This book was provided to me as an uncorrected proof by the publisher, in exchange for an honest review.

Otis and Meg were inseparable until her family abruptly moved away after the terrible accident that left Otis’s little brother dead and both of their families changed forever. Since then, it’s been three years of radio silence, during which time Otis has become the unlikely protege of eighteen-year-old Dara—part drill sergeant, part friend—who’s hell-bent on transforming Otis into the Olympic swimmer she can no longer be. But when Otis learns that Meg is coming back to town, he must face some difficult truths about the girl he’s never forgotten and the brother he’s never stopped grieving. As it becomes achingly clear that he and Meg are not the same people they were, Otis must decide what to hold on to and what to leave behind. Quietly affecting, this compulsively readable debut novel captures all the confusion, heartbreak, and fragile hope of three teens struggling to accept profound absences in their lives.

I’m going to be honest here; I kind of didn’t want to read this book. It’s silly, but the idea of wading through the emotional trauma described in the blurb terrified me. Lately, I’ve been pushing my boundaries, that’s ultimately why I requested this book, and I’m super glad that I did. Yes, there was a lot of emotion, and yes, I totally cried, but that’s okay, because the emotions described were honest and not at all schlock-y. The characters, both main and supporting, had me tied in knots from the beginning, because of the losses they had gone through, and the pain that defined their every action. Parts of the book were gritty, and, as my mother would have put it, “plain”, but that only contributed a further level of reality to the narrative. The characters themselves were true to life, with no one seeming too good to be true or too evil to escape without a kick to the head. The grim realities of teen sex and drinking are brought up, but only in passing, which I see as one of the book’s few outright flaws. One of the main characters drives drunk and gets into a serious accident. While there are consequences, after she is released from the hospital, there is no acknowledgement that she had seriously messed up and was lucky to be alive. That aside; I would still recommend this book to any teen who is not afraid to delve into the emotions of others.