This book started off pretty good. I really liked the voice of the main character, Oliver. However, the further I got into the novel, the more I disliked it. There were a lot of individual issues that supremely bothered me—everything from grammar to irresponsible medical diagnoses—and that’s just the beginning! I wavered back and forth between one and two stars for quite awhile before finally settling here. In all honesty, the extra star is mostly for the shock value I got when I read an event that occurred at the end of the novel—and as much as that event pissed me off, I couldn’t ignore how surprised I was, and I feel like a book deserves credit for throwing me a curveball.

An ARC of this book was provided for me by the publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review. (All grammatical comments should be compared to a finished edition of the work, which I don't have.)

What I Liked: Spoilers!

HAH. Hahahahahaha. Hahahahhhhh...okay.

I was pretty set on giving it one star, possibly two, because it's poorly written, Oliver seems to have issues with women and being overly possessive of them, and the romance and representation of mental diseases were both incredibly overblown and inaccurate.

BuT READER BEWARE THE MEGA SPOILER THAT WILL FOLLOW IN THIS SECTION. Honestly, I don't recommend the book, all things considered, so if you don't think you'll read it, by all means, charge right ahead.

Okay, surely you don't need a religious background to think a seventeen-year-old guy should show a little more hesitancy before having sex with a girl he met six days ago? And, whoaaaa, then she totally ignores him the next day.

This book pisses me off on so many levels. 

but Oliver is way more concerned about his relationship with Lacey than a petty thing like what happened the day before. They're so in lahv and it's only been six days, and he's going to "fix" her.

Plus, Oliver keeps saying these weird thoughts about the differences between men and women, and he's really possessive of Lacey. 

"I finally had my girl back."

"...and Esther looked like she was winning the argument, just like every other woman on the planet. I think it was some unwritten rule that a women would always win an argument against a man, no matter the subject. As I'd learned over my years, there was nothing a man could do that a women couldn't do better, at least so they said."

"If I ever wanted her back, I would have to be the one to go to her room when the lights went out and the darkness filled these halls. The thoughts of sneaking down to her room terrified me to no ends. I felt, as a guy, that it would look worse for me to sneak down there than for her to sneak into my room. I think that adults generally see guys, especially teenager ones, as sex crazed and horny all of the time. With all of the aids and nurses being women, if they did a check and saw me in there late at night they would likely think I was in there for that purpose, which I was clearly not. If they caught a girl in my room late at night, I didn't think they would assume the same, for women in general were a thousand percent less sex crazed than men."

"She was safe with me, and I wanted her to know it. Other people might not have given her a chance, an she was a very hurt and damaged girl, but I was going to nurture and fixed her, whether she liked it or not." (emphasis mine)

"Sometimes I just wished that women, at least the ones I knew, would just be upfront and honest just like every other man on this planet."

What the heck, Oliver? You obviously have some issues.

Then there are just some things that make you really want to slap someone.

"...my daddy is in jail..."

The kid saying this is twelve, and the author treats him like he's six. This is not an accurate representation of almost any twelve-year-old, and it bothers the heck out of me every time Marcus is in a scene. 

These things could mess with your mind, and it made me believe that Seasonal Affective Disorder was a real thing, especially when you were trapped in a hospital.

It MADE YOU BELIEVE A DISORDER IS ACTUALLY A DISORDER? DID YOU THINK PEOPLE WITH SAD JUST MADE IT UP BEFORE OR AM I MISSING SOMETHING? GLAD YOU'VE DEIGNED TO RECOGNIZE A MEDICAL DISORDER AS SOMETHING REAL, KAY BYE.

"I'd rather be made miserable by you than happy by anyone else."

Aw, I just love when books promote abusive relationships.

...her body taunting me like a chocolate doughnut taunting a diabetic.

This is because she happens to be walking in front of him and he just can't stop staring at her butt. How dare her!

I shouldn't even talk about Oliver and why he's in there. Oliver says he's depressed, but he seems to just want space from his parents. Lacey has apparently "cured" him, and when she's not there, he's "depressed" all over again. Plus, let's just remember that the doctor talked to him for three seconds before diagnosing him with bi-polar disorder. The medical information and representation in this book is hecka messed up. And Oliver pisses me off on so many levels.

This book had such a promising start, but it's just...boring and poorly written now. To top it off, 

I just hate that. Not when it happens, because it can give a novel incredible depth, but when it's just shrugged off and not treated with any degree of respect or importance. They're already moving on.

For a second, I thought it was kind of cute that Oliver was like, "dude, I kissed Lacey once, I think we'll be boyfriend and girlfriend when we get out," but then that whole weird thing with Lance came up and just...what. Seriously? A new kid in the ward flirts a LITTLE bit with the girl you kissed once and you decide it's reasonable to punch him in the face? Noooooooope.

Unfortunately, the more I read of this, the more I don't really like it. The writing style was endearing to me at first, but it's grown awkward and leaves an amateur taste in my mouth. Plus, sometimes it just doesn't flow grammatically, and that really bothers me. Some examples of both:

...Ms. Katie said with a smile before she left, probably to alert the doctor to the new patient she had to dissect.

(What? "Alert the doctor to"?)

 

I had went from being somewhat happy and optimistic about this whole situation to being completely defeated, unable to even move as the paralyzing thoughts of being here for nine more days filled my mind, unable to even fathom what my life had just turned into.

(Least of all..."I had went"??)

 

I probably looked like a flailing flamingo, unable to get his balance as his long and very skinny legs struggled under the weight of the few ounces Hacky Sack. It was sad, but also my ridiculous reality.

(He complains about the weirdest things. And the end of that first sentence, yikes!)

 

Some of the kids moaned, obviously in discontent with the news they had just heard. Secretly, I was a little bummed, too, for I was finally starting to fit in with these awesome guys and had my mind taken off of the fact of where I was.

 

...trying to play dumb and diffuse the situation from going any further.

 

Okay, so some of the wording is just plain awkward, and it makes it weird to read. Most of the time, I'm just kind of shaking my head, trying to figure out where that sentence was going. A lot of the time, in my mind I'm trying to reword it to make more sense. (That's something I do naturally, which will hopefully make me a great editor in the long run.)

And, you know, surprise of surprises, my required general psychology class actually did something for me, because I've learned a few things about diagnosing mental disorders. So this part bugged the crap out of me:

"You will stay ten days. I am diagnosing clinical depression and bipolar disorder," she said, writing down the diagnoses in her notepad and my files.

 

What the heck?? She listened to TWO SENTENCES from this kid and decided he has bipolar disorder?? Depression I'll let slide, because it's diagnosed a bit differently for everyone. But I had an entire unit on bipolar disorder and what happens before it's diagnosed. Generally there are depressive phases that last for months or years, and you're supposed to have had a depressive episode at least twice (I think) and one manic episode (none of which this kid has had) before bipolar disorder can even be considered an option. What was this doctor thinking? "Hmm, yesterday he told his dad he wants to kill himself. Today, he said it was all a misunderstanding and he's acting kind of cheerful. HE MUST BE BIPOLAR BECAUSE, WHOA, HE'S A TEENAGER WHO CHANGED HIS MIND." 

I just s,jhfjalkerhjbsjck.arjhscbj,rhsbvgmd.