Review: Sweet story
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 04 29, 2014
River is at a loss after losing the one person who meant everything to him, his girlfriend Nia.  He grieves alone since his abusive home life is not one anyone would want to go home to.  It isn’t long after Nia’s funeral that Nia’s sister gives River many of Nia’s possessions and within those possessions is the map.  The map was Nia’s plan for her and River to escape their lives in Florida.  River decides to take off and steal his stepfather’s truck.  In doing so he attracts the attention of skinheads, police and eventually twins that are trying to escape their own lives.  When the twins won’t leave River the threesome try to decipher Nia’s map and what she wanted River to do.  Along the way River sees Nia’s ghost and he feels like he is chasing her.  Through this journey River learns more about himself and what he must do to live.  Even though he doesn’t want to live without Nia he begins to find reasons why living no matter what is what Nia really wanted from River.Overall, this is an emotional ride that has both is comical and suspenseful parts.  The character of River really is fairly the same through the book until he finally comes to realize what the whole journey has been about.  I love the twins, June and Carter.  Though they had their own issues they were fun and I think they were just what River needed at the time.  I think the biggest character in this book is the landscape.  The obscure places the three of them go and how they manage to get there.  I did feel that the story was a little lacking in the development part though.  I really felt that the characters were static until the very end.  In the end it kind of just stops.  There isn’t really any kind of conclusion or wrap up.  It does make you think there may be another book but even so the ending kinda made me feel unsatisfied and nothing was answered.  I liked the build up and the premise of the story, but I think with the lack of real character development it left the story a little flat.  Overall, it was a decent story and I would try a second book if this is supposed to be a series but I would want to see a lot more if this were to become a series I followed.***This book was given to me for a fair and unbiased review***