This book is good. It's just not very interesting.

The heavy teenage topics discussed here aren't anything new - I mean to say that there are a lot of books dealing and addressing these topics these days. And some have a much nicer style and structure, not even mentioning the language.

This book tends to drag and flow flatly forward not making the reader keen to actually find out what's to come. And imagine all that when you know what's coming is most likely not anything good.

It would make a very heavy beach read if you know what I mean.

I agree that there are some rather serious topics out there and let's not make a comedy out of a tragedy, right? But still, books that are about real life that's shit aren't supposed to be that real or that shit. Why do we read in the first place? To be informed and/or thrilled, but also to get away from real life. To escape. To get into someone else's head.

So make that head something more than just tears and information. Take Colleen Hoover's books, for example. She's been addressing some of the same subjects but there's also real art in her style and plotting. Or Anthony Doerr who paints even death in so many beautiful colors you forget it's something bad and focus on the fact that it's simply natural, like birth. Or Roxanne Gay, you find yourself even laughing at some of her heroines' wording or the unorthodox approaches to dealing with trauma and bad family situations. But her stories always leave something beautiful behind...like a sad aria that's also melodic.

In my opinion, this book has potential. But it's not fully realized.

Thank you Netgalley for this copy in exchange for my honest review.

5 out of 5! Fantastic storytelling, character development and world building.
A friends to lovers YA novel with complex characters, difficult though relevant subject matter many could find relatable and at the same time triggering, and a storyline that unassumingly pulls you in and has you turning page, after page, after page. This was my first book by Anna Benoit and after reading "When We Were Young" I will most definitely be picking up more of her books in the future. Fantastic storytelling, character development and world building.