It’s hard to imagine that the last time I read this was in 2011 when I was a very different person—11 years old to be exact. Everlost was one of the first books besides The Hunger Games or Percy Jackson to truly blow my mind. I couldn’t stop thinking about it for weeks, and I had to marathon the rest of the trilogy. Sitting here at 23, I’m excited to see that I feel the exact same way. All I want to do is grab Everwild and read my day away.

Nostalgic books have an indescribable power, and while this book is still horrific to think about (thanks, Neal), I like to think it helped shape me into a better person, a more thoughtful person.