This is one of my top five books of 2016 and has a solid place in my heart and all time favorites. I fell in love with Wavy and Kellen instantly. Their characters are perfect, so flawed and tender in such a hard life. They are everything to each other, salvation and punishment. The complexities of their relationship is laced with innuendo and shade, giving a glimpse into the mind of a child who must endure and employ very adult survival skills. The character Kellen is so heartbreaking and pure, the atrocities that he committed only off set his love and devotion to Wavy. My favorite scene is the Rubik Cube and the teacher, to me this is the perfect example of how society sees evil. The hint of an improper relationship is heavyhanded and you the reader must push through the ugly to truly see the wonderful.
I am a fan Bryn Greenwood, more please.
Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read the wonderful book for a fair review.

There are romances that claim to be unique, and there are some that are just so.
Wavy and Kellen are as different as they come.... a frail , damaged girl and a giant biker are poles apart not just in their appearance or age but in their very being. But there is something that draws them together and keeps them so❤...
Wavy is raised by parents who fail miserably at being so...her childhood is ruined and she is pushed around until she is back and living with her family who run a meth lab making her a strange little girl who barely eats , utters a word or so but fiercely protects her younger brother .
She meets Kellen - a beefed up mechanic who works with her father. A friendship develops between this unlikely pair and transforms to love...they are an odd couple, but they have the most beautiful and wholesome relationship that goes beyond their differences . There are some beautiful moments in the book , the writing is interesting- keeping things clipped and precise but enjoyable just the same. They grow together and the relationship they share is simply too sweet ..while things start falling into place, their life is simply torn apart by unexpected turn of events..maybe i was too engrossed in the relationship between the protagonists that I did not see the climax coming . The book post the climax is just as interesting and the end is kinda predictable, but essential just the same. I loved the lead characters , especially Wavy as she is very unconventional and her knowledge and love for stars makes me partial towards her.
I only regret that there weren't too many memorable quotes in the book.
Overall : started my year with a romance, and not complaining about its mushiness at all :)

We are introduced to Wavy as a five-year-old who has landed in her Aunt Brenda's house after both of her parents have been arrested. (Wavy's mother Val is a drug addict who cares about little in life, and her father Liam is a neglectful meth manufacturer and drug runner.)

At first glance, Wavy is an odd duck, rarely speaking a word, refusing to eat in front of anyone, and shunning any physical contact. She appears to "have a screw loose", but given time and patience a person will find that there is a method to her madness, and brilliance behind her baffling behavior. She's mature beyond her years, and possibly even a genius, and there is deep emotion bottled up under that still surface.

Things don't go well at Aunt Brenda's, whose rigid personality doesn't mesh with this odd duck who does nothing normally. With Brenda at her wit's end, it is Wavy's grandmother who steps up and takes in Wavy. She is everything Brenda is not, accepting Wavy for who she is, reasoning out what will work with her wacky behavior. Things are good, but they can't last. Wavy's mother gets released from jail, and it is back to an invisible life with a mentally unstable mother.

Once her father is released from prison, it isn't long before Wavy finds herself in the position of big sister to new baby Donal, and before long she is more of a mother to Donal than their own mother.

Wavy meets 24-year-old Kellen (her father's co-worker) on a day she thinks is her 8th birthday, but doesn't know for sure as she doesn't have a current calendar. Kellen wrecks his motorcycle after being startled by the beautiful little girl walking out of a field in the night, looking like an angel. A relationship quickly builds between them, as he becomes her protector and friend, and she becomes something of a caretaker of him, like a wife or mother.

Through the years, Wavy and Kellen are constants in one another's life-- two lost ships gravitating toward one another, one finding stability in the other.

Wavy teaches Kellen about astronomy, pointing out and reciting the names of the constellations in the sky, and Kellen becomes her home. They become family.

When Wavy is in high school, we learn where the title for the book comes from, but uncertainty and loss continues throughout Wavy's childhood, and she eventually finds herself lost without Kellen.

This is a unique novel that you hesitate to even pick up, as the subject matter seems so distasteful, with what seems to be a predatory man and an impressionable young girl. Interestingly enough, the tables are sort of flipped and Wavy is the predator and Kellen the impressionable one. She is an old soul, and while Kellen grounds her, I think that Wavy expands him and his world with her big intellect and powerful love.

As I began the story, I was intrigued to see whether the author could accomplish making the male character likable, and their relationship acceptable. I thought she did a great job of walking a line, taking you to the edge of "unacceptable" and only making you "uncomfortable".

I must agree that I think that is one of the things that made me uncomfortable with this story-- it was how natural their relationship felt, how "right" it seemed, and then the mental reminder of how young this girl was and how inappropriate their relationship would be under any other circumstance. But in this circumstance, in the desolation of her heart and the emotional abandonment and abuse, it felt "right". I became grateful that Kellen was there for her, that he took care of her when no one else did.

My final word: I loved this story! I loved the author's writing style which was easy-to-read, but lyrical at moments. She took on the daunting task of how to make a man that could (or even should) be viewed as a pedophile and make him likable, and how to take an uncomfortable relationship and make it feel not only comfortable, but even fated and necessary. It makes you (or I think at least most) see that Kellen is not really a pedophile-- he is not a predator of children, not a threat to children, and in fact Wavy was more the predator, and Kellen her savior. And yet it still feels uncomfortable to say that, because my mind says "this is wrong" while my heart says "this is right". Kellen and Wavy were as fated as the stars they liked to watch and call by name. And in the end, their love feels not inappropriate or dirty or ugly, but instead it is one of the wonderful things.

This was a beautiful, unconventional love story. It's definitely controversial, but I think the author wrote it in a way that works. I really liked Wavy as a character. This story is so well written that I think even those who are disgusted by the age difference between the characters can appreciate the author's telling of the story.