Aside from making them younger, and removing almost all of the actual sex scenes, very little was done by way of modifying the story. However, I feel like more revisions needed to be made to the original manuscript in order to make it more plausible as a YA book. They are so lovely together, and the slow-burn worked here, for the most part. The friendship and love story between Ethan and Carter is awe-inspiring and beautiful. He sees right past Carter’s Tourette’s-which has always made Carter feel ostracized to the point that he’d rather not be around most people at all-and simply sees Carter’s ‘music,’ as he calls it, the symphony created by Carter’s many vocal and body tics. One of the greatest things about Ethan, though, is that he sees Carter. He’s a wonderful, exuberant, gentle soul, with a whole host of friends and a family who loves him. Three years ago, Ethan suffered a traumatic brain injury and is now mentally much slower than his actual age. He moves in next door to the Harts, and soon meets Ethan, now eighteen.

In Ethan, Carter is fifteen, almost sixteen, and has moved to Santa Josephina, a small town in California, with his parents. BUT, after reading Ethan, I sadly have to say that the adaptation didn’t work quite as well as I’d hoped it would. And, I do love that this story is out there now for a younger audience to enjoy I was so excited when I saw that Ryan Loveless was reworking the original story. I loved them in the original book, Ethan, Who Loved Carter, from which this YA version, simply titled Ethan, is adapted, and I still loved them in this book. Review: Let me start out by saying that I LOVE Ethan and Carter. He knows he and Carter are destined to be best friends and then boyfriends, if only Carter would get on the same wavelength.Ĭarter isn’t sure about a social life, but as Ethan introduces him to a new world of friends who accept him, tics and all, he starts to see the bright side of not hiding away.Īdapted as a YA edition of the award-winning novel Ethan, Who Loved Carter by Ryan Loveless. To him, Carter moves like the music only Ethan sees. He is sensitive, joyous, and uninhibited. Seventeen-year-old Ethan Hart, the neighbors’ older son, is a few years into recovery from a traumatic brain injury. He’ll lay low through the summer in his new quiet California town, and when school starts, he’ll keep to himself.

When his parents announce the family is moving cross-country, that dream comes true. After a disastrous talent show places him at the center of attention, he dreams of disappearing. There’s no question I still love the story, but if you’re an adult, and you haven’t yet read the original, I would start there.īlurb: School-wide, fifteen-year-old Carter Stevenson is known as “that twitchy, stuttering kid” thanks to his Tourette’s syndrome. At a Glance: Mixed feelings on this one for sure, guys.

Ethan who loved carter by ryan loveless