Review of Hold Still by Nina LaCour

Title: Hold Still
Author: Nina LaCour
Published by: Speak/Penguin Group
Pages: 231
Source: Bought
Format: Paperback
Rating: ★★★★

Summary from Goodreads: In the wake of her best friend Ingrid's suicide, Caitlin is left alone, struggling to find hope and answers. When she finds the journal Ingrid left behind for her, she begins a journey of understanding and broadening her horizons that leads her to new friendships and first love. Nina LaCour brings the changing seasons of Caitlin's first year without Ingrid to life with emotion, honesty, and captivating writing.

Heart-wrenching, poignant and captivating.  Hold Still is a novel that starts with heartbreak and guides us along Caitlin's healing process.  While at times this novel was difficult to read, it was also beautiful exploring Caitlin's and Ingrid's relationship and how Caitlin deals with being left behind.  It was such a raw novel and Nina LaCour made you go through the spectrum of emotions never expecting what was going to happen next.  

I can't imagine being Caitlin.  She's lost and confused after Ingrid's suicide.  She really doesn't know who she is as a person without her best friend there.  Soon she discovers Ingrid's journal underneath her bed and page by page she starts to understand more about Ingrid's disease and gains information about a side of her that Caitlin never knew.  By the end of the novel Caitlin turned out to be a thoughtful and very delightful character.

While Caitlin takes over the majority of this novel there were also some wonderful side characters.  Dylan is a spunky, spitfire of a character who is so unique you get a bit excited because she feel like a breath of fresh air.  She seems so cool that I was almost intimidated by her and yet she always seemed to know the right thing to say and do.  And what are YA novels without a little bit of a love interest.  At first I was suspicious of Taylor, but by the end of the novel I felt immense gratitude for him.  He is just a plain wonderful guy.  Dylan and Taylor came into Caitlin's life at the perfect time and seemed to reach out a hand as she was drowning in her grief. 

Nina LaCour wrote a beautiful novel.  Not only do we get to experience each stage of Caitlin's grief, but we also get to see her take back control of her life.  Caitlin meets some new wonderful people and finds out how to keep Ingrid in her heart, while also making room for new people. Hold Still was powerful story that will leave you with a bit more strength and a lot more hope for life.