Because it's a debut I resisted the urge to put the book down and kept reading—to say it was hard work is to put it mildly. I kept hoping for something to click within me, to make me care about and for these characters, to see the point of the story or understand all the good-rated reviews. But the story didn't work for me. It's too grim, the abuse and violence too gratuitous, the science crap about memory felt too explanatory, like a pretext, an excuse to cover it all, or for writing the story, I don't know. There's not even good dialogue to salvage the mess. I lost count of the times I rolled my eyes. (Example: “Don’t be so hard on yourself. When crap happens to us, we blame ourselves. Why? Because most people aren’t raped or abused, so we must blame ourselves for getting into such bad situations. But none of this was our fault.” Sounds like it's intended to a rape victim. Cheap.) I know it's hash and I'm sorry, but I feel like I have an obligation to tell; I can't believe how much disgusted pornography this book holds, and the worst part is it all comes from teens from the same high school: I don't even know how many of them have been either raped or engaged in an incestuous sexual relationship or otherwise abused or are kids’ pervs…what are the odds? This is sick, unbearable, and problem is there is nothing to counterbalance the horrors of it. Oh, and did I mention there's a school shooting in the sorry too? What's that for? Is the book really written only at shock value? What's the message? There are predators out there? Duh. Life’s tough? Okay… I cringe at the thought that it's apparently labeled YA. This is not fit for YA. Again, I'm sorry for the harsh tone of my review, but I have a 15-year-old and that's certainly not the kind of book I'd like her to consider. I need Hunter to take that memory out of my mind…

I wasn't sure if I'd like this, but I'm glad I gave it a try. It's certainly not an easy read but it's written with huge amounts of compassion and empathy. Hunter and Jazz, the two leads, are just lovely: kind and strong despite everything the world has tried to do to them. And alongside the unflinching look at the dark side of human nature, there are some interesting ideas about memory and healing from trauma. Worth reading, but not for the faint-hearted.