Review Detail

Reader reviewed by The Bookshelf Sophisticate

his is a book that is both heart breaking and breath taking all at once. There is so much pain in Brooklyn and Nico's life after Lucca dies and then his good friend Gabe soon after, that at times it was hard to read. Brooklyn lost her first love and someone she considered to be her soul mate. Nico lost his brother and best friend all at once. I honestly can't imagine and I don't want to try. But through Lisa Schroeder's powerful verse I feel like I was taken on a journey that was both eye opening and good for the soul.

A year after Lucca's death, Gabe ends his life. People believed the guilt he felt over being the driver of the car the night of the accident that killed Lucca was too much for him to live with. Shortly after Gabe's death, Brooklyn starts dreaming of Gabe and not in a comforting way. It's like he's visiting her in her dreams to send a message and not a gentle, soothing one, she's terrified. She's having these awful nightmares and doesn't seem to understand what he's trying to say to her, if he's trying to tell her anything at all. At the same time Lucca visits Nico and begins asking him to "help" Brooklyn, with no further details or any kind of explanation. And so the the story really begins. The journey these two take is remarkable and life changing. I could try my best to describe it but I would fall terribly short and would not do the book, or Schroeder justice.

To deal with her grief, Brooklyn writes letters to Lucca, beautiful, pleading, heartfelt letters. Sometimes I'd get to a page where she'd write one asking for his help and it would just break my heart; she felt so alone and missed him so much. Watching Nico and hearing his side of things was also both wonderful and terrible. He was struggling just like Brooklyn, but in different ways. He too felt like he was on his own, his parents were in no state to offer him much support when they were having trouble themselves with the loss of their son, so he attempted to put on a good front around them, tried to lessen the burden on them. So seeing Nico latch onto a purpose, to help Brooklyn at Lucca's request and together their training for the "finish line" was inspiring.

Like I said at the beginning, this story was both heart breaking and breath taking and it has instantly been placed on my 2010 favorites list and will be added to my collection for all time.