3.5 stars.
This book is messy. Intentionally messy. Unapologetically messy. It's not idealistic, sweet and fluffy, or politically correct. It feels very real, very authentic (for the most part), and there were certain aspects that really spoke to me personally.

Skylar is a college-bound artist who has spent her entire life in a little tiny town in the middle of California. But really, it could've been a tiny nowhere town pretty much anywhere. I know it reminded me of the little tiny town I grew up in in Alaska. It's more about the people, the relationships, than it is about geography. Skylar has wanted to escape her town for as long as she can remember. This is also something I could identify with.

Josh is a wounded veteran coming back from the war. He lost a leg in combat, and that is just the physical manifestation of his loss. He is very obviously suffering from severe PTSD, blaming himself for things that happened in Afghanistan that weren't his fault at all. Someone very close to me also suffered from PTSD because of things that happened during his service in the military, and a lot of this (more than I would want to admit) rang true for me.

Josh and Skylar have known each other for years (it's the kind of town where everyone knows everyone else) and begin working together at a local motel.


Things I liked:
1. Flawed, interesting characters.
Even Skylar, who is touted by other people as a kind of goody-two-shoes, has depth. While it's true that she is, for the most part, on the straight and narrow, she is not a sheltered person. Her friends drink and party and her best friend has a young child, but she doesn't ridicule them or act superior to them (for the most part). She is pretty candid actually about how her upbringing wasn't exactly idyllic, and a good chunk of the story deals with her trying to help her alcoholic mother come out of her depression.
Josh is also far from perfect. Even discounting any issues he has relating to his PTSD and injury, he can be an asshole. He says things that are bigoted and ignorant. I actually almost DNF'd this book because of some of the things he says early on in the story. But I didn't, mostly because the things he was saying weren't treated as being acceptable by the other characters. He is called out for the offensive things he says, and it seems like he actually gets it by the end.
The other side characters were well-developed and felt so real to me, not like stereotypes at all. I've known real people who remind me of every single character in this story, and that is hardly ever the case.

2. The exploration of PTSD.
I felt like this was handled very deftly and sensitively. The experiences portrayed in this book felt authentic and I've actually experienced some of them first-hand, so it definitely hit home for me. I liked Josh's journal entries as well. You can see throughout the book that he wants to fight. He doesn't want to give up a wallow in his self-pity. I do wish we could've had more of a glimpse into his family life, to see how his condition was affecting the rest of his family. We do get a scene between Skylar and his brother talking about nightmares, but I would've liked to see it expanded on a little more.

3. The pacing. This book was very readable. I got through it in about 3.5 hours, and it's 380 pages long. I felt like it flowed really well and I never felt bored or like it was repetitive.

Things I didn't like:

1. The true-love-will-cure-all-that-ails-you trope. I felt like this book stayed away from the typical tropes, but this is one is doesn't side-step. I don't think it's as bad as other books. We see glimpses of Josh going to therapy, going to group meetings, etc. But when his nightmares are tied to the status of his relationship with Skylar, that's just not realistic.

2. The you're-not-like-other-girls trope. He literally tells her that she's unlike anyone he's ever known...apparently because she was a virgin and an all-around 'good girl'. One of the few moments in this book I rolled my eyes and audibly groaned.

3. The resolution of the subplot with her mother.

This just felt incredibly rushed to me. We are shown through the entire book that her mother is an absolute mess. She loses her job and proceeds to spiral into a severe depression. She starts to hang out with this POS creep who gets her to start drinking again and not take care of herself. She refuses to look for a job and is totally neglectful of her daughter, who she relies on to pay all the bills and take care of pretty much everything while she spends her time drinking, smoking, and screwing the aforementioned POS creep. Then, in the course of a couple of pages, her mother cleans herself up, stops (or at least limits) her drinking, and decides to move away with the creepy POS who maybe isn't such a POS after all?

It just didn't feel authentic to me, which is one of the only things in this book that I can say that about.

For the most part, I liked this book. I wouldn't say it was a fun reading experience, because it's a heavy, intense book. But I do think it handles the struggles of PTSD well, and I found the romance believable, for the most part. That, along with the wonderfully flawed characters, makes this one worth a read.