After And They Lived . . . I knew I was going to read anything Salvatore wrote, and No Perfect Places did not steer me wrong.

I love a flawed character and Steven went and gave me a whole book full of them. Filled with raw emotion, a whole lot of denial and even more avoidance techniques, my heart broke for this family just trying to grieve and process everything that came their way.

One of my favorite aspects of YA is reading about younger characters figuring out who they are and how they fit into the lives they live and this story did such a heartbreakingly excellent job of showcasing that. While I may not be able to relate to a lot of what the Brucke twins went through, feeling so alone and like no one could ever possibly understand the amount of grief you're feeling? That was something I understood immediately.

To me, No Perfect Places is a story of accepting that we are not our parents. That even if they do horrible things, ruin us to what feels like we're beyond repair, we can heal from it and don't have to be them. We can be take the time to be messy and find out who we want to be. It's a story of family, self, and grief. I loved it.