The Nature of Jade

The Nature of Jade by Deb Caletti

Pages: 288

"The one thing my illness made me realize is how necessary it is to ignore the dangers of living in order to live. And how much trouble you can get into if you can't."
Since being diagnosed with Panic Disorder, Jade DeLuna is trying her best to stay calm, and visiting the elephants at the nearby zoo seems to help. That's why Jade keeps the live zoo webcam on in her room, which is where she first sees Sebastian.
When she finally meets him, their connection is immediate, and soon Jade is drawn into the cozy life Sebastian has with his son and his frandmother on their Seatlly housebout. Even though the situation is complicated, Jade hasn't felt this safe in a long time.
Until she learns that Sebastian is hiding a terrible secret. A secret that will force Jade to decide between what is right, and what feels right...

Deb Caletti is one of my favorite authors, although I have many (; , and this is my favorite book by her I think. The plot is a romance book, but it deals with many real-life scenarios: Panic Disorder, graduating, romance, husband-wife relationships, parents-children relationships, and sister-brother relationships.

Jade is eighteen and in her senior year of highschool. Because of her panic disorder she plans on going to college somewhere in Washington, close to hom. But, her therapist, Abe, has her apply to a college out of state just because. She has a webcam of the Elephant's habitat in her room because the elephants calm her down. Then one day, while watching the elephant cam, she sees a boy in a red jacket with a baby on his back. Jade is instantly drawn to him, but whenever she goes to the zoo, he isn't there. She decides to volunteer in the elephant's habitat at the zoo. She loves helping with the elephants, especially baby Hanza, and thats where she finnaly meets the boy in the red jacket: Sebastian, and his baby boy: Bo. She doesn't tell her parents because they wouldn't understand about the whole baby situation. She knows she has fallen in love, and it just so happens to be with a boy who is about to take her on a wild adventure that will test everything she's ever known.

Jade is such a perfect character. She has Panic Disorder and Caletti does a great job of showing how she feels and reacts to it. Meeting Sebastian and Bo and his grandmother Tess really helps with the illenss. Sebastian is kind and gentle and open-hearted. He is a boy who actually stops and thinks and ponders about deciscions. Having a kid at seventeen will do that to a person sometimes. And Bo. He is 15 months and just utterly adorable (as most babies are). Bo is such a cute character that you can't help loving him with everything he does.

Warning: Spoiler!
Overall, the only complaint is that in the end I wish she had seen Sebastian again before the book ended. Although as my friends tell me "the reason characters find each other on the last page is because love never ends." I guess that going to your love on the last page is the same thing.
Spoiler over.

The book in a whole is just amazing. It's a magnificent story about an average girl with a not-so-average life.

Overall Rating: 4.5 stars