Title: The Catastrophic History Of You & Me
Author: Jess Rothenberg
Release date: February 21, 2012
Publisher: Penguin
Pages: 400
Source: Publisher

Dying of a broken heart is just the beginning…. Welcome to forever.

BRIE’S LIFE ENDS AT SIXTEEN: Her boyfriend tells her he doesn’t love her, and the news breaks her heart—literally.

But now that she’s D&G (dead and gone), Brie is about to discover that love is way more complicated than she ever imagined. Back in Half Moon Bay, her family has begun to unravel. Her best friend has been keeping a secret about Jacob, the boy she loved and lost—and the truth behind his shattering betrayal. And then there’s Patrick, Brie’s mysterious new guide and resident Lost Soul . . . who just might hold the key to her forever after.

With Patrick’s help, Brie will have to pass through the five stages of grief before she’s ready to move on. But how do you begin again, when your heart is still in pieces?

Jess Rothenberg’s debut is definitely a unique new story for the YA market.  It’s a mix of contemporary romance, paranormal ghosts, and a few other surprise elements.  This is one that will appeal to a wide variety of readers.

Brie Eagan might be the first person to ever actually die of a broken heart.  And when I say broken, I mean, like, severed in half.  Brie’s death, however, brings her to a whole new world.  To be specific it brings her to Little Slice Of Heaven, a pizza place full of dead kids ranging from a little boy of about 6 to a 17-year-old Top-Gun-esque hottie named Patrick.  Turns out being dead isn’t quite like what Brie had been told and it might just be her second chance and living.

Brie is your typical teenage girl.  She is obsessed with friends, boys, clothes, and all those other girly things.  The only not-typical thing about her is that she actually dies when her boyfriend tells her he doesn’t love her. And that is only the start to Brie’s drama streak.  Brie, not her friend Sadie, should dream of becoming an actress because she already has the role of drama queen down.  And boy was she vindictive!  It would be different if she was vindictive for a good reason but she didn’t even attempt to find out if things were true before attacking people that were supposedly her friends.  It took about half the book for her to finally grow up and then things got good.  Patrick, on the other hand, was pretty mature and level-headed from the start. He did like to joke around though.  I liked that he and Brie could hold their own against each other in verbal sparring matches.  It added humor to an otherwise kind of sad book.  One thing I would have liked more of though was the other dead kids at Little Slice Of Heaven.  They were just kind of there and never explained why.

The plot itself definitely takes no time to pick up.  Brie dies at the very beginning of the book and from there things get very interesting.  Brie’s main goal at the beginning is to get revenge on the boy who broke her heart but things quickly change.  She soon realizes that death is lonely and she just wants to move on but there are some things she has to take care of first.  Things get even more crazy at the end but I’m not going to spoil anything for you guys!

Overall, The Catastrophic History Of You & Me is a great debut and I will be checking out Jess Rothenberg’s next book!  This book was just the right mix of sweet, funny, heartbreaking (hehe), and moving.  There are some powerful messages mixed in with this story and I absolutely loved it.

Looking for more reviews of The Catastrophic History Of You And Me?
The Book Bind’s Review
Book Fanatics’ Review