4.5/5 stars really

Damn this book was intense. If I've learnt nothing else, it's that the American child protective services and foster system is dreadful. Noah and his situation just broke my heart, far more so than Echo's.

Great writing - couldn't put this book down! Even read it despite suffering severe motion sickness while on the bus because I just couldn't stop reading! The characters are extremely well crafted and the development of these characters and their complicated relationships is what elevated this book above some of the other contemporary YA books I've read.

This isn't really my genre of choice but I'm a sucker for bad boys with scars and tattoos so I had to read this book and I'm so glad I did. The only thing that prevented me from giving this book 5/5 is that the ending seemed a little too good to be true. I'm not a fan of unrealistically happy endings and this all just seemed to tie up a little too neatly considering how raw the rest of the story had been. Still, definitely worth reading!