ARC Review: Gap Life by John Coy

Gap Life
Author: John Coy
Publication: Feiwel & Friends (November 22, 2016)

Description: Cray got into the same college his father attended and is expected to go. And to go pre-med. And to get started right away. His parents are paying the tuition. It should be an easy decision.

But it's not.

All Cray knows is that what's expected of him doesn't feel right. The pressure to make a decision―from his family, his friends―is huge. Until he meets Rayne, a girl who is taking a gap year, and who helps him find his first real job, at a home of four adults with developmental disabilities. What he learns about himself and others will turn out to be more than any university could teach him―and twice as difficult.

My Thoughts: Cray has just graduated from high school, has been accepted to the college where his father and grandfather went, and is all set for a career as a doctor like his grandfather, father, uncle and cousins. But there is a problem. Cray doesn't want to go to that college or become a doctor. He gets queasy at the sight of blood!

One problem is that he doesn't know what he wants to do instead. When his father says he needs to find a job and start paying rent if he won't be taking their tuition-free ride to college, Cray starts looking. He meets a young woman named Rayne who steers him into a job as overnight help for a home for developmentally disabled people.

Cray develops a crush on Rayne because she seems to have everything put together. She knows what she wants and is comfortable being different. But Rayne has problems too. She is being pressured by her Italian boyfriend to come to Italy and marry him. She is also dealing with the abandonment of her mother who left her to follow a guru to a commune in South America.

This story tells about the summer after high school when Cray makes some big decisions and learns a lot about what he wants out of his life. I enjoyed the story because I could sympathize with Cray who is dealing with all kinds of pressure. I could also sympathize with his father and could understand his point of view even though I didn't agree with it. I think a lot of high school students feel the same pressure that Cray does.

Favorite Quote:

"I'm doing this for your own good so you see what life's like in the real world. You have an unbelievable opportunity with college and need to change your mind. I'm doing you a favor. You may not like it now, but you'll thank me later."

I pushed chicken around my plate.

Yeah, right. I wasn't thanking him. What he wanted was for him, not for me. I'd never seen that more clearly.

I got this one for review from Macmillan. You can buy your copy here.