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kyarabereading's review
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
When I first found this book, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I found myself liking it more than I thought I would.
At first, I found the premise of the book interesting enough to keep me hooked, but I have to admit that I found Stella kind of annoying. It seemed like she suffered from the “not like the other girls” syndrome that 2015 me would have enjoyed but 2022 me kind of didn’t. She was also very judgmental of the people around her, and I wasn’t a huge fan of that. But over time, she grew on me and I came to realize that this story wasn’t just a love story or a crime story. It was a story of a girl growing, changing, and dealing with the traumas of her past the best ways she could. So yeah, she was a bit annoying at first, but she went through a lot of growth over the course of the story. I appreciated that Fitzpatrick didn’t make her this perfect protagonist - I think it makes the story more realistic.
My issues with the book are minuscule in comparison to what I liked about. I think if there’s one major thing I had an issue with was that I felt we never really got much closure about a bunch of things in the book. (For the sake of not spoiling anything, I’m leaving it at that) But I also felt like the book does fine without it, so it’s not a huge deal. If anything, maybe it helps make things more real - as if their lives would go on for them even after I reached the final page. I just don’t get to find out what happens. Maybe it would have been odder to wrap up every storyline perfectly at the end. Does that make sense?
Aside from that, I also had issue with how Juan, one of Chet’s best friends, was written in the one second he was in the book. I think white authors need to stop writing POC into their books if they’re going to do it stereotypically. The way his character was written was almost laughable.
There’s also something very particular I had an issue with but it comes with spoilers so here it goes…
Trigger sucked as a human being, we have established that. But I was not a huge fan of the fact that his relationship with his teacher was written as if he was the one in the wrong, and she was innocent. He was a teenager and she was a grown adult. Just not a fan of the narrative that it was fine because he was 18 or that because he was abusive (?) in the relationship, it somehow makes what she did alright. I know it was 2015 when this was written, and things were different then (as in, people didn’t know how wrong teacher-student relationships were written in media) but still. That’s all I gotta say on that!
But whatever I felt could have been better about this book, Fitzpatric made up for, honestly. She had me hooked. She writes with a simple yet beautiful writing style that made me feel like I could picture every single thing and feel every single emotion she was describing. This book has interesting characters - each with their own internal and external conflicts, relationships with one another, full personalities, and lives outside of the main character’s story. It has conflict and plot twists that even I didn’t see coming at times. And it had a very satisfying conclusion, with the pieces of this story coming together perfectly. It even has some good lessons to learn along the way about forgiveness (both forgiving yourself and those who hurt you), vulnerability, love, and healing. And of course, the main star of the show: Chet and Stella’s relationship was super cute.
Overall, I enjoyed this book! I think fans of realistic YA would really enjoy this one.
At first, I found the premise of the book interesting enough to keep me hooked, but I have to admit that I found Stella kind of annoying. It seemed like she suffered from the “not like the other girls” syndrome that 2015 me would have enjoyed but 2022 me kind of didn’t. She was also very judgmental of the people around her, and I wasn’t a huge fan of that. But over time, she grew on me and I came to realize that this story wasn’t just a love story or a crime story. It was a story of a girl growing, changing, and dealing with the traumas of her past the best ways she could. So yeah, she was a bit annoying at first, but she went through a lot of growth over the course of the story. I appreciated that Fitzpatrick didn’t make her this perfect protagonist - I think it makes the story more realistic.
My issues with the book are minuscule in comparison to what I liked about. I think if there’s one major thing I had an issue with was that I felt we never really got much closure about a bunch of things in the book. (For the sake of not spoiling anything, I’m leaving it at that) But I also felt like the book does fine without it, so it’s not a huge deal. If anything, maybe it helps make things more real - as if their lives would go on for them even after I reached the final page. I just don’t get to find out what happens. Maybe it would have been odder to wrap up every storyline perfectly at the end. Does that make sense?
Aside from that, I also had issue with how Juan, one of Chet’s best friends, was written in the one second he was in the book. I think white authors need to stop writing POC into their books if they’re going to do it stereotypically. The way his character was written was almost laughable.
There’s also something very particular I had an issue with but it comes with spoilers so here it goes…
But whatever I felt could have been better about this book, Fitzpatric made up for, honestly. She had me hooked. She writes with a simple yet beautiful writing style that made me feel like I could picture every single thing and feel every single emotion she was describing. This book has interesting characters - each with their own internal and external conflicts, relationships with one another, full personalities, and lives outside of the main character’s story. It has conflict and plot twists that even I didn’t see coming at times. And it had a very satisfying conclusion, with the pieces of this story coming together perfectly. It even has some good lessons to learn along the way about forgiveness (both forgiving yourself and those who hurt you), vulnerability, love, and healing. And of course, the main star of the show: Chet and Stella’s relationship was super cute.
Overall, I enjoyed this book! I think fans of realistic YA would really enjoy this one.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, and Drug abuse
Moderate: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, Murder, Blood, and Violence
Minor: Car accident, Death of parent, and Vomit
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