This novel seems to me like an urban fairytale. It is a contemporary novel, focusing on how a seemingly perfect love story has to bear the struggles that real life brings.
Luke and Leia meet during their film class, and their passion for film means that they instantly have a connection. They are both interesting characters, with many layers due to their mysterious pasts. Throughout the book we discover more about both characters and get to see how their past experiences have affected them, and shaped their personalities. Their past affects the way they react to different situations in the novel, and as a reader it is really interesting to try to predict how a certain event will affect them.
Luke is a likeable character and as a reader I was able to empathise with him very well. He is determined to escape his troubled past, picking a college that is two bus rides away just so he can avoid being in the town that brings back memories of what happened to him. He intends to keep his head down and gain as little attention as possible, although Leia is resolute in changing that. Throughout the novel he tries to push away the people that are threatening to tear his walls down, and yet when he lets them in we see the much happier, freer shadow of Luke that is present just below his exterior mysteriousness.
Leia is an optimistic, bubbly character for most of the novel, but towards the end the reader may begin questioning whether some of her spirit was over-exaggerated in an attempt to hide her past. Camden has succeeded in making sure Leia isn’t reduced to simply being a character that ‘saves’ the protagonist. She is her own person, and doesn’t depend on Luke. Her fierce individuality and her kindness may be part of what attracted Luke to her in the first place.
This book is gritty and honest, almost brutally so, showcasing how love isn’t a walk in the park in real life. By using characters that came from deprived or troubled backgrounds, but then go on to find happiness, Camden is showing readers that where you’re from is absolutely no indication of where you’ll end up. Everyone is in charge of their own fate, and if needed can change their entire life to make themselves happier as long as they are determined and persevering.
This novel was really inspiring for me, and is the kind of contemporary novel that teaches a lot of lessons, depending on the ones the reader needs to learn most. For me Luke’s passion for film was particularly inspiring, especially as it was what he turned too during his darkest moments. Although YA romance-based novels are typically recommended for girls, this novel is so much more than romance. Featuring violence, some explicit language, hopes, fears and dreams I would definitely recommend this to teenage boys and girls alike – the poignant first person voice of Luke’s may be relatable for some of them. It definitely was for me.
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