Review: An emotional, moving and "real" story!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 09 18, 2013
This book gives the detailed story of Dale Finnegan. Dale felt smothered by his parent's rules and so he started rebelling against them. He wanted to do his own thing, but he only ends up going down a road that ends in trouble. He starts hanging with friends, partying, and meeting "experienced" girls. He gets involved in things that he had never done before, which is satisfying and exciting at first, but he finds out the costs of doing these things later in the book.I really liked that his parents were with him through all of this. They didn't just give up on him. They had to show tough love even though it was breaking their hearts to do it. So many YA books have non-existent parents or uncaring parents in the story, but not this book. The family bond was really tight.The family loved Dale through all of this, they did not cater to his rebellion and were really trying to help him.The author made you feel all the emotions that each character was going through. She showed how Dale, his friends, and the girls, were trapped in the lifestyles that they were living, and showed how these lifestyles could lead into trouble. She showed that in the end, your family are the ones who will be there for you and love you unconditionally, even when they have to stand strong to help you come through it.Dale learns his lesson in the end, but boy, what a hard way for him to learn. He learns that once you start doing these kind of things it is hard to get out of them, but it is not impossible. He also learns that the things he was doing did not satisy or solve the issues he was dealing with within himself. He realized that his parents loved him, and that the rules were there to help him.This book could be a great eye-opener for teens, but parents need to know that although it is YA, the author is a little more detailed in the sexual scenes. Nothing too graphic, but you do know exactly what is going on. She does this to show the feelings that comes with having sex just to be having sex and how it can leave you feeling dirty and used. It has some mild language, but none of the foul words you see in some YA books.I highly recommend this book. Whether you are a young adult or a parent, you will feel every emotion that these characters were going through.I was given this book in return for an honest review.