“I’d just spent the past ten minutes getting slapped around by good and bad luck in such rapid succession, I didn’t know what to think.”

If you’re looking for the perfect summer contemporary with a sci-fi twist, do yourself a favor and grab Me Myself & Him.

Chris Schweitzer has nothing but the perfect summer ahead. Well, perfect except for having to go to his dad’s wedding. But before any of that, Chris takes a fateful whippet one night after work.

Waking up in the hospital, his summer takes a turn for the worse. He’s being shipped to his dad’s, not just for the wedding, but for the entire summer. He has to work in his dad’s lab and attend drug counseling sessions. The summer couldn’t be worse.

Unless it isn’t. In an alternate reality, Chris’ parents don’t find out about the whippets and everything stays normal. Except his two (straight) best friends gets together, leaving him the left-out (gay) third wheel.

In one universe, Chris discovers that life sometimes isn’t what you want, but can turn out to be exactly what you need. And in another, everything unravels, leaving Chris wondering if it’s possible to be jealous of your own possibilities.

“It’s like winning Powerball just by being born. After that, you have to make your own luck, which means sometimes you wind up exactly where you don’t want to be.”

I loved this book. I’m a sucker for a solid coming of age story. But a story that explores the actual potential consequences that blossom from a single decision via alternate realities? Man, I’m hooked.

Because we bounce back and forth between each reality, we see how lessons and opportunities unfold. This is such a brilliant way to open the door for YA readers. It’s easy to examine the potential ‘what if’ and how we can’t always control or foresee the outcomes of our decisions. I loved seeing the growth occur in different ways through each Chris, and think this is such a fantastic way to open the door to this line of thinking in teens.

Another thing I adored about this book is the ending. Tebbetts doesn’t combine the realities or hint at which one was more “real” than the other. Instead, we’re given an ending. One that requires us to decide which Chris made it through. For a YA novel, I think this is perfect. This ambiguous ending allows discussion and speculation, which will lead to some fairly interesting conversations, I’m sure. Personally, I know which Chris I hope is the one at the end.

If you’re looking for a fun YA version of Sliding Doors that packs quite an emotional punch, pick this book up. It’s endearing, and heart-warming, and deliciously adorable. There’s also many discussion of cinnamon rolls. And considering Chris is probably going to be your next cinnamon roll character, it’s basically perfect.

Thank you JKS Communications for sending me a review copy.