5 STARS!!!
"Her innocence and simplicity defied the chaos in my head"
WORST-BEST book hangover EVER.
That was so cruel. Or was it? Maybe it was. I don't know!!! When I first finished the story, I was mad, really mad like super-ragey-angry-mad, I was basically all of the emoji faces all at once, especially the one with snot fuming out of its nose. Because that was me. I was crying, pacing, yelling and probably looking like a damn fool. Thank god I don't have a nanny cam because that wouldn't be pretty to watch. You know it's a great book when you need a support group full of like-minded individuals just to help you through the next five months. After I let all my emotions sink in, like REALLY sink in, I'm still an emotional wreck-4 days later! Between all the different conspiracy theories and scenarios running through my head, I'm an absolute mess and I couldn't be happier about it because I have faith in the process, and If book one didn't cement Jessica Hawkins in my heart, this sure as hell did. So thank you Jessica, for making me crazy and happy and miserable and ALL THE THINGS. Every book should fuel this kind of fire in its readers. EVERY. BOOK.
"I didn’t see these other girls and feel stirred the way I did for Lake, but at that moment, I wished it was anyone but her. I wished I’d never fucking met her. I just didn’t wish it enough to walk away for good."
As I let the story settle in a little more I realized that I was probably feeling all of the emotions that this author wanted me to feel. I'm pretty sure this is the effect that every author wants to have on his or her readers. However, not every author can achieve that, and Jessica did, TENFOLD. I really feel like I read a book that captured the essence of young love and the forbidden fantasy of what we can't have. I remember young love well, it's tragic and heart-wrenching and it's littered with vividly beautiful moments that are unforgettable. And that's a perfect way to describe this book. Will I die waiting for book 3? Not technically I hope, but yes, this will be a torturous 5 months because I have been profoundly moved by this series.
“You think I don’t know how you feel? You think I don’t carry the burden of our love on my shoulders just to keep it from crashing down onto you?”
We start this story right where the first book left off, and we get Manning's point of you for a lot of the book, which is as scary as it is nice because there's no way in hell that I want his mind on Tiffany! And let me tell you, there's a lot of Tiffany. SO. MUCH. TIFFANY. I'm not going in to the what's and why's of how I feel about Tiffany, or what happened because one, I don't want to spoil anything. And two, I don't really want to spend my time talking about that wench.
"She would be mad, but she couldn’t deny the unshakeable truth about Manning and me—this story was ours."
There's not actually much I can talk about without spoiling so I'll just continue with how I feel. I'm mad, I'm so mad, but I'm also extremely hopeful. I swear this book made me bi-polar, like why is this happening!?! All I feel is grief and anxiousness and pain and it hurts. If you want to read a book that will hold your attention and make you breathless and shatter you in complicated young-love glory than READ THIS BOOK.
“Even if all that’s true, you’re forgetting one thing. You can love me more than anyone else could. How can you ignore that?”
Manning is trying to make the right decision with his life by doing right by both Lake and Tiffany. And I firmly believe that everything he does is out of careful consideration and adoration for Lake, but then we have Tiffany and he obviously has adoration for her as well. I understand Lake, but why Tiffany!? Ugggh just talking about her makes me itchy and uncomfortable. PLUS, the way Tiffany treats Lake is downright wrong. Like dude, that's your little sister, you're supposed to protect her and love her and pick her up when she's down, not kick her when she's down!
There are very few books that I can say all of these things about and still give it a 5 star review. Like I've never been so mad reading a book but I still freaking loved it!!! How does that even happen?! Jessica Hawkins is a sorceress I know it. It's as if she left a piece of her soul in different parts of this book for each reader to take and keep with them, like a literary souvenir so we can never forget the magic of this story and discover the profound enormity of love within its pages. Because that's what the underlying message is here, in my opinion. That love is hard and angry and all-consuming and unpredictable. And I can't wait to read book 3 to see where all of that love goes. Hands down, this is my favorite series this year!