Wow. This book was startlingly good, and if you haven't read it yet, change that IMMEDIATELY.

Skylar doesn't want the trailer park future she will be destined for if she stays in her small town of Creek View, California. She wants more. And now, she only has the three months of summer before she can have that future. But that vision starts to disappear when her mother loses her job and begins drinking again.

She only seems to find solace in Josh Mitchell, the boy who just came back from Afghanistan with one less leg. Josh is drowning in his sorrow, his guilt, and Skylar is the only person who seems to understand and help ease the pain. Skylar knows that falling for Josh could just be another thing to tether her to Creek View, but she can't help it. He crawls under her skin and into her heart. But he may have too many issues to fully give himself to her and she might have to leave him behind to avoid the life she's never wanted.

I started this book expecting to love it. I've read many, many reviews from my Goodreads friends--all of which raved about it. But wow. This book was even better than I could have hoped. It was tragic and magical and beautifully written. It was magnificently honest, and constantly kept me on the edge of my seat, just waiting for the next bomb to drop. And it has me wishing I hadn't packed away my copy of Something Real in my trek across the country.

The writing was phenomenal. It sounded like a teenager, with the lyricism of a well-trained author. It never tried to be highfalutin or overly moving; it was the perfect balance of emotion. And it was obviously well researched. Demetrios was familiar with the side effects of war, and the wrote them with such realism. Josh's chapters, though brief and few, made this novel incredible. They may seem less essential to the plot, but they are intricate to the character and the relationship between him and Skylar. Though Skylar was written with just as much passion and delicacy, it was Josh that really sealed the deal for me. So remarkable.

Their relationship was the other highlight from this novel, the constant sway of will-they-won't-they and dammit-just-be-together-already. They were both lost souls that needed direction, and they helped each other find the right one. It was wonderful to watch, even though it was actually really painful to read.

Though the book might have been a little bit longer than I thought it needed to be, there wasn't a single scene I would cut. Every moment was important to Skylar, or Josh, and was needed for the plot arc. And that's a rarity onto itself.

Seriously, I cannot stress this enough: READ THIS BOOK. It's brilliant. Simply brilliant.