Book Review: The Infinite Moment of Us by Lauren Myracle

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…

Sexy, romantic, and oh-so-true to life, this is an unforgettable look at first love from one of young adult fiction’s greatest writers.

“Sometimes the things we hide – aren’t they the parts of us that matter most?”

The Infinite Moment of Us certainly had a strong beginning. We’re introduced to Wren and Charlie, whose home lives couldn’t be more different: Charlie is a foster child who struggles to belong in his current family. Wren is the Perfect Child who gets good grades and follows the path that her parents have set for her – whether that includes not dating throughout high school or attending a college of their choice – but recently her parents’ desires have not been lining up with her own aspirations. These problems are so easy to relate to, so I was really excited to see how Myracle would resolve them… but, unfortunately, they were lost by the wayside once the romance came into the picture.

When it comes to contemporary romance novels, I expect to feel something, even if I don’t end up completely invested in the couple. Given their back-stories and vastly different home lives, I was interested to see how Wren and Charlie’s relationship dynamic would play out; after all, opposites attract and all that. Unfortunately, the romance left me incredibly bored – a bad sign when it takes up ~90% of the plot.

To start, I’m still not entirely sure why their relationship happened. One day, Wren and Charlie are virtual strangers, aside from the fact that they go to the same school; the next day, after prolonged eye contact, they’re falling deeply into instalove. Any characterization that had occurred up to that point was thrown away, leaving “madly in love” (complete with cheesy dialogue, jealousy/insecurity, and petty arguments) as their only personality traits.

I did, however, enjoy the sex positive message that Myracle conveyed. Sex was portrayed in a frank and open way, encompassing the wonder and awkwardness of first love.

Overall, The Infinite Moment of Us did not live up to my expectations. If the story lines involving Charlie’s tentative relationship with his foster parents and Wren’s desire to break free from her parents’ expectations received a more central focus, I probably would have enjoyed it a lot more.