Mini Review: I'll Meet You There by Heather Demetrios

Title: I'll Meet You There

Author: Heather Demetrios

Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.

Source: Netgalley

Release Date: February 3rd, 2015

Goodreads Summary: 

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.

I seriously picked this up on a whim because I had already read most of the books that were on my January TBR and I'm so happy with this life decision. It was so unexpected, but I flew through I'll Meet You There. Even for being almost 400 pages I didn't get tired of the story at all. I would have been happy to keep reading about Skylar and Josh.This is one of those books with such realistic characters you can't help but connect to. They could be your neighbor, your best friend, your cousin, even yourself. As I was reading I'll Meet You There I kept thinking, Skylar's story was what half of the kids in my high school were living. College was their way out of that small town life.

The story revolves around this motel where the two main characters work. Josh has been in the war for the past year and Sky has been working incredibly hard to make sure that she escapes the Creek View life at the first chance she gets, her mom though has a different plan. Then Josh comes home from the war having lived through a traumatic experience. He's now an amputee who might have lost more than his leg in the war. Basically Josh and Sky spend the summer trying to keep each other from falling apart. Reading about PTSD, and from the perspective of the character going through PTSD, was really interesting. I'm always looking for books that deal with disorders (especially ones that are well done) because helping people through those tough times is something I'm passionate about as a psychology student. You can tell that Heather Demetrios did her research and knows what she's talking about.

Their story is so raw and real. Nothing comes easy for these characters. They each have their own problems and you know this isn't going to be one of those stories where everything wraps up nicely with a bow on top by the turn of the last page, but that's absolutely okay. I know I'll remember these characters long after I put down this book.

If you're looking for a book that will leave you feeling like you've made new friends for life, I'll Meet You There is it. I'll be carrying these characters, and their story, around with me for a very long time.

Rating:

★ ★ ★ ★.5/5