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Review
3.5 stars
This is a sweet and heartfelt YA novel with some serious themes and a beautifully slow-burning forbidden romance that absolutely captured my heart.
Beth is a 17 year old girl entering her senior year of high school. It should be the time of her life as she embraces her independence and begins to plan for life after high school. But instead she is smothered and over-protected by her parents. After the tragic death of her older sister, they have become helicopter parents to the extreme, and she is choking under the pressure of it. Desperate to act out, she makes the conscious decision to rebel and begins sneaking out, partying and experiencing her freedom any way that she can, and that’s when she meets Chase. 19 years old and a fellow senior, Chase has just been released from a stint in juvie, and he is just the gorgeous bad-boy distraction that Beth is looking for.
Beth and Chase are both unaware that their pasts are tied together, and when the truth is revealed it’s to the horror of everyone around them who believe that they should have nothing to do with each other. Even Chase feels that they should keep their distance. But it’s tenacious Beth who can see beyond public perception and Chase’s demons, determinedly pursuing the boy that everybody else loves to hate.
“No one counts, Chase. No one but you and me. If you tell me you don’t care about me, I’ll cry but I’ll get over it. That’s your choice. But if you’re pushing me away because guilt is your current girlfriend and you don’t want to leave her, then that’s bullshit.”
I really liked Beth. She’s stuck at the mercy of her controlling parents, and she acts out and makes bad decisions, but she’s only 17, and I could understand her feelings, her confusion, and her motivations. What I love about her though, is the way she persistently challenged Chase. She valiantly ignores everybody in her life who does their best to keep her away from him, but she also takes on his demons, encouraging him to move on with his life and fighting to have a place in it.
“Are you ever going to let me forgive you?”
Chase is such a beautiful character. He has been deeply affected by all that he’s been through, and his guilt and regret is a constant weight around his neck. But I loved how down-to-earth he was, how he accepted Beth’s insistence on being in his life as she broke down his walls, and showing his softer and vulnerable side with her.
“That’s how I kept my sanity – I focused on one good thing instead of all the fucked-up stuff.” One small thing.
The love story that develops is really sweet. Chase shuts down, Beth pushes back, and through it all they slowly and tentatively form a friendship that deepens into so much more.
“What’s your small thing for today?”
“You.”
But they are up against some massive hurdles in their quest to be together. As I’ve experienced in other Erin Watt books, the drama is intense and really dramatic, making me hate every other person in this book, and leaving Beth and Chase alone in a bubble of misunderstood young love. It is literally them against everybody, and while I love an ‘against-the-odds’ romance, in this case it all felt a bit too much as actions and reactions are taken to such an extreme that they become almost unrealistic.
And then, just as we hit the big climax, all of a sudden it’s over. Things wrap up really quickly at the end, and it felt really rushed after the slow and steady build-up of everything else that happened in the book. There was so much time crafting these characters, all that they are going through, and their slow building friendship and relationship. And then… bam – they’re in love… bam – big bad guy moment… bam – everything changes… bam – it’s over. It felt like they finished it in a rush, and sadly, it was a bit unsatisfying after watching their struggle over so many pages.
But I did enjoy it. I liked Beth, I loved Chase, I thought their struggle was well developed with lots of emotion and I loved their love story. It just got a bit melodramatic and didn’t finish off the way I was hoping. But still a good read.
3.5 stars.
Advanced Review copy provided by the authors in exchange for an honest review.