Here, even though he hasn’t been writing the diary for a year when the book opens, he’s had two years worth of the Club meeting, a death of someone close to deal with and now in On the Bright Side, he’s facing fresh challenges which let us see a deeper, more vulnerable side to the outwardly gruff Groen. Sometimes life gets in the way and although I had bought Bright Side I hadn’t actually read it but it was raved about by a friend and yesterday I picked it up to see what all the fuss was about.

And when it does, it feels less like facing a gust of wind on a winter day than getting swamped by a frozen wave in the dead of January. Gus has been pretty much present along her side for every first and every moment they have been together, therefore to begin with life is strange , still good but different. however… yes, it elicits strong feelings, but that is simply because the book’s characters become real people, their experiences became mine, their pain became my own and I couldn’t help but drown in the emotions that the story evoked.This author clearly shares my passion for music and made it so it became an extension of her story as it wove through the pages.

I liked Kate’s outlook on life, but there were so many things that I didn’t love about the characters. Being the author and illustrator (in control of the “show” and the “tell”) allowed me to leverage both things and keep them uncommitted up until the very end.Leaving her closest friend Gus behind, Kate heads off to college and meets the guy she never expects to meet.