Title: Fingerprints of You
Author: Kristen-Paige Madonia
Publisher: Simon & Schuster BFYR
Pub Date: August 7, 2012
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 272
Source: Purchased
Genre(s): YA, Contemporary, Realistic Fiction
Rating: ★★★★
Goodreads || Buy on Amazon

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Synopsis from Goodreads:

Lemon grew up with Stella, a single mom who wasn’t exactly maternal. Stella always had a drink in her hand and a new boyfriend every few months, and when things got out of hand, she would whisk Lemon off to a new town for a fresh beginning. Now, just as they are moving yet again, Lemon discovers that she is pregnant from a reckless encounter—with a guy Stella had been flirting with.

On the verge of revisiting her mother’s mistakes, Lemon struggles to cope with the idea of herself as a young unmarried mother, as well as the fact that she’s never met her own father. Determined to have at least one big adventure before she has the baby, Lemon sets off on a cross-country road trip, intending not only to meet her father, but to figure out who she wants to be.

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My review:

“It’d be nice,” I said, “if you could pick and choose which parts to leave behind. The stories to forget and the memories you want to keep.”

First off, shoutout to Terry Ribera for creating this absolutely stunning cover, as well as all of the beautiful illustrations and lettering inside this book. Colour-me impressed. I want to tattoo this book on my body.

Now, let’s talk about Fingerprints of You. There’s a reason I’ve sorted this book into my Realistic Fiction category. It’s real. All of the characters are flawed. I found none of them to be quite likable (with the exception of Aiden), but none of them were very easy to hate either. They’re all human.

This book is a reminder that everyone has their own story, regardless of whether or not it’s the type of story that you’d like to read. It’s also a reminder that more often than not, the stories inside of us are not happy ones to tell. They’re all twisted up and angry and hardly ever make sense. We yearn to make sense of it all–our lives, that is–and somewhere along the way, we learn to cope. I don’t want to say that this book is like one big “it gets better” card, but it’s more of an encouraging sentiment like: “You’ve already managed to survive the worst of your days, so you can make it through this next one.”

Vague notions like love and happiness are different experiences for everyone… if you even believe in those concepts. I guess what I’m trying to say is that this is not a happy book. It’s not even funny. It’s really not even romantic or inspiring. Just as in real life, reading this book is like rolling with the punches and learning how to take a hit (or ten). And all that’s left to do is hope that you become a stronger person because of it.

I was hoping and praying that Lemon (yes, that’s her real name) would learn that sometimes bad things happen to us for no apparent reason. We shouldn’t waste what is left of our time and energy on trying to attribute our stress and heartbreak on people or things we have no control over. Sometimes all we can do is live. Survive. Wow, I am totally getting carried away with this now. Am I even making sense?

In any case, this is the kind of book you’ll want to read if you like things that make you question your life. And I don’t mean that it will necessarily make you question your existence, but more like gently nudge you in the direction of your past, so you can be reminded of how far you’ve come.

You are amazing. This book is amazing. I hope you like it as much as I did.