Titles: Because ‘You’ll Never Meet Me’ and ‘Nowhere Near You’
Author: Leah Thomas
Purchase: Available in the UK and the US
Overall rating: 4/5
Great for: fans of John Green, Becky Albertalli, and Nicola Yoon
Themes: young adult, coming-of-age, contemporary, illness, science fiction
Review: I knew from the moment I set eyes on these gorgeous ombre-toned covers that I was going to love these books!
This stunning duology, penned by Leah Thomas, focuses on Oliver and Moritz. These two young boys share a unique relationship – one where they can never meet. For Oliver it is due to his rare genetic resistance to electricity. Even being in the near vicinity of anything electrical is enough to bring on a brain-addling seizure. For Moritz, it is the over-abundance of electricity, coursing through his veins, that would cause him to repel Oliver like a magnet on sight. Moritz also suffers from a rare defect where he has not just lost his sight, but was born missing his eyes, in their entirety.
Cast away by both their physical conditions and by society, they find reprieve in each other’s stories. Their shared misfortunes means their grief is one both can understand. Their odd friendship is developed over long, penned correspondences, where they two share their sorrows, their secrets and their longing to be something other than what they are.
Aside from loving the gorgeous penmanship and the relatable characters, this story became one I could see mirrored, in some ways, to my own. The book community is one that is thriving online, and I have formed lifelong friendships on sites like Goodreads and Instagram with others, who share the same passion as I do. Our mutual love for books might not be such a drastic and saddening basis for a friendship to form, but it makes Oliver and Moritz’s story one which held similarities to many of my own. I found it perhaps easier to understand and to relate to their bond, if not their individual circumstances, because of this.
One thing I certainly could not relate to was the shocking journey this series took the reader on. I thought this book was very firmly one thing, and was very good at being that one thing, and shortly before the end of the first book it came very decidedly another. Thomas does not hold back and this story is one that will take you on an unprecedented expedition of both the boys’ story and your own emotions.
That is all I am going to divulge here, as not to ruin the surprises in store for readers of this book. Go forth and fall in love.
