Some spoilers. Read at your own risk.
Also, my Grammarly account is on hold so tough out the grammatical mistakes I am too lazy to fix.
When I first read the synopsis for this book I said to myself, this sounds like some weirdo dreams I used to have when I had a crush on Joshua Goodwin back in elementary school. I seriously imagined my mother divorcing my dad and marrying Josh’s father (where his mother went, I don’t know. Dead maybe. I was a weird kid) and OMG the scenarios that would play in my head. GAH. Anyhow, the synopsis had me all, wow, I’d love to read something like my juvenile romantic inventions, but sexier.
So, here we have Lane who, after her dad announces with engagement, finds herself living with the very boy she’s had a crush on, like, FOREVER. Cue the fans because is it hot in here? Not only that, but he’s the boyfriend of Lane’s friend AND NOT ONLY THAT she finds herself crushing on a mutual friend, Conner. When Lane hooks up with Conner, she finds that her feelings toward her step-brother Grey become muddled.
Gibson’s writing is literally to die for. At first, I thought it would too flowery for my taste but NOPE. It worked and it worked so well I need to take a class on how to write like her because she is GOALS.
The open discussion about Lane’s periods and endometriosis was a welcome topic seeing as a lot of women, including myself have suffered from such a thing and her doctor brushing her off saying she’s too young for such a thing, even though her mother had it, is so real-life. Women’s pain is often discredited. I was told the same and I ended up wth stage four endo that nearly rendered me infertile. Endo needs a cure. Fist pump.
The other topics I need to mention are that Lane’s family are Wiccans and that is not something we see in YA. Also, the slut-shaming that Lane puts up with not only from her school, but from Grey and her friend would have been infuriating if not for Lane’s attitude. She’s no pushover and makes it known.
Grey is one jerk of a character. For one, he’s controlling. He doesn’t show the least bit of interest in Lane, save for a few tiny moments, until she gets with Conner and then he goes all crazy, like some boys do when they want something they can’t have. Thank the gods that Lane sees it for what it is. Although her relationship with Conner becomes strained when her fantasies about Grey still vying to become reality.
And Sadie, Grey’s girlfriend, and Lane supposed friend is pretty much a sh&t person. The comments she makes regarding Lane’s clothing cannot be blamed on her conservative upbringing. She’s just downright rude.
And Conner, poor cinnamon Conner. I just fell for him. Hard.
All in all, this was a fantastic book and I loved every moment of the time I spent reading it. This book deals with some heavy topics and there is a trigger warning, but my final thoughts are that I feel like YA needs to tackle more topics like mental illness as well as homelessness, suicide, insomnia, as well as other health issues like the endo I mentioned above. It is doing a disservice to teens not to touch upon this and publish more books with these issues.
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