4.5 stars....this book had my heart in a vice. I spent a night bawling my eyes out, and this afternoon with my stomach roiling...it was just so hard to read. So many imperfect and real characters making just f-ed up choices... I go from reading a book that was really sappy and somewhat unrealistic (that I still loved, I'm ok with fairy tales) to a book where there is just so much....gah...I don't even know, but it was just crazy. My heart broke for every one of them. Sometimes Brenna is so hard to take b/c she's a *real* teenager who is kind of GAH! just like so many are in real life... You get used to reading these perfect heroines that are flawed, but only superficially somehow. I don't even know if I'm making any sense. I enjoyed the book and can't wait for the next one, but it also made me feel like crawling into a ball at times....