thegreatmanda's Reviews (459)

If the word “longing” could be fully represented by a single novel, it would be this one. This is sweet and happy, yet still grounded in the real world and all its problems, which the ending does not pretend to magically solve with the power of wishing.

I also enjoyed how some details were just left to subtext. For example,

I assume the reason Charlie left his old team easily might have been related, in some way, to his feelings that led him to kiss Blake

. Another author might have used Noah’s storyline to set up an interconnected series, but Cloud

allows his post-Blake situationship to remain a mystery, and leaves the audience to make guesses and enjoy the unknown

.

So. This was a tougher one for me to rate because Misha Horne is really, really great at writing this type of story, and this book is no exception. It deserves full marks because of how well they handled the setting and subject matter. However.

I don’t think I will ever read this again because I’m extremely uncomfortable with boarding school punishment stories that don’t frame it as the abuse it absolutely reads like. I was always a rule follower, terrified of getting in trouble, so if there are extremes of behavior patterns that this kind of thing actually works to correct, that’s an alien idea for me. The saving grace here is that these are legal adults at a college, and Alex reminds himself a few times that he’s free to walk out the doors and off campus and never return.

As the story progressed, I found myself side-eyeing the other characters a bit, and becoming as hungry to learn Bax’s secrets as Alex was. I think these characters and relationships and situations hit me as darker and more serious than Horne’s other novels have, which wasn’t what I look for in their work.