Friday, April 10, 2015

Friday Reads: I'll Meet You There by Heather Demetrios!!!

Hey there guys!

It is Friday! And I'm hoping to get a pair of books in the mail and to have some time to read before going to work night shift, because then I work night shift on Saturday again, which means I'll spend most of my Saturday sleeping...

For this week's Friday Reads I have a book that punched me in the feels in the best of ways and that made me sob and ugly cry and any other actions involving tears that you might think of. I preordered it from Book of Wonder signed and personalized and I got a special promo letter from Josh to Skylar for V-day and that was just wonderful too!

Since it is a 2015 release it will count towards that category on my 105 Challenge!




I'll Meet You ThereI'll Meet You There by Heather Demetrios

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


My ratings usually come from gut feelings and when I've been through so many emotions and I've cried as much as I did with this book, it deserves 5 and more stars for sure. And this is particularly relevant for me since this one is a contemporary book, and it's not a genre that I am drawn to much. I usually am very picky when it comes to contemporaries and this one was an absolute bullseye for me!

Skylar is our main character and it's a girl that wants to get out of the small town she has always lived in, and that dream of going away, all the planning and saving and thinking, is what has kept her sane through a very crappy and tough and all around messed up family dynamic, with her dad dead and her mum not being much of a parent for quite some time. Skylar has just graduated high school, has a scholarship for a fantastic art school and she just needs to get through a final summer before she can follow her dreams.

The relationship between Skylar and her mum was painful to read at times, but so raw and real and heartfelt. Skylar has been the one taking over the adult role and being the one responsible for herself and her mother for a lot time already and once her mum falls into another dark hole, Skylar feels like she'll have to give up everything to pull her mum out of it. It was very much a role reversal with the teen being the responsible one and the mum being the one in need of care. I found myself wishing that Skylar would stop feeling so responsible for her mum and would decide to focus on herself more, and feeling like crap for wishing that because her mum is her only family, and we do take care of those we love.

Then we got her friends, Dylan and Chris, both excellently written secondary characters that break through the possible sterotypes. Dylan is a girl that wears tight clothes and has a baby boy, a teen mother that is madly in love with her son's father and that has managed to graduate. Chris is Skylar's ally on the quest to leave their town, to be more and a genius at math. I loved how their relationship went through some hardships due to their different choices about staying or leaving for the future, and how despite it all they were there for each other through and through!

And then we got Josh, and he is such a broken and complex character and one that I simply felt for so much! He also wanted to leave town and did so as a soldier, to fight in Afghanistan, and he is injured, loses a leg and returns suffering from PTSD. A mess if there ever was one. I am very happy that we got both Skylar and Josh's POV, because his chapters if shorter, were even more emotionally heavy and poignant and made me cry like mad! Being in his head was both amazing and painful and was necessary to get us readers to not hate him after one pretty big mistake he makes, but seeing things from his POV... well, we know he made a BIG mistake and we still want Skylar to kick his arse but also to forgive him.

I'm glad that Skylar and Josh's relationship is built by working together, hanging out together, becoming friends by feeling like outsiders and not really belonging in a place, and after quite a few false starts here and there, with communication and a lil help from others here and there, they find a way to be together. They have to work on their relationship a lot, but they do have dreams to achieve and someone to share those dreams with. And an amazing black lab doggie that made me cry even more!

This book was an amazing read for me and not only because it was extremely emotional for many reasons and not just the romance, but so many important relationships like between parent and children, friends, co-workers, parental figures. And it makes you really think and wonder about the consequences of war for those that come from it and their families. A brilliant book through and through.



View all my reviews

22 comments:

  1. This book had one of my deal breakers Pili - that BIG mistake you mentioned - but the way it was handled in this story made it work for me. Of course I still wish it hadn't happened and I wanted to slap some sense into Josh, but his chapters like you said were heartbreaking and I could understand why what happened did. I didn't like it, but I loved how Skylar dealt with it:) SO GOOD!

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    1. Yep, I agree Jenny! If not for how it was handled and how we got Josh's POV, I might have been pissed beyond reason and had closed the book right there!

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  2. Hi hi! I wanted to reply back to your comment on my teaser of the Shadow Prince! I've read The Eternity Key quite awhile ago, and oooooomg it was soooooo good! But the ending killed! It was the worst sort of cliffhanger, because...because...it leaves you hanging! LOL! I legit screamed in fury at the ending, or might have...I might have read it when I was on break at work at the time, so screaming would've turned heads. But I definitely screamed bloody murder internally! ;)

    So yeah, there needs to be a book 3, or I will well and truly lose all sense of my sanity! Maybe I should write that in an email to the new publisher... lol!

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    1. Yep, we might need to e-mail the new publisher to ensure we won't be left with a horrible cliffhanger!!

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  3. I'll Meet You there fully hit me in the feels too. I loved it so much and yes I did want to kick Josh at times, especially during one specific scene but I could understand why certain decisions were made and what happened and it felt essential to the story in a way. Beautiful review Pili :)

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    1. Thank you, Lily! Josh was such a complex character!

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  4. I haven't read this yet but I'm dying to! You're making extra curious about what Josh did. The whole story sounds so emotional and I'm sure I'll hate Skylar's mom but I'm sure I'll love the book haha! Love the review Pili~

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    1. I do hope you'll check the book soon Eileen, it is awesome!!

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  5. The more I hear about this book, the more I want to read it because it just sounds like such a me book. I find myself a little surprised to say that because I usually don't read a lot of YA contemporary but the characters and the romance in this one has me sold.

    I mean look at the two, THEY START OFF AS FRIENDS *swoons*.

    Lovely review, hon <3

    Rashika @ The Social Potato

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  6. Gorgeous review Pili. <3 Love reading your thoughts about this book :D But damn it. Another book that I hated, lol :( Well, I gave it two stars, but I can't remember anything positive about it :p but I see so many loving it. Hmph. How mean :D But still sort of glad you liked it. <3 Maybe. Anyway. Your review of it is amazing :)

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    1. You are a darling! Thank you so much! I'm sorry to hear you didn't really like this book though...

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  7. YAY! YOU LOVED IT! This makes me so happy Pili!! I hated Josh's big mistake, but I was able to forgive him even though I felt like I was going to fall to pieces along with Sky. Have you read the letter he wrote her for Valentine's Day yet? You definitely need to if you haven't!

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    1. YESSSS! I preordered my copy from BoW and they had the letter as a extra for all of us that preordered from them! It was amazing!! *sigh*

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  8. I go back and forth with this book. On the one hand, I LOVED Demetrios's Exquisite Captive... on the other hand, I can't stand most tough-issue contemporary novels. I can't see myself reading this book, especially since apparently it's so breathtakingly heartbreaking and wonderful and all that - that's recipe for me to avoid the book LOL. My heart has been and is currently too fragile for that. I NEED FLUFF. Or fantasy. Hehe.

    Anyway. Awesome review, Pili!

    Alyssa @ The Eater of Books!

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    1. Probably not a book to read right now with you, but an amazing book nonetheless!

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  9. Beautiful review, Pili! I can just feel the emotions vibrating in your words. I've heard so much about this book and how it was so beautiful and heartbreaking and inspiring at the same time, that I'm so curious. I absolutely need to read this, obviously ;)

    Faye at The Social Potato

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    1. Wow, thank you, what a compliment, Faye! And YES, you need to read this one!

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  10. I'm so glad you loved it! I've heard amazing things about it. Now I can't wait to read it!!

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  11. I have a friend blogger who also read this one and completely adored it too, and seeing as I trust her opinion I wanted to try it. But knowing it has been verified as a good book by someone else as well sounds great. Josh sounds like a brilliant character and someone who really makes this book great.

    Check out my book review: http://olivia-savannah.blogspot.nl/2015/04/hollow-blood-review.html

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    1. It is a great book and both Skylar and Josh are fantastic characters! I do hope you'll get to read this one Olivia!

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¡Muchas gracias por vuestros comentarios, leerlos me alegra el día!/ Thanks a lot for all your comments, reading them brightens my day!!