I was looking for the next audiobook to listen to after I finished Such A Fun Age. I stumbled upon Libro.fm’s recommendation section and I saw As Many Nows As I Can Get by Shana Youngdahl. 10 hours and 43 minutes later, I was floored by this story. The cover itself was enticing enough that it didn’t take much to convince me to pick this up. Turned out the synopsis didn’t do it enough justice. It was more than what I was expecting.
The book is divided into three timestamps; Scarlett’s senior year of high school, her first year of college, and the summers in between. This format keeps thing interesting as they ended up fill in the puzzles. Sometimes, I wasn’t sure where the story is heading but the way the author weaved the story together is beautiful.
Scarlett is an interesting character right away. She is incredibly smart, nerdy, but open and authentic. She is a scientist; often looking at life the way a physicists would. As a narrator, Scarlett is one of those characters that have strong narrative voice.
The story followed her senior year in high school where she has a tight group of friends. They are the smart kids but doesn’t mean they don’t dabble into drugs, alcohol, and sex – the holy trinity of destruction in high school (or so people say anyway). While there is romance in the form of Scarlett’s recently-ended relationship with her first love, Cody, there is also David. They’ve known each other since childhood but never really got close or anything until Cody broke up with Scarlett. What follows are her complicated friendship with David; how her last summer before college were entirely filled with David – how it pulled them together but also kept them apart. Beyond that, we also got to see Scarlett navigating her first year in college and how she had to make a tough decision.
There’s nothing much I can say without spoiling the book. As Many Nows As I Can is one of those books that you should read (or in my case listen to), by yourself to get the whole experience. The narrator did a great job in narrating the story. Scarlett’s narration is quite… sad. Especially towards the end of the book. I cried so hard at some scenes in the book because I couldn’t help but to just feel for these characters. I also loved the secondary characters as they are not just written for the sake of being there. Each of the secondary characters add something to the story – helping us to understand and know Scarlett’s different sides.
As Many Nows As I Can Get delivers a great story that highlights the more poignant side of transitions to adulthood with all its ups and downs.
More YA Audiobooks Goodness:
The Book of Essie by Meghan Maclean Weir
As Many Nows As I Can Get – Shana Youngdahl
A timely, searing, and unconventional romance from an urgent new voice in young adult fiction
In one impulsive moment the summer before they leave for college, overachievers Scarlett and David plunge into an irresistible swirl of romance, particle physics, and questionable decisions. Told in non-linear, vivid first-person chapters, As Many Nows As I Can Get is the story of a grounded girl who’s pulled into a lightning-strike romance with an electric-charged boy, and the enormity of the aftermath. Cerebral, accessible, bold, and unconventionally romantic, this is a powerful debut about grief, guilt, and reconciling who you think you need to be with the person you’ve been all along.
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