*THIS IS A STAND ALONE WITH NO CLIFFHANGER!*
Bully and victim.
Tormenter and tormented.
Villain and hero.
Ellie McCallum was a bully. No connection to anyone or anything. A sad and lonely existence for a young woman who had come to expect nothing more for herself. Her only happiness coming from making others miserable.
Particularly Freaky Flynn.
Flynn Hendrick lived a life completely disconnected even as he struggled to become something more than that boy with Asperger's. He was taunted and teased, bearing the brunt of systematic and calculated cruelty, ultimately culminating in a catastrophic turn of events that brought Ellie and Flynn’s worlds crashing down.
But then Flynn and Ellie grew up.
And moved on.
Until years later when their paths unexpectedly cross again and the bully and the freak are face to face once more.
When labels come to define you, finding yourself feels impossible. Particularly for two people disconnected from the world who inexplicably find a connection in each other.
And out of the wreckage of their tragic beginnings, an unlikely love story unfolds.
But a painful past doesn’t always want to let go. And old wounds are never truly healed…and sometimes the further you try to run from yourself the closer you come to who you really are
Bully and victim.
Tormenter and tormented.
Villain and hero.
Ellie McCallum was a bully. No connection to anyone or anything. A sad and lonely existence for a young woman who had come to expect nothing more for herself. Her only happiness coming from making others miserable.
Particularly Freaky Flynn.
Flynn Hendrick lived a life completely disconnected even as he struggled to become something more than that boy with Asperger's. He was taunted and teased, bearing the brunt of systematic and calculated cruelty, ultimately culminating in a catastrophic turn of events that brought Ellie and Flynn’s worlds crashing down.
But then Flynn and Ellie grew up.
And moved on.
Until years later when their paths unexpectedly cross again and the bully and the freak are face to face once more.
When labels come to define you, finding yourself feels impossible. Particularly for two people disconnected from the world who inexplicably find a connection in each other.
And out of the wreckage of their tragic beginnings, an unlikely love story unfolds.
But a painful past doesn’t always want to let go. And old wounds are never truly healed…and sometimes the further you try to run from yourself the closer you come to who you really are
My review
After hearing so many people raving about this book I decided I would give it a go. After reading some of Meridith's previous work and had fallen in love with her writing, I was very excited to dive into this one. I am sad to say that I was actually a bit disappointed in this one. There are several things I loved as well as things that I didn't love. I have jumped back and forth with my rating and this has never happened before. So here goes.
"I'm an ugly person. I do ugly things. I think ugly thoughts. You will hate me. You will detest the choices that I have made. You won't understand me at all. You may feel some sympathy. A shred of sadness for the woman I've become. It's hard not to feel bad for the person who has fallen so far. But you will love him. It's hard not to. He is everything that I'm not, He is good. He is kind. He cares for others deeply and absolutely. He is talented. He is shy. He is smart in ways I can only dream of. He loves with all his heart."
The quote above is from the prologue and it is very correct. Flynn Hendrick is a very precious character. He is pure and precious in ways I can't even describe and it's impossible not to fall in love with him. he has aspbergers so he is not like us. He doesn't like to be touched. He doesn't like loud noises. He doesn't like change. Now Ellie McCallum was a monster. She along with her vile friends were constantly provoking him, touching him, and making him cry in high school. To a point where I almost couldn't stomach it. They were all very vile people. Growing up in the system, having shit for lives, drugs, alcohol, etc.
You would think these people would grow up over the years but you would be wrong. Fast forward a few years to current day and time and Ellie and her friends were still the same mean and nasty people that they were in high school. One difference is Ellie's friend Dania is currently a pregnant, pot head, alcoholic, bitch ( I hated Dania so badly) The only difference is you could see that Ellie wanted to be better. She craved a life of no violence and true friends and love. So she applied for college and was accepted. That is when she sees Flynn is back in town. She freaks out because apparently in the past she was his friend, she loved him but only in secrecy. Around her friends she would still be mean and let them be vicious to him and never once tried to stop it.
At this point I really found myself struggling. She connects with Flynn and soon she realizes she still loves him and they become an item. She finally stands up to her bully friends and tells them about Flynn. My issues were that 90% of the book was based around negative stuff. You hardly had any happy because it was all sad or mean. By the end of the book, I still didn't like Ellie. I just couldn't give her one ounce of sympathy.
I will say this.... Meredith did an absolute amazing job writing this book in dual pov. She was soooo accurate about the illness and she wrote it perfectly. My dilemma is that the writing was beautifully executed but the story itself just fell kinda flat for me. So rating this book is terribly terribly hard. With that being said, I give this book 3.5 stars!
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