Book Review: All The Bright Places by Jennifer Niven

The Fault in Our Stars meets Eleanor and Park in this exhilarating and heart-wrenching love story about a girl who learns to live from a boy who intends to die.
Soon to be a major motion picture starring Elle Fanning! 
Theodore Finch is fascinated by death, and he constantly thinks of ways he might kill himself. But each time, something good, no matter how small, stops him.
Violet Markey lives for the future, counting the days until graduation, when she can escape her Indiana town and her aching grief in the wake of her sister’s recent death.
When Finch and Violet meet on the ledge of the bell tower at school, it’s unclear who saves whom. And when they pair up on a project to discover the “natural wonders” of their state, both Finch and Violet make more important discoveries: It’s only with Violet that Finch can be himself—a weird, funny, live-out-loud guy who’s not such a freak after all. And it’s only with Finch that Violet can forget to count away the days and start living them. But as Violet’s world grows, Finch’s begins to shrink. 
This is an intense, gripping novel perfect for fans of Jay Asher, Rainbow Rowell, John Green, Gayle Forman, and Jenny Downham from a talented new voice in YA, Jennifer Niven.

I know, I know, I fell for the trick. The trick that if you label something with "The Fault in Our Stars & Eleanor and Park" it'll be good. I'm sorry I was curious about this so I bought it. 
Unfortunately, it didn't meet my expectations. 
It just every contemporary work done for a young adult audience that deals with hard topics. I've read at least three of the same kind of books in the last year. 
That probably sounds harsh, but it's true. It wasn't a new look on depression and suicide. It was the same one with slightly different characters. 
The thing that bothered me the most about this book was that I was spoon fed. I was told I was supposed to be sad because the characters were sad. That the reason why they were pretending to be happy was to cover up the fact that they weren't. That they fell in love because someone finally understood how it felt to be that low. 
No, do not tell me this. A story should show the sadness and let the characters build the connection to the reader. Then the reader can understand the true sadness behind it. It's like I know they're depressed but having them say it every single page? They wouldn't, they'd show it in their actions. They'd show it in how they talk. They'd show it in how the viewed the world. 
I know it's not just me who felt the same about this book. Please, do not tell us what to feel. Give us a story we can read over and over again, where we find new reasons to cry because what we found. 
Because of this, the ending didn't have a big impact as it should've had. Also really obvious. I wanted to scream at Violet because I knew exactly where Finch was, but did she listen? Nooo. 
Obviously this is just my opinion, so take this however you want. 

Read: February 2015
My Rating: 3 stars / 5 stars

(A.N. It's going to be a movie?? Are you kidding me? Really? Ugh.)