Series: N/A, Standalone
Publication date: June 2, 2015
Publisher: Bloomsbury Childrens
Genres: YA, Contemporary
Format: eArc
Source: The publisher through netgalley in exchange for an
honest review
Pages: 353
Ollie and Moritz are two teenagers who will never meet. Each
of them lives with a life-affecting illness. Contact with electricity sends
Ollie into debilitating seizures, while Moritz has a heart defect and is kept
alive by an electronic pacemaker. If they did meet, Ollie would seize, but
turning off the pacemaker would kill Moritz.
Through an exchange of letters, the two boys develop a
strong bond of friendship which becomes a lifeline during dark times – until
Moritz reveals that he holds the key to their shared, sinister past, and has
been keeping it from Ollie all along.
Because You’ll Never Meet Me was definitely one of my most anticipated releases of this year. I mean how can you not want to read a book about 2 kids who will never meet because one is deathly allergic to electricity and the other has a pacemaker and no eyes. One of them will probably die if they ever meet.
I can’t tell you how excited I was when I was approved for
this book on Netgalley but there might have been some squealing and happy
dancing involved.
Because You’ll Never Meet Me is written
entirely in letterform. The two kids, Oliver and Moritz talk to each other via
letters – very long letters! And it’s lovely.
I really liked getting to know the characters through these
letters, but I have to admit that I didn’t like Moritz in the beginning.
Characters
In this book we meet Oliver, a fourteen-year-old boy who’s
deathly allergic to electricity and he therefore lives in a cabin in the woods
in the middle of nowhere.
I felt like Oliver was quite ignorant, he didn’t realize how
self-centred he is and he definitely neglects his mom. Oliver is very talkative
and he’s an extrovert. At some degrees these boys are opposites! So, even
though I liked Oliver in the beginning I wasn’t that big a fan when the book
ended.
I feel like Oliver was very prone to depression, and I
really didn’t like it in this book.
We also meet Moritz, he’s sixteen, has a weak heart and uses
a pacemaker, and did I forget to mention he’s born without eyes but knows how
to use echolocation so he can see anyway? Moritz lives in Germany with his
adoptive father. There’s nothing wrong with their relationship except that they
don’t really talk. I really enjoyed their interactions!
Opposed to Oliver, Moritz is an introvert and definitely not
very talkative! His letters only say the most important things but as we come
closer to the ending he starts to open up and I liked seeing the real Moritz
opposed to the Moritz we meet in the beginning of the story.
Both of the boys are quite wise for their age but I guess
that happens when you can’t live a normal life. I absolutely love the fact that
both boys are readers! Even though Moritz listens to audiobooks and Oliver read
physical books – the only way they both are able to read. I loved it when they
talked about books, even though it’s not an important or big part it means a lot
to me!
The story
I had expected a quite light book about two boys who will
never meet but what I got was definitely not light hearted. My heart was torn
out on multiple occasions and I was so sad throughout big parts of the story.
I loved how they told each other their life stories through
these letters. I loved how they got to know each other so well and considered
each other their best friend.
I just really enjoyed how they could relate to each other
and really tried to help each other even though they’re so far away from the
other.
So, I enjoyed every part about Oliver and Moritz’
relationship!
What I really didn’t enjoy about this book was the ending;
in a way it’s a happy ending but in another way it’s a bittersweet ending – and
also, I didn’t like what we learned in the end.
All the information about why Oliver and Moritz were born
the way they are seemed very far-fetched to me and I really wish it wasn’t
included in the book. I’m not going to say what actually happens in the end, I
promise you. But the ending had the same effect on me as the ending in
Shatter Me had and if you read my review you know the ending
made me abandon the series.
So, to wrap this up; I really liked getting to know Oliver
and Moritz and I liked the letter exchanging but the ending totally ruined it
for me. So I settled on a 3 berry rating, initially I gave it 4 but because of
my feelings about the ending I had to give it 3 instead. If I used half berries
I’d probably give it 3.5
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