The title reminding me of the song by Nine Days was probably the biggest motivator in picking up this book. The title got dropped early on, but rather than referencing the main character, Deanna, it talked about this wave-rider girl she was writing about in her journal. This is a plot device that’s been used many times over, but it came in with such inconsistent timing that I rather it had been dropped from the story altogether. The story should’ve been featured more prominently rather than just in times when Deanna needed to seem like a teenager with the power of introspection (which was never quite successful).

All of the characters we’re pretty flat, but I actually prefer it that way since they were playing a part in Deanna’s narrative. They existed, not as people, but to serve a purpose. Still, I didn’t love how some characters (like her parents!) embodied this horrible mindset and were detrimental to Deanna, but it was just sort of accepted by her. Even if current day Deanna was numb to it, I would’ve liked some deeper thoughts from her past self (or really just more time) spent on what their offense at Deanna did to her emotionally over the two years between when her incident happened and when the book took place.

The best thing about this book was how immature Deanna was without being naive or annoying. It was based in solid 16-year-old logic where the audience saw how she was wrong, but understood how she thought herself in the right. It was a delicate balance to strike and saved this book from being over the top. It wasn’t enough to save the story from it’s fake-deep feeling, though. I’m glad it was a quick read, because any more time spent on it would have been a waste for me.