This book will change your life. I don’t mean that in the hyperbolic, book store end cap signage kind of way, in large, colorful, creative font. I don’t mean that in an informercial, screaming paid spokesperson kind of way. I don’t mean that in a beautifully sung solo in church on a Sunday morning kind of way. I mean it in a this book will never leave your head kind of way.

This book walks straight into your soul, stands toe to toe with you, unblinking, solid, and real. When you close the book at the end it doesn’t thank you for your time and leave. It continues to stare straight into your very core, demanding to be remembered.

They call a book like this “Teen Fiction” and I do want every teen I know to read it. But relegating it to the teen section does it a disservice. I want every adult I know to read it as well.

Not just because of the writing, which is excellent. Not just because of the dialogue, which snaps like a whip out of every sentence. Not just because @angiethomas gives us characters so real you would swear they were leaning over your shoulder as you read. Not just because I cried as much as I laughed, and I laughed a lot. Not just because it is “timely”, or “vital”, or “topical”, or “important” (although it is most definitely all those
things).

I want everyone I know to read this book simply because it is as real and true a book as I have ever read. I camped to dearly love Starr and her family as I spent time with them. I felt their pain, and their anger, and their love in the deepest parts of my soul. This story will never leave me. I highly, highly recommend you grab yourself a copy right now.