I was pretty surprised by how much I enjoyed this book. I have been avoiding YA books for a while now and after a recent decision to give them a try again, I chose this one and was pleasantly surprised.
Let’s talk about our two main characters. Noah became part of the foster system when he was a child and his parents died in a fire. He had been bounced from foster home to foster home for being a boy with “issues”. He does what every good bad boy type would do and puts on his badass pants. He is also a really good big brother who is trying to get custody of his younger brothers since they were placed in a separate foster home than him. So, naturally he is protective, determined, and hiding behind an emotionally unstable brick wall.
“It doesn't get better," I said. "The pain. The wounds scab over and you don't always feel like a knife is slashing through you. But when you least expect it, the pain flashes to remind you you'll never be the same.”
Echo is a wreck. She has her own traumatic background that she is attempting to deal with. All she wants is to get her life back to normal, which has been impossible since she and her friends can’t get past the scars covering her body and a single night she can’t remember. She has a screwed up family with a dad that is always preoccupied with his new pregnant wife and a mom that has severe mental illness. Add in the tragic death of her brother in Afghanistan and you get the mess that is Echo.
“They say be a good girl, get good grades, be popular. They know nothing about me.”
When these two came together through the work of the school social worker: Mrs. Collins, great things start to happen. Together they decided they would help each other. Noah would help Echo find out what happened to her on the night she can’t remember and Echo would help Noah find his brothers. During this journey they deal with the ups and downs of both of their traumatic pasts, rise above bitchy teenage social drama, and most importantly learn to love and accept love in return.
I highly enjoyed this entire book. I was enthralled from the first page and read it in one sitting. The ended was perfect! So freaking perfect! To all my fellow romance readers, I recommend this book. Prepare for a book that will rock your world and is really quite an enjoyable read, even with the heavy topics. I will definitely be picking up more from this author in the future!
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