4 stars ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️

(I received an ARC for this book as part of its promotion)

I didn’t even really know what we were, but I didn’t find a need to find out, either.
It was pretty simple, actually.
He was him, I was me, and we were us. This was our story.

The first half or so of this story was complete and utter perfection. Eleanor and Greyson: The Teenage Years was delicious YA angst, and Greyson was probably the sweetest kid that ever lived. At first, I was worried that the “nerdy bookworm and popular jock” angle was too overplayed for me, but I was so wrong. Like the quote above said, they weren’t clichés; they were just two young people going through hard times that leaned on each other. While there were romantic details, they were more friends than anything, because that was what each of them needed. It also made their inevitable separation easier and more understandable, because life got in the way, and who can’t understand that? There was no drama, no betrayal, no abandonment. Just lives veering away from each other... for the time being. And that, my friends, was not only refreshing, it was necessary. Because we had to remember Greyson in a good light to put up with him later on down the road... just like Ellie did.

People didn’t have to talk about love to know that it existed. Love wasn’t only real because people said it out loud. No, love just kind of sat there quietly, in the shadows of the night, healing the cracks that lived in our heart.

This is the first book I’ve read of hers, and still I know that Brittainy Cherry writes grief better than just about anyone. She really captures how it’s a low-hanging cloud more than it is an anvil, how it can ebb and flow, how it shapes us and molds us into the people we are, especially when we deal with it at a young age. I know some people don’t like the dead ex trope, but it’s never bothered me... probably because I’ve seen more death than a coroner. So, I’ve seen how losing a partner can change a person. I know how someone can love two people with all their heart at different times, because the grief has changed them so much that they’re not even close to the same person they were before. Also, I hate when people that have no idea about loss say things like “it’s too soon” or “it’s time to move on.” There’s no timetable for love, and there’s definitely not one for grief. Regardless, because Eleanor and Grey had a past mostly filled with friendship, I think the reader can see why Eleanor needed to be the one to pull him out of his grief.

Maybe all people needed sometimes was for someone to keep showing up for them during the hard days. Even when they tried their best to push everyone away.

There were so many things I adored about this book. Greyson’s kids were a huge part of the story, and I slowly fell in love with them. I loved how the author very realistically portrays how if kids are involved- and especially when their other parent isn’t- the commitment is to the whole family. This definitely wasn’t a case where everyone becomes a happy family right away. There are growing pains, and Eleanor has to evolve from being hired help to an integral member of the family. Still, Eleanor is a loyal, persistent person... and she had my birthday