acepersephone's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Trigger warnings for rape and abuse.
This novel is very important. Not just to me, but for what it is, for how it can help other people, for how it so accurately portrays... everything. It was difficult to get through. After 30 pages it sat on my bookshelf as a constant reminder that it was going to be tough but yesterday I picked it back up and today I finished it. Sharing these experiences, making them real, making them known - especially through fictional characters in novels that young people can read and connect with - is vital to stopping rape culture, victim blaming, rape apologists, and for helping survivors seek the help they need and recognize that what was done to them was not their fault.
Alexi and Bodee are incredible characters. Their perspectives, their chemistry, their histories are detailed and fleshed out and believable. Bodee with his infinite kindness and understanding and patience is everything we all wish for and need. I hurt for them (with them) and I love them.
I am the sort of person who writes in their book's margins, who adds notes and guesses and my own anecdotes, who litters the pages with post-it notes and pencil markings. Many people cringe at that but I love interacting with my books and having my thoughts to look back on when I reread. This book is the most I've ever written in a book before, taking up whole spaces above the mid-page "Chapter" and it was endlessly helpful to keeping me on track. I can only imagine how many people this book will help, not only teenagers but adults as well, and I'm grateful to have been gifted with this novel that I might have otherwise never read.
This novel is very important. Not just to me, but for what it is, for how it can help other people, for how it so accurately portrays... everything. It was difficult to get through. After 30 pages it sat on my bookshelf as a constant reminder that it was going to be tough but yesterday I picked it back up and today I finished it. Sharing these experiences, making them real, making them known - especially through fictional characters in novels that young people can read and connect with - is vital to stopping rape culture, victim blaming, rape apologists, and for helping survivors seek the help they need and recognize that what was done to them was not their fault.
Alexi and Bodee are incredible characters. Their perspectives, their chemistry, their histories are detailed and fleshed out and believable. Bodee with his infinite kindness and understanding and patience is everything we all wish for and need. I hurt for them (with them) and I love them.
I am the sort of person who writes in their book's margins, who adds notes and guesses and my own anecdotes, who litters the pages with post-it notes and pencil markings. Many people cringe at that but I love interacting with my books and having my thoughts to look back on when I reread. This book is the most I've ever written in a book before, taking up whole spaces above the mid-page "Chapter" and it was endlessly helpful to keeping me on track. I can only imagine how many people this book will help, not only teenagers but adults as well, and I'm grateful to have been gifted with this novel that I might have otherwise never read.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse and Sexual assault
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