I vaguely remember reading this book in high school and I recently met Alex Flinn in person at an author event at a local bookstore and she spoke about her debut and her synopsis of the plot for it. I didn’t recall most of the plot nor did I remember my feelings on it when I initially read this book, so I decided to reread it. I really like Alex Flynn’s very different approach to addressing the topic of an abusive relationship. The story is told from the perspective of the abuser, which is rare to find. It was incredible to see how Nick rationalized what he had done and we don’t really know what happened between him and his ex-girlfriend Caitlin until the climax of the book since he is an unreliable narrator until almost the end. Nick loses friends and is ostracized in school because of his actions. However, he spends a good portion of his time acting like the world owes him an apology rather the other way around. It’s not until events in the story that end in a tragedy serve as a wake up call for him to realize that he’s done something wrong and needs to rectify his behavior in the future. 

The plot takes a very optimistic approach to Nick’s journey as in the end, he recognizes that he is an abuser and decides to take steps to rectify that to make sure it doesn’t happen again. Unfortunately, that is rarely the case for abusers and more often than not they become repeat abusers. Overall, it was an incredibly didactive story and I think it’s a great book for anyone looking to address a topic as heavy as abusive relationships with teenagers. The writing is easy to follow and the teenagers in the book read like teenagers. I’ve often bumped into books like this where you can tell the author is trying a bit too hard to sound like someone a lot younger and it falls flat. I don’t think that’s the case here and the topic is addressed really well. A very unique debut that is worth a read.