Three teens, three stories—all interconnected through their parents’ family relationships. As the adults pull away, caught up in their own dilemmas, the lives of the teens begin to tilt….
Mikayla, almost eighteen, is over-the-top in love with Dylan, who loves her back jealously. But what happens to that love when Mikayla gets pregnant the summer before their senior year—and decides to keep the baby?
Shane turns sixteen that same summer and falls hard in love with his first boyfriend, Alex, who happens to be HIV positive. Shane has lived for four years with his little sister’s impending death. Can he accept Alex’s love, knowing that his life, too, will be shortened?
Harley is fourteen—a good girl searching for new experiences, especially love from an older boy. She never expects to hurdle toward self-destructive extremes in order to define who she is and who she wants to be." - Goodreads
THE STORY:
I feel as if this book is filled with really important things that people need to know, especially young people. The three main characters are all dealing with such important and terrible things, and all of them deal with their own dilemmas in totally different ways. This was my first book that was written in verse, and I was a bit surprised by how much I enjoyed the structure. It made the story quick to read, it was still easy to follow, and it was very clever how certain things fit together throughout the pages.
THE CHARACTERS:
I ended up really liking all three of the main characters and quite a few of the side characters (aside from the ones who were total douche bags *cough* Lucas *cough*). At first, Mikayla really bothered me because of her co-dependence on Dylan, as well as how her entire relationship seemed to revolve around their sex life. However, I loved watching her grow and become stronger as the story moved forward.
I absolutely adored Shane, as well as his boyfriend, Alex. I thought that they were adorable and that Shane was potentially the most sane out of all three of the main characters. Even though he did some questionable things after what happened to Shelby. I think that he was truly a good guy, and I hope that he and Alex would have a long and happy life together.
Harley, who initially started out as my favorite of the main characters, was my least favorite through most of the book. I hated that she was literally changing everything about herself for some older boys to like her, especially as she is only 13-14 years old throughout the course of the book. She has so much time to find someone who is going to like her for who she is that changing herself for her first boyfriend at such a young age is just terrible. However, I did feel absolutely terrible for her at the end, but I don't understand how she could have possibly been surprised, especially with some of the things that Lucas pulled on her before it happened.
MY THOUGHTS:
This book was so, so good! I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it, and I will definitely be reading more Ellen Hopkins in the future. I think I need to read the adult companion type novel to this book, Triangles, and see the story from the parent's perspectives. I think that would be really interesting. Over all I really enjoyed this book and would definitely recommend it to readers who are okay with some mature content.
STAR RATING: ★★★★
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