Review: MORE HAPPY THAN NOT, by Adam Silvera

More Happy Than Not is the story of a teenage boy in the Bronx who considers undergoing a memory-wiping procedure to escape his sexuality and the harm it's brought to him.

My mind changed several times while reading Adam Silvera's More Happy Than Not; I considered giving up on it more than once. For a while I thought the story was wildly predictable and familiar, and at times the writing was less than wonderful.

I'm glad I stuck it out.

After about the 1/3 mark, the story started getting better and better, and it continued to surprise me. Unlike what I initially feared, this is not your run-of-the-mill YA. Adam Silvera takes big risks in his writing and plot, so much so that by the end of the book I was wholeheartedly cheering him on as a writer.

If you're looking for a boy-meets-boy YA that will make you swoon, this is not the book for you. But if you want to read a brutally honest story that will make you uncomfortable just as often as it makes you smile, you should dive right in. Bonus points if you're into very mild sci-fi.

I give More Happy Than Not 4 stars, because that seems like an appropriate average for my roller coaster of feelings about it. I look forward to reading more of Silvera's books; to be honest, though, I don't think my heart could handle two of them in a row.

Stars: 4/4
Recommended for: Anyone who enjoys dark YA that takes risks and doesn't necessarily follow expected tropes. A love for science fiction is optional.