Published by: Soho Teen on February 19th, 2019
Genre: Contemporary
Pages: 336
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
Goodreads
🌟🌟🌟🌟1/2
Synopsis:
On one terrible night, 17-year-old Harley Langston’s life changes forever. At a party she discovers her younger sister, Audrey, hooking up with her boyfriend, Mike—and she abandons them both in a rage. When Mike drunkenly attempts to drive Audrey home, he crashes and Audrey ends up in a coma. Now Harley is left with guilt, grief, pain and the undeniable truth that her ex-boyfriend (who is relatively unscathed) has a drinking problem. So it’s a surprise that she finds herself reconnecting with Raf, a neighbor and childhood friend who’s recently out of rehab and still wrestling with his own demons. At first Harley doesn’t want to get too close to him. But as Audrey awakens and slowly recovers, Raf starts to show Harley a path forward that she never would have believed possible—one guided by honesty, forgiveness, and redemption.
Review:
I'll be honest. I wasn't sure what to expect from this book. The synopsis made the book sound like an Alexia book, but I had been burned recently by another book that sounded like an Alexia book. This book looked like it had a LOT of things to love about it, but I was still nervous. But I picked it up one August morning and it took me about 24 hours from start to finish.
Books about sisters are some of my favorite things and that's probably because I have a very strained relationship with my own half sisters. I crave reading books about sisters who actually grew up in the same house, had the same parents and knew each other better than anyone else knew them. And that's how I felt reading this book. Harley knew her sister, Audrey better than anyone else did. But I know she hadn't expected to find Audrey hooking up with her boyfriend one night.
Books about cheating have become easier for me to read over the last few years, since I was cheated on. I don't think I could have read this book three years ago. It would have been too much for me and it would have felt like a sledgehammer hitting me over and over again. Now I am in a much better place in regards to the subject of cheating. I didn't mind reading about cheating in this book. Probably because I could not stand Harley's boyfriend.
What I wasn't expecting was so much talk about addiction & alcoholism. I knew it was going to be a theme in this book, but I wasn't prepared for how much of a theme. The subject of addiction is a tough one for me as my family has been battling this issue with my 17 year old brother for over 2 years. I was worried I wouldn't be able to handle it. I was worried it was going to be too much. But the way Mason wrote about addiction and rehab and all the other things that go along with those things, hit me in a way I didn't expect. She seemed to truly understand what it was like living in the body of an addict as well as loving someone who was an addict.
As much as I loved the dynamic between Audrey & Harley, it was Harley's romance with longtime neighbor, Raf, that really got me excited. Romance doesn't usually get me all giddy & excited, but Harley & Raf just made me happy and really, really hopeful.
I was a little nervous about Harley jumping from budding alcoholic Mike to full fledged addict Raf, but the guys had different stances on their problems. Mike was so firmly in denial about his problems with alcohol that it made me want to punch him. But Raf knew he had a problem and he was actively working on himself and what he wanted for his future.
Final thoughts: Pick up this beautiful book next month when lands on shelves of your nearest bookstore.
I'll be honest. I wasn't sure what to expect from this book. The synopsis made the book sound like an Alexia book, but I had been burned recently by another book that sounded like an Alexia book. This book looked like it had a LOT of things to love about it, but I was still nervous. But I picked it up one August morning and it took me about 24 hours from start to finish.
Books about sisters are some of my favorite things and that's probably because I have a very strained relationship with my own half sisters. I crave reading books about sisters who actually grew up in the same house, had the same parents and knew each other better than anyone else knew them. And that's how I felt reading this book. Harley knew her sister, Audrey better than anyone else did. But I know she hadn't expected to find Audrey hooking up with her boyfriend one night.
Books about cheating have become easier for me to read over the last few years, since I was cheated on. I don't think I could have read this book three years ago. It would have been too much for me and it would have felt like a sledgehammer hitting me over and over again. Now I am in a much better place in regards to the subject of cheating. I didn't mind reading about cheating in this book. Probably because I could not stand Harley's boyfriend.
What I wasn't expecting was so much talk about addiction & alcoholism. I knew it was going to be a theme in this book, but I wasn't prepared for how much of a theme. The subject of addiction is a tough one for me as my family has been battling this issue with my 17 year old brother for over 2 years. I was worried I wouldn't be able to handle it. I was worried it was going to be too much. But the way Mason wrote about addiction and rehab and all the other things that go along with those things, hit me in a way I didn't expect. She seemed to truly understand what it was like living in the body of an addict as well as loving someone who was an addict.
As much as I loved the dynamic between Audrey & Harley, it was Harley's romance with longtime neighbor, Raf, that really got me excited. Romance doesn't usually get me all giddy & excited, but Harley & Raf just made me happy and really, really hopeful.
I was a little nervous about Harley jumping from budding alcoholic Mike to full fledged addict Raf, but the guys had different stances on their problems. Mike was so firmly in denial about his problems with alcohol that it made me want to punch him. But Raf knew he had a problem and he was actively working on himself and what he wanted for his future.
Final thoughts: Pick up this beautiful book next month when lands on shelves of your nearest bookstore.
