Madeline is sent away to Spring Meadows rehab for drinking and rage. At the weekly movie night in town, she meets Stewart, from another rehab nearby. They fall for each other despite the crazy time. Madeline gets out and starts to regain her feet. But when Stewart joins her, both still are severely troubled, and he is getting worse.
Love, love, loved the cover of this book. It was simple, elegant and sleek. Glorious. Remarkable. Okay, I’ll stop. I’m sorry. I’m a sucker for simple, beautiful covers.
This book reminded me of SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK, mixed with A REALLY AWESOME MESS by Trish Cook. It was a lot of fun, but sometimes annoying. There were themes of drama all along the road of this journey, but what really made it worthwhile in the end was Madeline and Stewart.
The simple growth in Madeline’s character? Amazing. I loved how she went through this story and changed not only as a character, but as a person. A real-life person. The person she was at the very beginning of the story and the person she was at the end was great to see, and I was really impressed by Blake Nelson’s writing. I especially loved the inner-conflict she held within herself. This book’s ending was reminiscent of Natalie Standiford’s HOW TO SAY GOOD-BYE IN ROBOT, which was one of my favorite books. But, it lacked the emotional quality that always makes me tear up on the last pages of HOW TO SAY GOOD-BYE IN ROBOT.
This story was really well-written, the pacing was decent and the plot was solid. I only really had one problem with this book. My heart wasn’t into it. I mean–I enjoyed the story, enough to give it 4.5 stars, it’s just that I had to keep forcing myself to read it.
I really wanted to like this book. Honestly, I did. But that was hard when my reading schedule consisted of the following:
- Pick up the book.
- Read a few chapters.
- Mark my page.
- Stare the beautiful front cover for a few seconds.
- Wonder if I should continue reading.
- *Deep, thoughtful pondering*
- Decide that I should. Just not right now.
- Get up.
- Walk out of the room.
- Come back ten minutes later.
- Repeat.
I’m glad I read this story, but reading it was an exhausting experience. I think that this book would be really popular with fans of mental health stories like Under the Wolf, Under the Dog and A REALLY AWESOME MESS. I don’t know what it was, this book just wasn’t for me. Disappointed. I thought this was going to be a really great read…. 3 stars.
pg count for the hardback: 320
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