Chaos Theory. Nic Stone. 2023. Crown Books. 288 pages. [ARC provided courtesy of publisher via NetGalley for an unbiased review.]
Nic Stone earned 
stars before I read the first line of the book. The transparency of her author’s note (I never read those, but read this one) and content warning was so endearing and a testament to who I imagine she is in her everyday life. Yes, she wants you to read her work but the reality of her acknowledging and ensuring you know this may be a mirror riddled with triggers was so-selfless.
After swooning for a few moments, and taking the time to send a few “omg, I got it … you need to preorder this … the content warning was OMG,” messages I dove head first into Shelbi and Walter (can I call him that or will I get some random email that says “Andy to you”?). I always love Stone’s use of text messages in her books – it puts you fully in your YA mind and becomes a subtle reminder that in this day and age, that is the bulk of many peoples communication style.
The characters were amazing, fully developed, with tons of Life happening. They’ve been through a lot, were going through a lot, and survived A LOT. It was more of a mirror than I wanted at times but absolutely what I needed to remind me that we’re all TRYING. Mental health status not factored in, the world is a place of “chaos theory,” requiring that we adjust and cope with the unexpected. Now add in some chemical imbalances, and it’s a whole other balancing act. Nic Stone touched on so much — interracial relationships, class, hiding from your past, perception versus reality, woman’s rights, grief, death, consequences. Sometimes it was overt, other times it was so subtle; yet, through it all I was forced to think and reminisce. I’ll be preordering my hardback copy and I’d absolutely love a sequel to this. There’s so much of Shelbi’s growth I still need to witness … how does she take her awareness into the terrifying “adult world”?
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