is just trying to figure life out.  As a senior in high school, I related to this book so hard.  Except Sal and the other characters in this book are going through so much more than just college apps and figuring out what to do with their lives.  They also are dealing with much heavier subjects, like loss of family members & family issues.

I loved how Sal has such a strong relationship with his father.  It seems like in most contemporarys, the MC is always fighting with or having problems with their parents.  As someone who has a strong relationship with my family, I've always wanted to see an MC who didn't fight with their parent(s), so that was nice to see.  I also loved how Sal's dad kind of just adopted everyone and accepted Sal's friends for who they were.  Honestly, his dad was probably my favorite character in the whole book.  I aspire to be as good as a parent as he is.

While I love a good romance, I'm glad there wasn't any romance in this book, especially since the MC and his best friend, Sam, are both straight.  This book took the myth that a straight guy and girl can't be friends and stomped all over it.

I loved the writing style and how short the chapters were.  It made this book fly by despite the heavy subjects.  The only reason why this isn't a 5-star for me is because I felt like it was a little too slow.  I found myself a little bored at some parts.  But overall, this is a great coming-of-age read for all contemporary lovers out there!

 What do you think? Are you going to read this book? If you've already read it, what did you think? Let me know in the comments!