An Authentic Experience by Kelly Wittmann book review!

Hi everyone! How is your day going? ❤ I was recently contacted by the author Kelly Wittmann who offered me a free copy of her new book, An Authentic Experience, in exchange for an honest review and without a moments hesitation I said YES! 😆 I dropped what I was reading at the time (onto a shelf of course, there is no book cruelty going on here! 😂) and spent days engulfed in the story of a 15 year old girl called silver who’s already crazy life is about to get ten times crazier!

This is a spoiler free review. I will outline the story when giving my opinion but try my best to steer clear of full detail!

Synopsis

Fifteen year old Silver Abelli’s life has been as tumultuous as the punk rock she was raised on. Her divorced parents just don’t get along, even though they’re both musicians who stubbornly spurn the mainstream but secretly crave the limelight. Silver has always lived with her mom Nicola, but when Nicola is diagnosed with a brain tumor, she must go to live with her obnoxious, hard-partying father Renz. It’s a really bad time to fall in love, so you can pretty much bet that Silver will. Enter Jake Sullivan…

Review

The last time I read that summary I had no idea (aside from the obvious listed events) what was in store and how much of an impact the wacky seemingly unrelenting characters would leave behind. I really enjoyed this book but I admit at first I was in two minds. At the beginning I thought that Silvers teenage angst was highly stereotypical and borderline obsessive when approached by her crush and slightly awkward but then I learnt that she is homeschooled and came to the conclusion that in an unchanging time of life it is easy to latch onto the first signs of change and want what from an outsiders perspective seems to be everyone else’s normality especially since her life is far from normal! I could relate to her in that way being away from the world you find that loophole (for me it’s blogging!) and of course you’re going to take it!

Silver’s parents wish for her to live through an authentic experience which includes distancing her from her peers and their drama which leads her to want for that opposing life more and with it the drama has to come along too. Its like a two for the price of one deal, if you want to be whatever normal is then you sadly have to face the backlash when you embark on the journey out of what you’ve grown used to.

Silver’s parents are both mentally (and in her mother’s case physically both through no fault of her own) absent from noticing what is going on with her. Her father Renz is more interested in his radio show berating all musical opinions but his own alongside trying to revive old fame. Her mother is unwell but deserving of her old fame and when able has no problem showing the love she has for her only child. Following her mother’s decline in health, Silver is sent to live with her father whilst her mother is cared for by her grandparents who are by far my favourite charachters with their little nuggets of wisdom, clarity and care they seem to be a firm fixture in Silver’s life that she needs more than she knows.

Living under her childish and biased father’s roof Silver realizes that she has more freedom and decides to take full advantage of it. Falling in love whilst forever staying true to who she is despite encountering situations that are alien to her. This by no means makes her perfect, no one is and she makes a couple of mistakes whilst navigating this newfound life surrounded by a dysfunctional family dynamic.

The authentic experience her parents instilled in her is at first viewed as the enemy but is soon revealed to be what makes her the strong human being she is when all else fails. There is no such thing as normal, we all live through different perceptions of it. There is only good, bad and middle ground that is tolerable but the want for more is always secretly there. For the most part Silver is left to her own devices and this is when her independence is tested leading to devastating consequences that came as a massive shock to me. It is in the aftermath of these events that the full extent of the true love surrounding Silver becomes apparent.

This book was a rollercoaster ride and written perfectly in a way that allowed me to hold out hope for even the most helpless/unforgivable of characters and try to see things from their point of view and cheer them on to be different and supportive of Silver. I would definitely recommend An Authentic Experience to those of you who love reading about different walks of life. The hardships aren’t sugar-coated or fully overcome in a short space of time and are truthful focusing on the most important things in life that have to be worked on in order for things to get better!

This is a young adult novel but taking into consideration the explicit content and occasions that may be triggering to some I would specifically say it should be read at own risk or left to the upper half of the “YA” category and older (as adults are allowed to get into a good YA book too, heck they write the majority of them! 😂).

Thank you for reading this review and Kelly for giving me it to read! 😉 Have you read an Authentic Experience? What do you think about it? Let me know and have a lovely day! ❤

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