Review: Well... **spoilers**
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 05 16, 2014
I really liked this in the beginning.  The story started out with giving you a look into Dovey's world, and though it was a horrible situation, you didn't sense the hopelessness.  You saw a young girl determined to find a way out  doing something she loved.  Most stories go on and on about how broken they are, how tragic their life it, how utterly hopeless living is...(which annoys me, because no one has a perfect life and more than not have to deal with harsh realities, granted some worse than others.)  But I liked how her messed up background was portrayed, very realistic, and not over the top for the sake of putting as much tragedy as you can for the sake of angst.That was her.  For Cuba, I didn't like him, I couldn't.  When I got a glimpse into this character I immediately started to cringe.  I had no idea how the author would be able to get the reader to be ok or "understanding" with his actions.  I don't believe there is ever a good enough reason to be cruel or mean to someone you love.  And the whole I want to save you from being hurt, by hurting you now, and yeah twisting the knife in (over and over) is just my way of saying I love you, is stupid thinking.I found myself forgetting that they were teens, mainly because people that have been exposed to things that Dovey has, usually has a maturity and lost innocence that makes them wise before their time.  Dovey was a strong character yet was weak behind Cuba.  That, I do not understand or like.  It promotes the idea that love or a man is what makes you "whole", and that you lose all sense behind them.  Yes, I know there are women like that, and a lot young girls around her age bracket are, but it is still tough to swallow.  The idea that no matter how bad someone treats or talks to you, you can't do anything but sigh and gaze at his beauty.  Romanticizing mean people is just strange.  They shouldn't be all sugar and spice, obviously, but for him to treat her one way while she hopelessly gazes at him is not love.  I don't care the reasons, cruelty has no place in love.  And it is not attractive for a man to sleep with anything.  We have to stop romanticizing manwhores as well. Cuba is just a spoiled kid.I do like her honesty with herself and others, most authors have there heroines tiptoe around questions they should ask or words they should say.(even as I started disliking her)  She was strong for the most part even if she was weak for him.  The author made a valiant attempt at making you feel for Cuba, but fell ridiculously short.  He was a coward.  Dovey had it much worse yet was the better person.The relationship with her father was bad, and the plot around that threw me.  What started out as quite realistic quickly descended into something completely different.After wanting to be in Dovey's head at the beginning, I quickly wanted out of it.  I lost all desire to continue the story.  Like another reviewer said, it had too much of everything. The writing was ok with little editing issues.  Overall 2.5.