Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout
Series: N/A
Genre: YA Contemporary
Page Length: 474 pages
Publication Date: May 17, 2016
Date Started: May 31, 2016
Date Finished: June 1, 2016
Rating: 5/5 stars
*Semi-spoiler free*
I really enjoyed this novel. It wasn't my favorite Jennifer L. Armentrout book, but I still really liked it. I first wanna talk about the characters. Jennifer has a way of creating multi-dimensional characters that seem to grab my attention whichever way I look. She peels back the layers and we see so many sides of all her characters that it's hard to choose who I like best.
MALLORY: Most of her life was spent in a foster home...and not a good one. It's easy to figure that out. Sometime in her life, about 4 years before the start of the book, she was taken out of it and adopted by a pair of doctors. They're so nice, and think of her as their actual daughter. Mallory herself is scarred and traumatized from her past, and doesn't have many friends. Her best friend is another girl who's homeschooled, but now that Mallory decided to go to public school for her senior year, they don't see each other as much. It was very interesting seeing Mallory's fears and tribulations as this book went on. I enjoyed seeing her overcome her inner struggles and fears about what's around her. I especially loved how she was understanding, and not at all dumb like some female protagonists in contemporaries are when it comes to fights and such. Overall, I thought she was a strong, complex, and interesting character to read from.
RIDER: I love Rider. He's epic, just saying. He's not my favorite Jennifer L. Armentrout guy, but he definitely ranks higher than a lot of other book boys. Rider lived in the same foster home as Mallory, and he protected her. He was her white knight when they were younger. He even has this nickname for her, "Mouse", that he still calls her. But anyway, he's been living in a new foster home since Mallory left the other one and he's got two foster brothers (who are amazing) named Jayden and Hector. They don't live in a particularly good part of the neighborhood, but they are good people. It was interesting to see Rider struggle with his current life and overcoming all these struggles when he looks like he has it all together.
JAYDEN: Oh man, I loved Jayden. He was the comic relief in a mostly-serious novel. He showed up at unexpected times and completely turned the mood around. I laughed out loud at Jayden. He was insane. Jayden is 15 years old, 2 years younger than everyone else, but he's 100% comfortable with those who are older than him. He does fall into some bad shit in the beginning of the novel, and a lot of the characters work to get him out (not telling you what happens though). He was amazing and I wish I could read more of him.
PAIGE: My feelings on Paige were very flip-floppy throughout the book. In the beginning, I saw her as a possibly threat to Mallory, and then she became a bitch, but in the end I feel like I understood her a lot better. I actually enjoyed Paige quite a bit. We do find out a lot about her home life and her own struggles, and I almost feel bad about Mallory and Rider getting together (Paige and Rider were together at the beginning). Almost, but not quite. I did quite like her.
ROSA & CARL: The two foster parents. Man, they were pretty great, but also annoyed me at times. I don't really need to say much other than there were times I loved both of them, and times I shook my head, and times I was pissed at them. There wasn't a whole lot to them that I want to talk about, but they really truly care for Mallory, and they do have a lot of feelings and empathy in them. Their daughter died when she was about to go into college, and now they have Mallory, so she feels like she comes second to their first daughter even though that was years ago. Things happen with them, and I did enjoy them.
I loved Mallory and Rider together. I felt like they could cling to each other in the eye of the hurricane. So many bad things have happened to both of them, but they both have each other. A lot of shit puts their relationship through the ringer, but I loved it all the same. I love how Mallory saw things in Rider that no one, not even himself, saw. And I love how Rider was able to back of being protective (for the most part) when Mallory told him to.
So many things happened in this book. There were plenty of highs and lows. I cried, pretty much for the entire last third of the novel. I had to take breaks because I couldn't read due to water in my eyes, or I didn't want tear drops on the pages. It was great.
There were plenty of laughs as well as tears. There were moments where I wanted to pull my hair out and moments where I just wanted to stand up and cheer and throw confetti everywhere. This was such a well done contemporary, and it's easily my favorite contemporary I've ever read (which I haven't read many). I believe Jennifer L. Armentrout did a stellar job with this novel and I highly recommend it for any contemporary or Armentrout fan.
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Thanks for reading
xoxo
Lauren
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