Published 1 April 2007
Nothing has been the same since Caleb Becker left a party drunk, got behind the wheel, and hit Maggie Armstrong. Even after months of painful physical therapy, Maggie walks with a limp. Her social life is nil and a scholarship to study abroad—her chance to escape everyone and their pitying stares — has been canceled.
After a year in juvenile jail, Caleb’s free . . . if freedom means endless nagging from a transition coach and the prying eyes of the entire town. Coming home should feel good, but his family and ex-girlfriend seem like strangers.
Caleb and Maggie are outsiders, pigeon-holed as "criminal" and "freak." Then the truth emerges about what really happened the night of the accident and, once again, everything changes. It’s a bleak and tortuous journey for Caleb and Maggie, yet they end up finding comfort and strength from a surprising source: each other.
I bought this book for the simple reason that I loved Perfect Chemistry. I'm a big fan of how Elkeles paints a picture, how she turns stories into something believeable and real. I went into reading this book wanting the same reading experience I got from Perfect Chemistry. Now, I will admit this is unfair, because it's a whole new set of characters, telling a completely different story. At first I judged the characters, compared them to the ones I know and love. And herein lies the power of her words, because about 20 pages in, everything else sort of faded into the background, all past characters and preconeived notions were forgotten. She pulled me into this story completely, which is the mark of a good author.
I loved the alternating point of view, but this will come as no suprise. However, this time, I don't think she hit the nail quite on the head with the whole male perspective. I found it hard trying to figure out who Caleb was as a character, and felt he didn't have enough background material to fully support his attraction to Maggie. I think if we had some flashbacks in his parts of the story I would've understood the attraction more so than I did. I think his "voice" as a character was cemented; not quite male enough, but yet not female, kind of impartial if that makes sense. I loved Maggie as a character, how she was scarred by this horrific thing that happened to her, and she wasn't a brick wall, things got to her, things hurt her, and her pain and anguish over the accident was laid out bare on the pages.
Also, fate plays a big part in this storyline, well maybe not fate, more like coincidence. How they both end up working for the same woman, how they meet in places the other shouldn't really be. This is a tried and tested way of getting characters together, but it didn't seem well formed, like it had been hastly put together. Don't get me wrong, I loved the book and the interactions between Caleb and Maggie was so much fun to read, but on the occasions where they meet, it seemed a little too good to be true, too coincidental.
I love Simone, I loved this book, yes, even though it was frustrating, it was also engaging. Engaging enough to keep me reading until i'd finished. Absorbing enough that I came straight online when i'd finished to find out when the sequel was released. Frustrating enough that when I read the last chapter I wanted to shake my fist at the author and then envelope her in a hug.
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