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Review
“Sometimes the most beautiful pieces of art were created from the darkest of souls.”
4 stars
This is an intense and emotional story of two teenagers who are facing life-altering situations. It is heavy at times, but the story is beautifully told, and Aria and Levi are amazing characters who are wonderfully brought to life and who, in the darkest times of their lives, find comfort, acceptance and love together. It’s a gorgeous story, and I loved it.
Aria is a quiet girl who happily exists in the background. She has a good home life, a best friend who means everything to her and a passion for art, and she doesn’t draw attention to herself, enjoying her relative anonymity at school. But one mistake changes everything for her and now she is suddenly the centre of a lot of negative attention, she has become a target for cruelty and taunting, and her home life is crumbling,
Levi has lived a somewhat sheltered life being home schooled by his mother, and she has taught him to love and appreciate all things music. But life with his mother is incredibly stressful and he’s recently moved from Alabama to Wisconsin to stay with his father for a while in an effort to re-establish a relationship with the man he used to idolise but who is now mostly estranged. His good looks and southern charm immediately propel him to popular status at school, but all he’s really interested in is getting to know Aria.
I don’t want to go into too much detail and give things away, but the relationship that develops between these two is absolutely beautiful. Their quick and witty banter is highly entertaining, though it did seem incredibly mature for 16/17 year olds, but I was enjoying it so I was happy to go along with it.
“Levi.”
“Yes?”
“Do you think we can be friends?”
“I thought we already were.”
From a tentative friendship they slowly grow closer and when they really start to open up to each other, they find somebody that can lean on, someone who is there for them without question, and they discover something incredibly special together.
“That’s the thing about lives. We’re all so tangled up with one another, but at the same time, we’re very much alone.”
“Being alone is pretty lonely.”
She nodded. “Yes. But sometimes being together and lonely is even worse.”
“Not right now, though.”
“No. Right now is okay. Right now is good.”Me: Art – noun | [\ ˈärt\] : The quality, production, expression, or realm, according to aesthetic principles, of what is beautiful, appealing, or of more than ordinary significance.
Aria: I like that.
Me: I think you’re art.
I loved both Aria and Levi as characters. Individually they are dealing with so much, but they handle is all brilliantly and again, so maturely (I couldn’t have kept myself together as well as these kids did!). In particular, I thought Levi was absolutely incredible. What he was dealing with personally was huge, but the fact that he was there for Aria the way he was, and was so openly accepting and supportive of her blew my mind a little bit. He’s so incredibly caring, so cognisant of other’s feelings and wanting to make things better, he’s a beautiful soul (pardon the pun) who isn’t afraid to put himself out there, and I absolutely love him.
“I think about how you’re beautiful when you’re sad and it makes me angry when you’re mad. I hate whoever made you untouchable, because if there’s anything I would want to do more than kiss you, it would be to hold you. I like you, Aria. I know I’m not supposed to for certain reasons, but I don’t care. I like you, and I hope that’s okay because I don’t know how to stop. I’m not asking for anything from you. I swear I’m not. Just… take your time, that’s all.”
Oh swoon! Yes, there’s romance, and it’s gorgeous! Slowly developing and realistic, the love story is incredibly intense, in the way that a lot of first loves are, but it fits the characters and who they are, and I really enjoyed watching it all unfold.
I have to admit that as much as I enjoyed this story, I found the drama to be a little OTT. There was SO much going on in these kids’ lives that I thought it seemed unrealistic teen pregnancy (with a baby daddy twist), parents separating, mental illness, an estranged parent, cancer, parental death, a best friend with OCD, giving up a baby for adoption, and then all of the regular teenage, high school stuff…. It’s a lot!. I thought that each of the elements were handled really well, but it was a lot, and I thought a little bit of ‘normal’ would have balanced the story a bit more.
But the story is written beautifully, and in a way that is incredibly emotive. I particularly loved the way the relationships and character dynamics were explored, and despite all of the heaviness there are still some light moments – in particular coming from Aria’s BFF, Simon and Levi’s uncle Lance. They both bring so much to the story.
It’s an intense read, but it’s a very special story. I laughed, I swooned, and I even teared up at one point, but it left me smiling, and I’m still thinking about it even days later.
“Love openly,” my heart whispered. “Love unconditionally,” my heart begged. “Love the struggles,” my heart taught. “Love in the moment.”
4 stars.