Review Detail

This book didn't quite pack the emotional punch I was hoping for, but it was a "nearly there" scenario. Although all the revelations in the book are shocking to Maggie, I predicted most of them. But there was something that kept me reading, even though I pretty much had it all figured out from the start.

It was very realistic in that death is always a hard subject to talk and open up about, and there's always secrets and questions the person leaves behind.

I didn't really like Maggie all that much. She was kind of likable and relatable, but she was just so.... whiny. I get that after someone has just died, that's a pretty good reason to cry and grieve, but Maggie just took everything to the extreme. And she was also ridiculously blind and naive.

The romance between Joey and Maggie didn't really work out for me either. To me, they just didn't seem all that well matched, even in Maggie's memories. They probably worked for each other, to have been dating for two years, but to me they didn't seem to fit. And I think that's part of the reason why I didn't get the emotional punch; because I just wasn't mourning Joey along with Maggie.

Maggie's friend Adam was my favourite character. Although I figured out really quickly what was going on with him, I still liked reading about him. Shannon was all the girls I have never had anything in common with put together, and I didn't really get why she and Adam were in the same group of friends.

Tanna and Pete didn't do much. They don't really add to the story, aren't really developed, and don't do much to propel the story forward either.

The pacing of the story was good, and I didn't have any trouble keeping up with the story.

There was something in the story that apparently has to be in every YA novel ever written. Is there some kind of rule that I missed? I won't reveal what it is (although you've probably guessed by now), but it didn't really need to be in this book, although I suppose it did add more depth to the story.