Review: Very realistic and heartwrenching
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 01 14, 2014
With the cold weather around the nation last week, I kept reflecting what it would have been like for Nate to live in someone's garage in Michigan in Winter. Don't Know How Anyone Could Handle It, I thought I was going to freeze my buns off just warming up my car! I know I am a wimp!But seriously, this book made me think alot. About being a parent, keeping secrets, suicide, and living as a runaway. It had me in tears at times. Sometimes it was overwhelming. But don't get me wrong. I loved the book. It was easy to read, thought provoking and made me reflect. The relationship between parent and child or teenagers was realistic. It is hard to be a parent and really see what is going on sometimes. You want to pretend everything is ok and you want to blame others for things that go wrong instead of really seeing what truly is going on and know what to do about it. Makes me want to hold on to my kids for dear life. My older kids werent' perfect and I am definitely not a perfect parent! The book helps put things in perspective. I don't think I can convey all the emotions and thoughts this book gives you.But as far as the characters go. Hanley was a disaster waiting to happen. She had a secret that she blames herself for and was ruining her life sneaking out at night and partying hard and skipping school just to drown everything out. Then when she finds Nate living in her garage and they strike up a friendship, she learns that others have secrets too and deal with them differently. She doesn't learn Nate's reason for running away until way late in the book. But they learn to lean on each other and they need each other and really were good kids with bad things that happened around them. Their parents are just parents not knowing the whole truth. I wasn't sure how their parents would handle things once things were out on the table but I was really impressed by what happened at the end. It shows that even good parents make mistakes and learn from them and move forward too.Other reviews can tell you more about what happens in the book but I enjoyed the family aspect of it all the most and that's what I want to convey that I got most out of the book. Even siblings can make a difference and family is the most important thing of all!I loved it and look forward to reading more from the author.