In the tradition of John Green, Gayle Forman, and Rainbow Rowell-The kind of book that requires a box of tissues for all the feels. __________________________ Sid loves Teddy. Sid loves surfing and the history of Mary, Queen of Scots, and her mom. It's just all really complicated. Because Teddy is her best friend. Her mom dies, and Mary might not be the best role model-fate can drag you by the hand and pull you along, but maybe you have to choose to be happy. And does the hot rock star make Sid happy? Possibly. Read along to find out. ___________________ "The relationship between Sid and Teddy is gorgeous, gut wrenching, heart-warming and real." -SummerSto "Sometimes I would laugh, sometimes I would get mad, and sometimes I came close to crying. It was very enlightening to see the changes and feel a long with them." - J. Fox ..".Knightley is amazing at channeling boy super heroes, and fragile, yet strong young women." -A. Conrad
H.D. Knightley loves weaving tales about characters who are in way over their head. People faced with huge environmental issues—light-polluted skies, droughts, piles of hoarded things, encroaching water—that rise above and carry on anyway.
She likes a story in which everything is a disaster, yet they kiss in the end, so it's all good.
Her characters are not perfectly strong, more like creatively ordinary, yet capable of amazing things.
They include Estelle (The Estelle Series) who becomes a celebrity dissident for starting a farm; the Princess Amelia (Fly: The Light Princess Retold) who discovers gravity and rescues her kingdom from a drought; Edmund who scales heights to rescue Violet (Violet's Mountain); and the paddleboarder Luna (the upcoming Leveling) who finds love, shelter, and possible disaster, at the edge of a rising ocean.
I really love this book. I was lucky enough to beta read this. I still feel it may be one of Knightly's best (though Bright may be my first favorite by just a hair).
The characters, Mary, the plot. I felt that heartbreak as Sid and her dad are in the hospital and the heartbreak before that when she and Teddy are interrupted by a horrifying phone call.
Knightly captures the feelings of the characters so well. She understands the different ways people handle grief.
***spoilers*** She also captured how easily abusers can suck you in and the damage that occurs before the violence. It is remarkable that Sid has the wherewithal to get out and do it quickly. I appreciated how many people asked Sid at various points if she was okay, if she needed help. I believe that reading about those people will help others to realize it is important to help if they notice someone who is hurt in some way.
And Teddy - gosh he is magnificent! And real! He is not wholly perfect which makes him even better. He makes mistakes, but apologizes and does better.
And seriously, I loved reading about Mary. The visit in Scotland? Loved that the guide let them be where Mary had been and touch what she had touched. I have my little obsessions as well and have totally fangirled over things too, so that was so good!
So Much DRAMA! Constant crying, sobbing, spiraling, self-pitying drama! It was all I could do to get through this, praying the whole time it would get better. It didn’t. This book was exhausting. So many angsty tropes wrapped up in a barely-there plot. Seriously, hardly anything happens, except lots and lots of crying. So much crying. Descriptions of people and places are pretty vague outside the title characters, and even they could’ve used more fleshing out. England was a waste. Gavin was a caricature. And did this author have some kind of deal with Uber or what? I lost track of how many times it’s mentioned, most often unnecessarily. And don’t even get me started on the bad punctuation, and weird run on sentences. And the commas... oh dear.
The worst of it may be that nothing, NOTHING is done about Gavin. So he’s basically free to do it again to someone else. Good message, for all those young girls who may read this.
I wish I could get my time back on this one. Not worth it.
New author for me, loved the book. (There is sexual content and swearing, nothing graphic. The sexual content is between consenting adults.) Great story of two kids who grew up together. It's told through the eyes of each one, Sid and Teddy. I will be reading more from this author. I received a free copy of this book from "Instafreebie", with no obligation to review.
Where do I start with this review? This was another YA novel, but unfortunately one I was not a fan of. It was about two best friends, Sid & Teddy, and there was just too much back and forth between them. Another thing that MAJORLY annoyed me was the formatting of the book. It changed chapter (and also POV) every 2 pages. The flow was interrupted frequently that way and it hindered me from getting into the story and connecting with the characters.