I'm clearly slightly delirious because I've been reading instead of sleeping but this was surprisingly good too. Tbh I borrowed this one and got the wrong author but maybe it's fate because this was a great book and I had all the feels

I liked this book until I didn’t anymore.

It has some hard-hitting lines that make you close the book and stare at the ceiling vacantly.
There are some flawwd characters whom you can't help but love.
The story is first paced and easy to follow.

But it got messy too first at the end and I didn’t like it anymore.

just some good old cheese to get you through lockdown imo

Probably 3.5, I just tend to round down. I still liked the book overall, but not as much as others I’ve read by her. The ending seemed a bit abrupt too; I wouldn’t have minded if she had gone into some more detail towards the end.

I don't know what to do with myself now

Oh oh oh Brigid Kemmerer. This woman writes about broken teenagers finding solace in one another in a way that would almost be formulaic if it wasn’t so damn good and surprising every time. This book had me saying “oooooohhhhh this book” on repeat, and while the ending feels like a slight bit of melodrama I’m still in the tank for Rob and Maegan (but really, I’m in the tank for Rob - more on that it a bit).

Kemmerer’s characters always have terrible, awful things in their background, and this one is no different, though I think Rob Lachlan’s past might be darkest timeline Brigid Kemmerer. His backstory made my stomach clench in a way that even Rev in MORE THAN WE CAN TELL didn’t. Maegan’s story was (and I’m grateful for this because yeesh) a little quieter and less traumatic, and despite that breather I found myself drawn so much more to Rob.

And while this is a romance, of course, my very favorite parts of this book were Rob’s burgeoning friendship with Owen and the rebuilding of his friendship with Connor. Owen is a marvelously complicated, sometimes caustic character with a surprisingly messy sense of morality, and the two of them together is glorious. But what broke me in this book is a scene that happens about halfway in, between Rob and his former best friend Connor, as they change the sheets on a bed. Nothing is said, and nothing is fixed, and nothing actually HAPPENS, but it is heartbreakingly small and perfect.

The ending? Gets a little over the top. And then there’s a neat and tidy bow of an epilogue that doesn’t feel exactly earned. All these revelations and then we don’t unpack them so much as we jump ahead in time and get a bunch of exposition.

I’m still mightily, unabashedly a giant fangirl for this author though.

I wish Brigid Kemmerer would write more YA contemporary books.