Painted Boots is a contemporary romance, and romance is a big element in the book. In fact, I loved the romance between Aspen and Kyle. But I thought the bigger point of the book was to talk about abuse and bullying. It was a huge theme throughout the story from start to finish. There were some parts of this book that were hard for me to read and some parts that just made me so sad. These are difficult topics and can be pretty explicit in some parts, but the Painted Boots is beautifully written on a tough subject to write about. I think Mechelle Morrison did an amazing job.

Aspen has had a rough year. She lost her mother and now she has to move to a new place. I loved the emphasis on her fashion sense though. Her mother used to make all these amazing clothes for Aspen but when she died, Aspen couldn't bear to have the reminder of her mother around so she got rid of all of the clothes. Her and her father moved to a small town out west and she went to thrift shops and put together a cool "new" wardrobe for herself. Some of the girls at her new school made fun of her clothes and they would play this mean game of trying to guess who in this small town her clothes once belonged too. I felt so bad for Aspen. There were really only two people in the whole school that were nice to her. She had one friend and then she had Kyle.

Kyle is great and I love him with Aspen. He sticks by her all the time and they seemed perfect for each other. I loved how they were able to open up and share each others secrets. And Kyle had one heck of a secret to share. I felt so bad for him. He has had it super rough as well. They really did seem made for each other because they were going through such similar things. One thing that bugged me about Kyle (but I don't think it would bug too many other people) was that he called Aspen "girl". It was his nickname for her. It just irked me. I didn't like it. But other than that their romance was beautiful and seemed very real to me. It was intense for sure, but everything about Painted Boots was intense.

Painted Boots is a serious book about a serious topic. I wouldn't say it is the happiest book in the world, but it is a realistic and beautifully done book about what I think is a very important topic. Emotional and physical abuse is very real and I liked that Painted Boots approached it from a less popular viewpoint. From both a guy and a girl that have been abused. Painted Boots is not all sad though. There is a silver lining and some form of a happily ever after. I thought that the ending was very satisfying and hopeful. I enjoyed Painted Boots, and fans of realistic fiction will enjoy Mechelle's fresh writing style as well.