Literary Merit: Poor
Characterization: Poor
Recommended: Not Recommended
Level: High School

Atty and her boyfriend Cole decide to escape together, steal car, and head out for Mexico because of cruel circumstances. At the beginning of the book Atty and Cole have decided to commit suicide together as they lay on a beach and take a bunch of pills. The hook here is that the story is told backwards from their attempted suicide to the day that they met. Revealing how they ended up on the beach together. This story has a Romeo and Juliet forbidden love story line. Atty's father a cop doesn't want her with Cole, whose mother is a drug addict.

There are many thing I did not like about this book. I think this is irresponsible story telling that doesn't offer other options besides suicide, running away, and larceny. At the end of the book they meet but we don't get a fast forward about what happened after their suicide attempt. We just know that Atty wakes up in a hospital but the repercussions of the actions taken are not addressed. The author also doesn't include information for the suicide hotline or how to report sexual assault. In this day and age those resources should be made available, especially when a book is discussing these things.

Maybe I'm being to harsh here but honestly there is so much better stuff out there that deals with sexual assault and suicide. Read instead, E.K. Johnston's Exit Pursued by a Bear, Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak, or Stephen Chbosky The Perks of Being a Wallflower. ( )