[Review] Extraordinary Means by Robyn Schneider

Title: Extraordinary Means
Author: Robyn Schneider
Publication: May 26th 2015 by Katherine Tegen Books
Genre: Contemporary, Young Adult
Pages: 336
Source: Powerbooks, Greenbelt 4

At seventeen, overachieving Lane finds himself at Latham House, a sanatorium for teens suffering from an incurable strain of tuberculosis. Part hospital and part boarding school, Latham is a place of endless rules and confusing rituals, where it’s easier to fail breakfast than it is to flunk French.There, Lane encounters a girl he knew years ago. Instead of the shy loner he remembers, Sadie has transformed. At Latham, she is sarcastic, fearless, and utterly compelling. Her friends, a group of eccentric troublemakers, fascinate Lane, who has never stepped out-of-bounds his whole life. And as he gradually becomes one of them, Sadie shows him their secrets: how to steal internet, how to sneak into town, and how to disable the med sensors they must wear at all times.

But there are consequences to having secrets, particularly at Latham House. And as Lane and Sadie begin to fall in love and their group begins to fall sicker, their insular world threatens to come crashing down.

Told in alternating points of view, Extraordinary Means is a darkly funny story about doomed friendships, first love, and the rare miracle of second chances.

My thoughts:

Yes, yes, and yes. Robyn Schneider kicked some asses again. Both Lane and Sadie have a good impact on the story. However, Lane, as a boy, doesn’t really sound like a guy in some parts of the story. There are some parts that are quite unbelievable for a guy to do or say. Nevertheless, believe or not, when I was reading this book, I felt like I was on a train slowly closing in to another train. Then finally, boom! Train-wreck it is.

But that’s the thing about odds. Roll a die twice, and you expect two different results. Except it doesn’t work that way. You could roll the same side over and over again, the laws of the universe intact and unchanging with each turn.It’s only when you consider the past that the odds change. That things become less and less likely.

Well, that quote above is incredible. I have no words for it. Every word of it was giving me feels. And, can you see the writing style? I have no complaints. It’s simply beautiful.

This is way incomparable to Robyn Schneider’s other book, The Beginning of Everything. Extraordinary Means is something you can’t forget that easily. Because: 1) The cover is super-duper nice. 2) The catch-phrase in the cover is catchy. 3) The ending.

The main characters having a sense of rebellion is way too good to add in the story. And there is this one word that struck me the most in this book and made me laugh even though I shouldn’t laugh at that part is ‘potato’. Well, aren’t words like that surprising to see?

Not to mention that every part of this book is averagely realistic for me and I felt like diving in with them in Latham House.

My miracle wasn’t a cure. It was a second chance. But second chances aren’t forever. And even miracles have an expiration date.

Some parts just left me in awe. Some parts were just meh. And some parts just made me sad. And if you ever want to read this, read it. The cover isn’t misleading.

4 swords to a ravishing story and cover

*If you haven’t checked out my post about the book signing event (Robyn was there) I attended last week, please do.

[Book Signing Recap] Katie Cotugno, Melissa Kantor and Robyn Schneider in PH!

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About the author:

Robyn Schneider is a 28-year-old writer and videoblogger. She is the author of the critically-acclaimed novel The Beginning of Everything, which has earned numerous starred reviews, appears on many state reading lists, and is published in over a dozen countries. Robyn is a graduate of Columbia University, where she studied creative writing, and the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, where she earned a Masters of Bioethics. She lives in Los Angeles, California, but also on the internet.