Ollie and Moritz might never meet, but their friendship knows no bounds. Their letters carry on as Ollie embarks on his first road trip away from the woods--no easy feat for a boy allergic to electricity--and Moritz decides which new school would best suit an eyeless boy who prefers to be alone. Along the way they meet other teens like them, other products of strange science who lead seemingly normal lives in ways Ollie and Moritz never imagined possible: A boy who jokes about his atypical skeleton; an aspiring actress who hides a strange deformity; a track star whose abnormal heart propels her to victory. Suddenly the future feels wide open for two former hermits. But even as Ollie and Moritz dare to enjoy life, they can't escape their past, which threatens to destroy any progress they've made. Can these boys ever find their place in a world that might never understand them?
I hate to say this about this book, but it was somewhat disappointing. I absolutely loved the letters and the friendship between Ollie and Moritz in the first book. I still loved their friendship, but I felt like the storyline was a bit lacking. The end of Because you'll never meet me kind of switched modes from Contemporary to Science Fiction. It kind of threw me, but not enough to detract from my enjoyment of the story. This story picks up on that Science Fiction story and I have to say that it's just weird.
Ollie is still grieving the loss of his mother and he is on a journey with his doctor to find more kids like him and Moritz. Ollie is still allergic to electricity and it's interesting to see the different ways they try to cover Ollie and protect him so he doesn't seize up and so he doesn't cause every electric device to fail. Part of the charm of this book was Ollie seeing the world for the first time. He was so amazed by everything, even little things like the smell of a big city. He has been living in the woods his entire life so he is innocent in so many ways. But a part of my issue with the book was that Ollie was so pushy at times. I know that being isolated for so long affected his social skills, but he still annoyed me. When meeting a few of the kids, he demanded to know their stories and got annoyed when they wouldn't. And when his doctor was upset about something, he tried to demand that he tell Ollie the truth about everything. I just wanted to shake him sometimes to make him realize that no one owed him their story, especially when it was as painful as some of the kids they encountered.
I was a little disappointed by the slowness of the storyline. Ollie and his doctor only met a couple of the other kids. Most of the time was spent dealing with too many things: there was Ollie's allergy to electricity, his first journey outside the woods, the stories of the two kids they met and the secret that the doctor was keeping. On Moritz's side, there was just one issue: the issue of a new school with a boyfriend and his unrequited love for Ollie. When it came to Ollie, I just felt like there were so many issues that I wasn't satisfied with the resolution of any of them. Moritz's story was very slow moving and I had a hard time being invested in his story.
I still think the letter format worked really well and I absolutely loved the friendship between Moritz and Ollie. They had such a lovely banter and way of drawing each other out. I just had an issue with pacing and some of the plot. I still love Leah Thomas's writing. I just wish this story were a little less disappointing. I would love to see another book involving these two, mainly because there was a bit of a twist and I loved the ending.
Buy/Borrow/Skip: Borrow this one. It's not as great as the first one, but it's still worth reading for the friendship alone.
I loved the first book and even liked the scifi twist at the end. I hate hearing this moves a little slow - that was my issue with the first one as well. I am still excited to get to it though. Great review!
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