This book was so relatable and would have been so important to me if I'd had it in middle school. The portrayal of addiction in this story was heartbreaking but so spot-on and fortunately did come with a happy ending. There was so much tragedy along the way, though. I loved the character of Eli but Anna really frustrated me and I kept thinking, "God. she is selfish," but I had to back up and remember that she's just 17 and all this is going on, and would I have been doing any better? All things considered, she was a good sister and the siblinghood between our two main characters is very cute and heartwarming.

However, nothing irritates me more in a book than just going entirely overboard with the amount of shocking events and tragic moments in one person's life. I don't want to get into many specifics or spoilers here but the relatives and relationships mentioned throughout the novel just feel overdone—these are all heavy things and I respect that some people truly do live consistently tragic lives, but I think having a nuanced conversation about one or two of these issues instead of creating an entire barrage of them is more effective in a novel setting because it maintains focus in that shorter span of time. I thought the book handled Eli's sexuality and gender issues as well as Carrie's addiction issues and relationship with her sister extremely well, but I thought the relationships and characters of Anna and Eli's fathers were both heavy-handed and poorly executed.

Overall it just felt like there was too much going on at all times, but I loved this book anyways because of how well it touched on those themes and how much I felt for dear Eli. I went through really similar things around the same age and I just love her character. Would definitely recommend this to the middle grade-aged kids in my life.