Jesse Alderman, sometimes known as Sway, has a knack for procuring things for people. Fake IDs, homework, popularity, etc., he will find a way to get anyone nearly anything they want for the right price. When jock Ken Foster comes to Jesse and asks him to convince Bridget Smalley to go out with him, Jesse doesn't think twice. However, when he meets Bridget, everything changes. She isn't like the rest of the world he's surrounded by: closed off, unemotional, and hard. Through her, he discovers a heart he thought was long gone, the only problem being she wasn't supposed to be his.
Often, the most special and meaningful books are the most honest. They don't shy away from the apathy life sometimes tries to drive you to or the difficulty of falling in love when emotion isn't your strong suit. SWAY by Kat Spears takes a hard look at life when you've already lost so much and are afraid to hope for anything again. Jesse is a phenomenal protagonist in his anti-hero and brilliant way. He tries to take everything he thinks will be beneficial to him in life while still denying himself the one thing he hasn't had in a long time: love.
The balance between friendship love and romantic love is complete beauty. Jesse hasn't had any kind of love or care in so long, and he is still learning how he affects the people around him. Even so, he is unapologetically self-absorbed and selfish at times. The truthfulness in his character makes him extremely relatable. As he grows towards a friendship with Pete and some sort of love with Bridget, his development is absolutely brilliant and moving. Likewise, both Pete and Bridget make excellent secondary characters.
Kat Spears crafts an absolutely stunning and beautiful novel in SWAY. Jesse and his story are utterly unforgettable. I will keep this on my shelf happily next to Amy Zhang and Stephen Chbosky.
In Kat Spearsβs hilarious and often poignant debut, high school senior Jesse Alderman, or "Sway," as heβs known, could sell hell to a bishop. He also specializes in getting things people want---term papers, a date with the prom queen, fake IDs. He has few close friends and he
never EVER lets emotions get in the way. For Jesse, life is simply a series of business transactions.
But when Ken Foster, captain of the football team, leading candidate for homecoming king, and all-around jerk, hires Jesse to help him win the heart of the angelic Bridget Smalley, Jesse finds himself feeling all sorts of things. While following Bridget and learning the intimate details of her life, he falls helplessly in love for the very first time. He also finds himself in an accidental friendship with Bridgetβs belligerent and self-pitying younger brother who has cerebral palsy. Suddenly, Jesse is visiting old folks at a nursing home in order to run into Bridget, and offering his time to help the less fortunate, all the while developing a bond with this young man who idolizes him. Could the tin man really have a heart after all?
A Cyrano de Bergerac story with a modern twist, Sway is told from Jesseβs point of view with unapologetic truth and biting humor, his observations about the world around him untempered by empathy or compassion---until Bridgetβs presence in his life forces him to confront his quiet devastation over a life-changing event a year earlier and maybe, just maybe, feel something again.
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