I’m a little torn on this book. While it was a wonderful and touching story, there were things that got in the way of my complete enjoyment of it.

I found it a little hard to relate to and understand Zoey. Some things she does, I could look past, because she had just gone through something no person should ever go though, but there were other things I did not understand. I wanted her to refuse to follow her father’s orders. I wanted her to say no to him and do what she wanted to do. And always referring to Brandon as her boyfriend, even though she knows his personality and not seeing him behaving any differently with her than he does any of the other girls he sleeps with once and dumps.

However, Echols wrote a emotionally charged book, while still being able to be witty and true to life. Even though I had some trouble with Zoey, and that might be just how Echols wanted to write her, I did like most of how she wrote the character. She was just the right mix of sweet and smart, with a little bit of confused mix in. I loved the moments she shared with Doug the most. They were touching and felt real.