Josh Bennett’s story is no secret: every person he loves has been taken from his life until, at seventeen years old, there is no one left. Now all he wants is be left alone and people allow it because when your name is synonymous with death, everyone tends to give you your space.Everyone except Nastya, the mysterious new girl at school who starts showing up and won’t go away until she’s insinuated herself into every aspect of his life. But the more he gets to know her, the more of an enigma she becomes. As their relationship intensifies and the unanswered questions begin to pile up, he starts to wonder if he will ever learn the secrets she’s been hiding—or if he even wants to. (From Goodreads)
Two people can be broken and use each other to mask everything that's wrong. Or two people can be broken in such a way that they find the fit to their jagged pieces in another human being and somehow when they come together, those breaks begin to heal. That's what this story is about. It's healing, growing up, moving on - but it's mostly about how caring for someone else, knowing someone else cares about you can make your life infinitely better.
This story felt so raw, it was easy to let the covers of the book fall away and be hanging out in Josh's garage with Nastya. Despite the volume of horrors in Nastya and Josh's past, no part of this book felt overdramatic. Actually, it was understated, making everything feel like a normal, everday occurence. Because of this tone, it takes a little bit to get into Nastya's world. She lets you in piece by piece, almost like as she begins to trust and open up to Josh, she's trusting you - the reader - too.
There are so many little quirks to this book, like Nastya's crazy running or her consumption of sugar, that make this book stand apart from the rest. Because its through these quirks we get to know the characters and to feel like we're being let into a place where we truly understand another human being. Which is kind of a great feeling - to feel like you know someone inside and out.
Nastya and Josh have a great, breathing and fluxuating relationship. But it takes so much more than Josh to heal her. She makes friends and they make her a little better. Her friendship with Drew is one of the best parts about this book. Even so, the story isn't wrapped up with a shiny bow at the end. It's almost like, between Josh and Drew, Nastya reaches a place where she can accept help in putting herself back together. It's a process that will probably take her entire life, so thankfully she doesn't just get over it because she met a boy.
This is an amazing story that slowly sucks you in and makes you a part of its world. It's full of characters that you wish you could look up and make sure they're still doing okay. It's a slow, kind of painful love that I feel for this book and looking back on reading it already makes me feel nostalgic for some reason.
