Thank you to NetGalley for the eARC!

Darcy Wells, named after Jane Austen’s most famous hero, collects words and stories. She memorizes stories without even trying and escapes into them to hide from her real life, namely the fact that her mother is a hoarder.

Darcy is navigating her last year of high school, and just trying to survive until her 18th birthday, when she is no longer in danger of being taken away from her mother. But when Asher Fleet, a boy she vaguely knew when he attended her school the previous year, starts to spend his breaks in the bookstore where Darcy works, she slowly begins to realize that just surviving might not be enough anymore.

This debut by Laura Taylor Namey is at times funny, sweet, serious, and heart wrenching. I have never read a YA book that handles mental illness in this particular way, and it really struck me. Darcy’s mother is a hoarder, and this is treated for what it really is, a mental illness. Laura doesn’t shy away from how this affects not only Darcy’s mother, but Darcy herself, and examines just how deeply the effects of this kind of disease can cut a family.

Darcy's best friend Marisol is unwavering in her support, but not afraid to make Darcy examine her life more deeply. Asher, the love interest, also pushes Darcy to try to do more than just survive. The characters in this book are fleshed out and real, and are not afraid to face their problems head-on, even if they need help with that sometimes.

Laura Taylor Namey successfully blends romance and real-world issues into her novel and has created an engrossing book. It will hopefully resonate with readers, and let some of them know that they are not alone in dealing with life’s problems, whatever form they may take.

I’m not quite sure what I was expecting of this book, but it blew my expectations out of the water.