Review: I'll Meet You There

I'll Meet You There by Heather Demetrios
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.
Release Date: February 3rd, 2015
Source: Library
Date Read: 3/31/15 to 4/1/15
379 pages
Rating: ✰✰✰✰

If seventeen-year-old Skylar Evans were a typical Creek View girl, her future would involve a double-wide trailer, a baby on her hip, and the graveyard shift at Taco Bell. But after graduation, the only thing standing between straightedge Skylar and art school are three minimum-wage months of summer. Skylar can taste the freedom—that is, until her mother loses her job and everything starts coming apart. Torn between her dreams and the people she loves, Skylar realizes everything she’s ever worked for is on the line.

Nineteen-year-old Josh Mitchell had a different ticket out of Creek View: the Marines. But after his leg is blown off in Afghanistan, he returns home, a shell of the cocksure boy he used to be. What brings Skylar and Josh together is working at the Paradise—a quirky motel off California’s dusty Highway 99. Despite their differences, their shared isolation turns into an unexpected friendship and soon, something deeper.

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I'm pretty I was forced to read I'll Meet You There. Well, here I am, Paula and Holly, blown away by this powerful story. Did I mention how raw and gritty this was? I think the book cover accurately portrays that, don't you think.

Although I don't relate to any of this, I still emphasized with our MC, Skylar. She wanted to so badly get out of her little town, yet every bad thing kept piling up on her, so much so her future was up in the air. And then Josh, a marine returning home from Afghanistan due to his missing leg, jumps into the picture.

The book is mostly narrated by Skyler, but there are chapters that are Josh's thoughts on his life. This is where you see how the war affected him so, and also why he refuses to get close to Sky. If it weren't for those chapters, I would've been very frustrated with Josh and his actions and inactions towards Sky, but because of the insight the author gives us, it's more tolerable. Sure I still got a little mad, but that's because I've never experienced such a thing.

Honestly, I want to keep this review short because I don't want to give everything away (obviously), but I do want to gush about Skylar. She's smart, artsy, and has this full ride scholarship to a college a couple hours away from her trailer home. She CAN get out of Creek View, but is willing to throw it all away for her mom. If you think about it, I'm not sure if anyone, even I, could do that. I think that takes guts, and that for me places Skylar up there with all those kickass heroines. 

Also slight spoiler, I'm glad that she didn't stay in Creek View for Josh, because I would've been pissed. I'm glad they could work out a long distance relationship (not that I know anything about it because the book ends before that) end spoiler.

Yeah, so basically READ THIS. It's raw and real and is something you really shouldn't miss. I can't really think of anything else to say, other than the fact that this book really made me feel grateful for my life.

Also, can someone get me a copy of that letter between Skylar and Josh from the pre-order? Haha just kidding (no but really).