Can’t Look Away by Donna Cooner | Rating: ★★★☆☆As a note, a printed galley of this novel was sent to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not effect my opinions in any way.
Donna Cooner is back with a story of loss and growing up in the digital aged spotlight. She manages to smoothly transform a familiar story of death in the family into a modern, teen friendly take in the form of fictional Youtube beauty guru Torrey Grey as she navigates a new setting following the tragic death of her younger sister.
During this time Torrey questions herself, her life and seems to be swallowed up by guilt over her treatment of her little sister the day she passes away. And to top it all off, her so called best friend betrays her in more way than one. Donna does a pretty great job at making Torrey believable and although she can be — at times — insufferable in her quest for popularity at her new school, Torrey is a character you want to root for.
We watch as she grows from typical and ‘shallow’ to someone who is able to move forward with her life and start something new in her world. Torrey struggles with a lot for a good portion of the book as does her family, and it’s impossible to not want the best for her. I think that Can’t Look Away will, perhaps, open the eyes of its target audience when it comes to realizing that things really can change in the blink of an eye.
It’ll certainly be a tear jerker, at times, for younger readers. But it also has moments that people interested in fashion will have their interest spark and a side of quirky, kind characters that make up for any of the flaws the story may have. I could easily see this becoming a movie, somehow, one day due to the light yet meaningful message it tells as well as the fashion. Let’s be real: we all want to see Torrey’s style come to life.
