Oh, how I had such high hopes for this book.

I read the description on Amazon and immediately thought, "I NEED to buy this book." So I did just that, the day it came out, and I read it essentially in one fell swoop, only pausing to sleep.

And I was so very disappointed.

The first part of the book was incredible; learning Amy and Matthew's story, watching their friendship bloom and transform into something possibly more, something neither of them had ever planned. It felt a little bit like Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell, though definitely not as eloquently executed. But when I had read about half of it, I had no idea what was going to happen in the second half; and not in a good way. The story wasn't building in an appealing way, it was just continuing.

And then the author threw in a plot point that seemed completely unlike Amy, a character I had grow to love, essentially ruining the story for me. Then, it continued with that plot point until the end, beating a dead horse into incalculable pieces. I'm trying not to be too spoiler-y, but this "event" that occurred is something that seems to pop up a lot in stories nowadays, and each time it feels contrived, cliche. Authors need to stop using this as a crutch in their novels and start creating more original plot transitions.

So, in the end, the failure of the novel was that it didn't follow through. And it's a tragedy. This book had immense potential to be something incredible, but the second half of the story ruined the whole book entirely for me.

My Rating: ★ ★