Review: Two Like Me and You by Chad Alan Gibbs

Rating: ★★★★★

Synopsis

Edwin Green’s ex-girlfriend is famous. We’re talking cover-of-every-tabloid-in-the-grocery-store-line famous. She dumped Edwin one year ago on what he refers to as Black Saturday, and in hopes of winning her back, he’s spent the last twelve months trying to become famous himself. It hasn’t gone well.

But when a history class assignment pairs Edwin with Parker Haddaway, the mysterious new girl at school, she introduces him to Garland Lenox, a nursing-home-bound World War II veteran who will change Edwin’s life forever. 

The three escape to France, in search of the old man’s long-lost love, and as word of their adventure spreads, they become media darlings. But when things fall apart, they also become the focus of French authorities. In a race against time, who will find love, and who will only find more heartache?

Review

I would like to thank the author for a copy of Two Like Me and You in exchange for an honest review. Receiving an advanced copy of the novel did not influence my thoughts or opinions.

Alright, so I know what you are thinking… “David, this is so unlike you. Where are the swordy stab-stab battles? What about the pew-pew, die-die spaceship duels? Wait, have you gone soft? Did Kealan Patrick Burke scare you off of horror novels for good?”

To be honest, I am even a bit surprised myself. But when Chad reached out and said that he had a new novel in the works, I had to check it out. You see, Chad has written a few books already, mostly having to do with religion, football in the south, and some of the greatest sports rivalries of our age, but under a slightly different name. He also used to write an award-winning weekly column in a local paper when I was in college that I read religiously. To be it in perspective, I have read most of his works and he has to be one of THE funniest people I’ve ever come across.

Suffice it to say, this was a no-brainer.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I had some reservations about reading a YA novel, especially one concerning falling out of and back into love. It just really isn’t my forte. I mean, maybe my wife’s, but CERTAINLY, not mine. But I digress.

Gibbs absolutely captured me from page one, what with his comically foreshadowed chapter headlines, characters I became enamored with, and a gut-punchingly inspiring story that I could not put down. You can ask the Mrs. I literally kept picking this book back up over the course of Friday evening/Saturday day and finished it quicker than any other book I have reviewed over the past four (4) years.

Two Like Me and You is destined to become the “next big thing” in Teen/Young Adult coming-of-age fiction. I would put Gibbs up there with the John Greens and Stephen Chboskys of the world. It wouldn’t surprise me if you see this book on the big screen, capturing the hearts of teens and young adults everywhere; not to mention grownups. It is hilarious, heart-wrenching, and absolutely beautiful. Just read it.