4.5 stars
“And maybe some people are like collages - no matter how broken or useless we felt, we were an essential part of the whole. We mattered.”
This book tells such a beautiful story. I've been hearing about this book on all of my social medias for quite some time now and I saw this book at the library and decided why not give it a chance? I'm so glad I did. I was not expecting to like this story so much. These characters feel so raw and real and vibrant. Skylar is a young girl who just graduated from high school and she's going to a university in San Francisco at the end of the summer. But this summer turns out to be a lot more difficult than she anticipated. She and her mother live in a trailer, and she finds out her Mom just got fired from Taco Bell, and they don't have a lot of money saved, and her Mom is a recovering alcoholic. Also, Skylar's old friend Josh has returned from Afghanistan where he lost his leg in the war. As you can tell b the premise, this story is pretty depressing. The town Creek View where these characters live is a small town in California just off the freeway in central California where there;s not a whole lot going on. The way the author wrote about their town made it feel so real. I could imagine it perfectly in my head. It's the type of small town where everyone knows everyone and you never make it out and a lot of people are poor and living in trailers and have problems with alcohol and drugs, and the best you can do for yourself is work at Taco Bell... It just all felt so hopeless, reading about this place Skylar hated and she couldn't wait to leave, and then all these terrible things happen and she doesn't know if she can leave. But at the same time the author never talked badly about it in a way that's insensitive to people who do live this way. She just captured the essence of what it would be like to live this way so well. I could feel the depression and hopelessness of never leaving a trailer park jumping off the pages.

The thing I thought was most interesting about this book is Skylar's relationship with her Mother. Man, can her Mom be a real bitch at times. I have seen first hand what it's like for a child to have to take care of the parent and I think it's so incredibly sad. A parent should never have to force their child to be the responsible one who thinks about the future and has to make the hard decisions, but that is exactly how their relationship is. Skylar lost her Father five years ago in a car accident and he was drunk. This obviously has a huge impact on her family and it explains why her Mom is the way she is, but still. Skylar shouldn't constantly have to pull her Mom out of this depressing pit all the time. I admire Skylar a lot as a character. She's smart, she puts people in their place when they act homophobic or racist or rude, she doesn't ever want to drink because that's what caused her dad to die, and she doesn't take shit from anybody. She's my favorite type of female character.

I absolutely hated Billy's character (her Mom's new boyfriend). He was that typical disgusting lame excuse for a step-Dad who takes advantage of someone in need. I did like the way that Josh defended her and supported her when it came to some awkward situations involving Billy. I also want to talk about Marge, the owner of the motel that Skylar works at. I love her character in this book and I love her motherly relationship with Skylar. She's truly there for her when she needs it and she's the kind of Mother that Skylar deserves. Marge has a really sad back story as well

her son killed himself when he got home from the war because he couldn't take the anxiety and ptsd, and she found him in the bathtub with his wrists cut

and I think this is why she relates so much to Josh and Skylar, and she would do anything to protect them.

Skylar's relationship with Josh was really sweet. I love how he would ask her: "How's the sky today?" in reference to her mood, and she would reply "cloudy" or "rainy" or howevr she was feeling. I love cute unique things like that, and that's something I will remember about this book. I love how Skylar is obsessed with collaging and she always talks about these vivid and creative collages she's working on. It's like I can see it in my head because of how well the author writes. I love how her and Josh both know what it's like to be dirt poor, and they always go out to eat at McDonald's and Dairy Queen and Subway and that's enough for them. I just like that they seem so normal and average.

I absolutely loved the scene where they were dancing in the rain by the pool and the hippies were singing Hotel California. That scene was so adorable and wonderful and I love it. And that song fits their situation with the motel she works at and everything.I also loved the Fourth of July scene where they are sitting at the train tracks and he asks her if she could be anywhere in the world where would she be? And she hesitates and then she says: right here. It was so sweet and I think that's when she realized how much she cares for him.

This book had a lot of really cute moments between them that I really enjoyed.

As far as Josh's character goes, I have some mixed feelings still. His story of being a marine is heart breaking and it's so sad to see him suffering from PTSD throughout this story. He's only 19 years old and he lost his leg in the war, and that's just so incredibly sad. His life will never be the same. But, there were a few times in this story where Josh's character pissed me off. He makes stupid decisions sometimes, and I understand that everyone makes mistakes, but some of them I was like... come on really? Especially

when they were about to have sex and he starts freaking out for no reason and then he just leaves like????? And then he goes to some other girls house to get a blow job... Like wtf Josh? I was so freaking mad about that. That's bull shit. Like I don't care if you were nervous around her or whatever your excuse is, but to go to some other girls house right after and get a blow job? That's disgusting ugh. I was really disgusted with his character after this scene. I also was upset and confused when Josh invited her to the bonfire and then he totally blew her off and acted like she wasn't even there. Like way to act like a douche bag?

But I'm also glad that Skylar's character is not a push over and she doesn't take shit from anybody and I'm glad she puts him in his place when he needs it. She will literally tell him to stop using his marine story as an excuse and I'm proud that she said that because it's not fair of him to use that as an excuse for hurting her emotionally.

Overall, I really did love this book. I just ordered myself a copy from Amazon because I need it on my shelves. Skylar is a new favorite female character of mine. The ending was okay, I personally thought it ended somewhat abruptly and I would've wanted more closure on certain things.

I want to know if her Mom did end up moving to Florida with Billy and how that would affect their relationship. I also wanted to have maybe an epilogue chapter after Skylar's first year of college to see if this long distance relationship is as easy as they thought. I also would've liked if on the last page with her and Josh, if he would've asked her: How's the sky? One last time and then she could say: sunny, or it's never been more clear or something beautiful like that idk, I just wanted it to happen because I loved that aspect of their relationship.

Other than that, this book was such a surprise with such wonderful, realistic characters. This story will stick with me for a long time.