Review: Great YA for everyone!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 12 30, 2013
How do you pull yourself out of the darkness when that's the only place you feel safe?  For 5 years, Zar Evans has been living through hell.  She is notoriously known by all of her classmates as the freak, but she tries hard to keep that from her family, despite the panic attacks that are getting worse.  She can't let them know the pain that she goes through on a daily basis, it will crush them.  She's different from from her jock older brother and popular younger sister...that used to be her until that day.  The day that changed everything.  Now she dresses in her black clothes, keeps herself surrounded in the darkness, keeps her nose in the books, and tries her best to go unnoticed and just make it through this last year.  One more year of the torture and she'll be free to start over at Iowa State, in a new town where no one knows her.Loudon is the popular jock from from the rival high school an hour away, and when he runs into the mysterious girl at the pizza parlor, he can't get her out of his head.  Fate is on their side when she shows up at his house not long after.  Turns out Zar's brother and Loudon's sister are engaged.  When Loudon asks Zar to go to a party with him, she thinks this is her chance, no one will know who she is, but no matter where she goes, she can't get away.  She thinks for sure she's scared Loudon away, and there's no point in trying to have a relationship with him because of her problems, but he won't give up on her.  She's different from all of the other girls, and he has to know her.  Is it possible that he sees the real Zar and not the freak everyone else sees?  Can Loudon bring Zar out of the dark and into his light?  With Loudon's strength, can she overcome the fear and anxiety?This is a great story for young adults that touches on some tough subjects, mainly bullying.  My heart broke for Zar and the pain and cruelty she faced alone, but I loved watching her grow and overcome the issues she's had on her quest to find true happiness.  In the end I was extremely proud of her, as well as Loudon for sticking with her.  T. H. Snyder does a great job of helping you connect with the characters and really feel what they are going through.  I absolutely loved it!