I'm so conflicted. I do not know what I feel about this book. I definitely did not enjoy it wholeheartedly but I did appreciate some of what it did was trying to achieve. The ending was by far my favourite aspect of the story. It would have been so much more gut-wrenching and impacting if I had found the romance even remotely shippable before that… but I did not, unfortunately. I struggled with Grace’s character so much. I found the portrayal of her mental illness incredibly problematic. I cannot believe that she was barely acknowledged as needing help, despite clearly suffering from PTSD. It really bothered me that she was not only not receiving professional help but that everyone just ignored it. She was obviously in great distress and the fact that everyone just… let her be like that really bothered me. Henry even fears for her safety at one point. I know that the situation is tricky but I would have loved to see him step up and a) talk to her about it or b) talk to an adult about it. Henry’s entire attitude towards Grace was actually quite problematic. He thought of her as being broken, as being not good for him pursue, and I just found that so, so problematic.

On a more positive note, I will say that I adored Lola. She was literally me the entire book. She told Henry whenever he was being idiotic to cut it out. She called him out for being a douche when he selfishly jeopardised her own grades by goofing about with Grace instead on working on the newspaper. She was hella supportive and tried to piece everything back together for her friends because she is a saint. Most importantly, though? She told Henry not to date a girl who had not read or seen Harry Potter… I’m smiling just thinking about. Life advise right there. It is just so me.

Extra Thoughts:

• I adored the writing style. It did not go overboard like I feared. It was nicely poetic and it definitely made me want to read more of her books in the future.
• I was disappointed that this book was Americanised. I have no idea why it was not set in Australia. Is there a reason?
• Speaking of which, I am so disappointed in Murray’s character! The one Australian character in the book overused (old/bogan) Australian slang to pick up girls. This honestly has to be one of my least favourite tropes of all time!
• The fact that all of the characters had such ‘cool parents’ felt a little over-the-top.
• Sadie was pretty awesome, though.

Please note: the diversity was awesome in theory but Alaina Leary @ Disability in Kidlit found both Grace’s disability and mental illness portrayal slightly problematic. Please check out her discussion to get more information on the representation in this book.