Review: pass the freaking kleenexes
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 10 22, 2013
Never have I met an author like Charles Sheehan-Miles.  Every single book I've read of his, I've loved more.  This novella is no exception.  How he crams so much information and so much emotion and so much....just fabulous storytelling into an 8 chapter novella is beyond me.  I laughed, I gasped out of shock and yes, I even sobbed (out loud...at my daughter's gymnastics practice at that, the bastard).  If you need more than that in a book, I'm not sure what you're looking for.This novella coincides with Crank and Julia's story.  In fact, it picks up right where A Song for Julia leaves off.  Crank Wilson may be one of my favorite boys ever.  Yes.  You read that right.  I called him a boy.  He IS a boy.  He deals with situations like a boy and acts like a pigheaded, well, toddler.  One of my favorite characters in this book is Crank's "little" brother Sean.  Sean tells it like it is.  He's random and he is SO brutally honest."He kicked the sand and kept walking beside me.  "I see.  Because: reasons."  What?"  He shrugged.  "That's what people always say when they don't have a rational reason for their behavior.  Because, reasons.  You've got reasons, but you won't talk about them.  Because they don't really exist."Sean and Carrie, Julia's sister, have a special relationship in this novella.  The way that Sean and Carrie connect in this book seriously brings a tear to my eye.  Don't fret though...a good tear.  Not a typical Charles Sheehan-Miles tear."They're both seventeen.  And they bond over spiders and fruit flies and I don't know what else."Julia Thompson is...well, I gotta be honest.  I have sort of a girl crush on Julia. She is STRONG.  She's cut throat.  She knows what she wants and she gets it.  Sure, she has trust issues, but Crank is the one person she has let in."I do trust you, Crank.  That's why this hurt so much."AAAND, in true Charles Sheehan-Miles fashion, the bastard made me bawl.  I full out SOBBED in the middle of my daughter's gymnastic practice."Carrie, you know, some day you'll find a guy who will be your soul mate.  Someone you would do anything for.  Someone who makes you feel whole."(come on TLH readers.  YOU KNOW YOU'RE SOBBING)For real, go out and grab this.  Charles Sheehan-Miles has done it again.  Not only is this story beautifully told with interjections of wit and emotional moments but it is filled to the brim with situations that are REAL.  These people are not perfect and that's what makes me love them even more.