Extraordinary Means by Robyn Schneider

*COVERLY LOVE GAHHHH

RATING : A 3.5, but my cold heart has decided to defrost itself hence the 4. 

Truth be told: I didn't want my brain and my heart to like this book because at one glance at the synopsis, I was like,

It gave me Looking For Alaska (which was totally yayyy for me) x TFIOS feels (which totally was nayyy for me)

Let's start with the review. Caution: There are some spoilers here.

THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE ABOUT THIS BOOK 
1.) How I couldn't distinguish Lane's POVs from Sadie's POVs. Seriously. I don't know who's speaking and who's not. I constantly had to check if it was Lane or Sadie because they had this same sarcastic, witty voice in my head. They had the same personality. Though, this isn't really a major problem for me. I both adore them. But it may be a problem for you.

2.) Rough start. Really though, I kept finding excuses to not read this book.

*holds Kindle*
Me: WHOOPS I FORGOT TO DO MY MATH HOMEWORK OH SORRY
*holds Kindle*
Me: WHOOPS I HAVE TO WATCH THE NEWS (NOT TRUE)
*holds Kindle*
Me: WHOOPS I HAVE TO TAKE A SWIM OUTSIDE (KINDA TRUE)
*holds Kindle*
Me: WHOOPS I HAVE TO CLEAN THE CHIMNEY
Random family member: We don't have a chimney. We live in a condo. Plus, I hate to break this to you, but you're not Spiderman. 


That's all, thank you very much.

THINGS I LIKE ABOUT THIS BOOK 
1.) The squad.

This squad is literally #squadgoals. They're funny. They sneak out of the sanatorium for Starbucks. They sneak in contraband. They own the school. They rebel against the teachers. They're the dream team.
SQUAD MEMBERS:
- Sadie. HELL YAAAAAAAS. The Alaska of the group. The mastermind. The de-facto leader of the squad. Once an outcast, but she owned Latham.
- Nick. Sarcastic, booze-loving Indian is the bomb. I felt really sorry for him because, you know, unrequited love. Also pretty angry, because if he wasn't always drunk, the ending would've been happy and yay.
- Marina. Fashionista. Loves anime. Total yas.
- Charlie. No words, just crei.
- Lane. Pretty convinced he was an asshole before the revelation. But, after that, I found something out. LANE IS BASICALLY ME. Over-achieving, and his view of a perfect life is this: getting into Stanford, graduating with high honors, grad school. Voila, finished. (me too, Lane. Me too.) But what I liked best was that he eventually realised that grades weren't important. Proof? Proof.
Sometimes the point wasn't being the best, because it didn't mean you had the best life, or the best friends, or the best time. 
Slay? Slay.

2.) The ending
Even though the ending was definitely a tearjerker, I really liked it. It was definitely expected, but the ending was like this:

Me: *reading some assurance that character is going to have a wonderful life*
After one second (literally. I am not joking. One second is all it takes.)
Me: *reading about character being dead*

Why is the world such a cruel place?

Again, even though the ending was a tearjerker, it was realistic. I don't know how and I don't know why. But if you asked me to describe the ending, that's the word I would use.

Random quotes that I definitely highlighted:

"Because the thing about being erased is that first you have to leave a mark."

"No one wants to get hurt."
"Well, maybe not, but sometimes it's worth it." Marina shrugged,

But each morning everyone on this planet wakes up one day closer to their death. Everyone.

"Who are you calling desperate?" Nick interrupted, coming over with his tray.
"Anyone who would date you." I smiled.

"Fuck," he said, sniffling. "All that time I thought he was writing love songs to One Direction."

"Do you thing I could go there, too?" I asked her. "And meet you in our good days?"
"I think you could," Sadie murmured, her voice slowing. "I'll meet you there. I'll wait for you there. And I hope I'm waiting a very long time." 

Clarifications: I don't really know why I like this and not like TFIOS. I just do not know why.
Reason for a four and not a five: Despite its beauty, there was still something meh about this book.