YA Buddy Readers' Corner ♥ discussion

A remarkably inventive novel that explores what it means to live a life fully in the moment, even if those moments are out of order.

It’s New Year’s Eve 1982, and Oona Lockhart has her whole life before her. At the stroke of midnight she will turn nineteen, and the year ahead promises to be one of consequence. Should she go to London to study economics, or remain at home in Brooklyn to pursue her passion for music and be with her boyfriend? As the countdown to the New Year begins, Oona faints and awakens thirty-two years in the future in her fifty-one-year-old body. Greeted by a friendly stranger in a beautiful house she’s told is her own, Oona learns that with each passing year she will leap to another age at random. And so begins Oona Out of Order...

Hopping through decades, pop culture fads, and much-needed stock tips, Oona is still a young woman on the inside but ever changing on the outside. Who will she be next year? Philanthropist? Club Kid? World traveler? Wife to a man she’s never met? Surprising, magical, and heart-wrenching, Margarita Montimore has crafted an unforgettable story about the burdens of time, the endurance of love, and the power of family.

Chapter 4- (view spoiler)[ Okay...VERY interesting start to this! I'm really liking the premise and the mystery behind the tattoo. I have a feeling Kenzie is Oona's son (or someone important from around 1983 due to him being around 30 in 2015). I really do love listening to the differences Oona picked up in style, technology, and slang in 2015. The difference in how cars and street lights were described were a nice touch! (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 6- (view spoiler)[ Hmmm...not sure if Kenzie is her son now that he said his mothers were killed in a car crash, so now I'm intrigued by their relationship and how he became so close to Oona!! I really do love the time frame references such as: movies from the 90's, music from the 2000's, and even 9/11. Noticing the difference in people not being "present" with all the phones was also a nice thing to bring up for someone who wouldn't know what to think of the technology and not being accustomed to it. Let's see what happens in 1991!! (hide spoiler)]

Through part two (ch 6)

(view spoiler)[ This first jump was pretty interesting. I like the concept here and that she had someone there for her that knew what was going on for the first one. How disorienting to wake up 19 but be in your fifties. And having to suddenly learn about technology and all the changes in that drastic of a time jump. (hide spoiler)]

Katie wrote: "Chapter 6- [spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[ I do love all these references to the past and the memories it brings with it! Kenzie is super interesting and I cannot wait to have him back as a character (assuming he reappears at some point anyways). (hide spoiler)]

Part 3 (ch 7-12)

(view spoiler)[ 1991! This was a wild ass year for Oona. Started off with a bang - literally - with her little hot and heavy sex session at the club. I felt so sad when she found out she had a boyfriend, and then the following break up :(

While I was not a fan of the drug use here (especially after how bad she flipped on her band mate at the very beginning) I did love the crew of friends. And the drag queens! So cool! I also like that she is helping others establish money for their future! (hide spoiler)]

HeatherH wrote: "Part 3 (ch 7-12)

1991! ..."


Just finished chapter 11...I was so confused at the beginning of this leap! (view spoiler)[ I guess that's pretty much the point...I couldn't imagine just picking up at the start of a new year without knowing anyone or anything!! I wonder if we'll see more of Crosby?? He seemed pretty genuine and future Oona really wanted it to work out! And I do miss Kenzie! Again, I love the time frame references with Madona, permed hair, shoulder pads, HIV, and even the drugs...I was a bit surprised on how Oona was into that scene. I hope the rest of her year goes better! (hide spoiler)]

I'm struggling here
Prologue-part11
(view spoiler)[ 19 year old Oona does not know what to do
Go on tour with her boyfriend and the band or go to school with her best friend and before she decides... Whamp she is a 51 year old woman. Still having the mind of a 19 year old, a personal assistant Kenzie and she saw her mother Madeline.

Checking on her old friends

Dale is dead
Corey is in jail
Her best friend graduated from Harvard


I am seriously struggling with this book. I just hope it is worth it (hide spoiler)]

HeatherH wrote: "Through part two (ch 6)

[spoilers removed]"

It was flat for me

I enjoyed part 1 better

Katie wrote: "HeatherH wrote: "Part 3 (ch 7-12)

1991! ..."


Just finished chapter 11...I was so confused at the beginning of this leap! [spoilers removed]"


Yes! I'm loving the references to the times in each one too and the disoriented feeling!

izzy wrote: "I'm struggling here
Prologue-part11


It is definitely a bit disorienting to go through such a drastic jump/change!

Chapter 15- I'm struggling a bit now with this one... (view spoiler)[ I hope I'm not slumping with my reading, but everything I've been reading lately, when I hit the midway point and think...meh...

I still think the premise is kind of cool, but I'm just struggling with what the point of the book is and the mystery behind everything. I hope we find out more about why this is happening to her and more about her past friends and fights with her mother. Every time she jumps, it just adds more questions, and I'm about half way through it without really knowing what the point is.

I'm also slightly weirded out that she is only mentally 21 and is having sex with someone she doesn't really know and is over 35.

I'm excited to learn about who Peter is! (hide spoiler)]

Katie wrote: "Chapter 15- I'm struggling a bit now with this one... I hope I'm not slumping with my reading, but everything I've been reading lately, when I hit the midway point and think...meh...

I still thin..."

(view spoiler)[ It feels more like it is just a series of events without a real destination in mind at this point. I'm still enjoying the ride, but can see where you are coming from plot wise.

<3 Peter But hate Edward... Bleh - he was using her for money it felt like. (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 22- (view spoiler)[ So I really enjoyed having 2 years back-to-back during her jumps!! I enjoyed seeing how she ended up in the subway with wanting to warn herself about Edward. I think I'm liking it better now that we start to see how things are intertwined! (Meeting Kenzie, the fight with her mom, why her mom didn't like Edward, etc.) (hide spoiler)]

Part 111 - part vl
(view spoiler)[ Oona has visited 1991 (made her friends secure a rich future), 2004 (married to Edward which she will later divorce) 2003 (meeting Edward and still end up marrying him even when initially she didn't want to make the same mistake) 1995(on a beach)

I am confused about something, it is like she knows her past and future (from the letters)
Is it that she has lived everything before or she knows the year she will jump to so she leaves a note for that exact same self?
I don't understand (hide spoiler)]

Katie wrote: "Chapter 4- [spoilers removed]"
.....and you are right

Till the end
(view spoiler)[ her mother died.

I don't like this
The author created an endless loop. She will keep travelling and travelling and j feel bad that all her lived ones might die and she will just keep travelling unless she dies before the new year (hide spoiler)]

izzy wrote: "Katie wrote: "Chapter 4- [spoilers removed]"
.....and you are right"

HAHA! (view spoiler)[ I wasn't too shocked that this was the big reveal, but I just don't quite "get it..." There were interesting parts, but I just don't get the point of the book I guess. (hide spoiler)]

Glad you joined in with the buddy read though!

Finished- (view spoiler)[ Hmmm...I'm kind of torn on what to do with this rating. I didn't love it, but I didn't hate it either. I liked the beginning and the last couple of jumps. I guess I'm not surprised with the big reveal being that Kenzie was her son, and I liked the ending enough, but I just don't quite get the point of this book. It was entertaining, but I didn't feel much for any of the characters because we jumped around so much. I think it could have been a longer book maybe?? It was okay for me. (hide spoiler)]

Katie wrote: "Chapter 22- [spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[ It was cool to jump back to the previous year and see how she got there. And to see the beginning with Edward. I didn't care for him much and wondered a lot about how she got caught up in the arrangement with him that she did so it was fun to see the start of that. (hide spoiler)]

izzy wrote: "Till the end
"

(view spoiler)[Valid point. I honestly hadn't considered the issue of her jumping around meaning she would possibly watch everyone she loves die. I have to imagine only if there is a version of her that is alive when they die. Like if she is to die at the age of 70, she won't be able to jump into a version of herself past that age so if say Kenzie dies 10 years after Oona does at 70, she'd never have to witness his death as there was no version of her alive then. The system of the jumps and the cause was so vague and never really explained that it left a lot to the readers imagination. (hide spoiler)]

Katie wrote: "Finished- [spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[ The big takeaway for me, I think, was that things happen for a reason. I don't feel like there was much more of a plot than that. It was like no matter how hard she tried to change outcomes it didn't work out. But I did really enjoy the story overall. You definitely have to suspend reality and let go of a lot of questions. And I agree that a longer book would have given us more time with these characters to really connect to them better. (hide spoiler)]