Optimists Die First
Susin Nielsen
Rated: 3.67 of 5 stars
3.67
· 18 ratings · 256 pages · Published: 21 Feb 2017
Sixteen-year-old Petula de Wilde is anything but wild. A former crafting fiend with a happy life, Petula shut herself off from the world after a family tragedy. She sees danger in all the ordinary things, like crossing the street, a bug bite, or a germy handshake. She knows: life is out to get you.
The worst part of her week is her comically lame mandatory art therapy class with a small group of fellow misfits. Then a new boy, Jacob, appears at school and in her therapy group. He seems so normal and confident, though he has a prosthetic arm; and soon he teams up with Petula on a hilarious project, gradually inspiring her to let go of some of her fears. But as the two grow closer, a hidden truth behind why he’s in the group could derail them, unless Petula takes a huge risk. . .
Tagged as:
- romance 4
- contemporary 3
- realistic 3
- family 3
- friendship 2
- high-school 2
- grief 2
- coming of age 2
- funny 2
- drama 2
- lgbtq+ 1
- sad 1
- cats 1
- animals 1
- psychological 1
- Add topics
- format - reader age
- young adult 3
- audiobook 3
- middle grade 1
- book 1
- content warnings
- mental illness 3
- death / grief 2