The Quick Cut: An anxiety ridden girl (who doesn't leave the house) plays online chess with a secretly homeless boy. Chaos ensues when girl is pushes out of her bubble and worlds collide.
A Real Review:
Thank you to Entangled Publishing for providing the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Anxiety is this overwhelming feeling that every one of us lives with, but for a few of us... that clawing, panicked state is a continued mind trap we wish we could escape. It can keep you from taking chances, pursuing your dreams, or even leaving the house. This is the reality that Zoe lives with in "Paper Girl".
The book starts with two screennames talking back and forth about a chess game they're playing together. What you as the reader discover right away is that Rogue2015 is Zoe: A homeschooled teenage girl who loves chess, hates math, and never leaves the house (or over a year now). She's the younger sibling to her older sister, who is in cheerleading and lives a more typical lifestyle.
The anxiety that Zoe feels causes her to never leave home, refuse to make eye contact with people, and nervously stutter during conversations sometimes. Her safe place? Her room filled with paper planet's that she created and posted all over her room in their penthouse apartment.
BlackKNIGHT is Jackson, a boy who keeps far too many secrets from the people in his life. His mom is gone and his dad is a mess, so for all intents and purposes... he's homeless. Only going to his dad's place to grab his mail, Jackson has learned to care for himself while finding moments of joy by playing chess online with Rogue2015. Any place that has free WiFi is a moment of escape for chess and banter.
Seems fairly straight forward, but everything gets turned on it's head when Zoe's goals to make it to her sister's graduation force her outside and into dealing with her reasons for her isolation. Will emotions affect her relationship with BlackKNIGHT?
This book hooked me from the start and didn't let go. Within hours of starting, I finished it because I had to know what happened to both Zoe and Jackson. The struggles Zoe goes through anxiety wise very much felt real and quite similar to what I go through with anxiety disorder. That tightening, panicking and all you want to do is hide? Plus, you watch Zoe and Jackson's online conversations evolve as time goes on from more game oriented and formal to casual and caring.
Chapters here have a format cycle: Chess Challenge Chat, Zoe's perspective, and then Jackson's perspective. All of these are very important to understanding what's going on with both characters and how they begin to mature. Zoe's evolution in particular made me tear up (in a happy way).
With a truly gripping story about two people and a raw portrayal of anxiety, this read will leave you hooked!
My rating: 5 out of 5