Review: The Infinite Moment of Us by Lauren Myracle

Title: The Infinite Moment of Us
Author: Lauren Myracle
Publisher: Amulet Books
Release date: August 20th 2013
Pages: 316
Genre: Young Adult contemporary romance
Source: Bought
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For as long as she can remember, Wren Gray’s goal has been to please her parents. But as high school graduation nears, so does an uncomfortable realization: Pleasing her parents once overlapped with pleasing herself, but now . . . not so much. Wren needs to honor her own desires, but how can she if she doesn’t even know what they are?
Charlie Parker, on the other hand, is painfully aware of his heart’s desire. A gentle boy with a troubled past, Charlie has loved Wren since the day he first saw her. But a girl like Wren would never fall for a guy like Charlie—at least not the sort of guy Charlie believes himself to be.
And yet certain things are written in the stars. And in the summer after high school, Wren and Charlie’s souls will collide. But souls are complicated, as are the bodies that house them . . .

My rating: 2 out of 5 stars

I loved Lauren Myracle's Shine, so I had high expectations for The Infinite Moment of Us. I really liked the set-up, and both Wren's and Charlie's stories had a lot of potential. But I had a lot of issues with the romance, which sadly ended up being the main focus of the novel, so I was really disappointed by The Infinite Moment of Us.

The Infinite Moment of Us started out great. I immediately liked Wren's story and reading about her standing up to her parents; her plans to go to Guatemala sounded amazing, and
I really just wanted to see her fulfill her dreams. Charlie's story had a lot of potential, too, and I wanted to explore his difficult past further.

Sadly, once Charlie and Wren meet, things start to go downhill. Their romance is very insta-love-y. I guess that makes sense, since they've both been admiring each other from afar, so of course when they find out their feelings are reciprocated, things would go kind of fast. But while they've been admiring each other from afar, they don't actually know each other at all, so I think it still counts as insta-love when they develop such strong feelings for each other so quickly.

The drama between Charlie and Wren is so completely unnecessary, and the melodrama frustrated me to no end. Wren keeps complaining that Charlie cares more about his foster family than he does about her and has no sympathy for the fact that he has to take care of his disabled brother. In turn, I had very little sympathy for her. The dynamics of their relationship are so entirely stereotypical and just... bad.

***This paragraph includes spoilers.***
What frustrated me most is the ending. I understand that this is a romance and that there needs to be a happy ending with Wren and Charlie ending up together. But I really hate that it ended with Charlie sacrificing his dreams to go with Wren. Both Charlie and Wren have dreams that they've had to work hard for and that I think are important for them to realize, and seeing one of them give those up in order to continue a three-month relationship just bothered me so much. It's not that I'm opposed to any kind of happy ending for the two - I would have been fine with an ending that lets Charlie and Wren try to make it work long-distance, or seeing them go their separate ways and then having a cheesy epilogue where they do end up together. But seeing them sacrifice their dreams for each other just didn't sit right with me.

I really liked the set-up of this novel, and the individual characters and stories had a lot of potential. The romance, though, ruined it for me: it's stereotypical and melodramatic. If the focus had been more on Wren and Charlie's individual stories rather than the romance, The Infinite Moment of Us could have been a good read, but this way, it just didn't work for me.