I'll Meet You There

by Heather Demetrios

Skylar Evans, seventeen, yearns to escape Creek View by attending art school, but after her mother's job loss puts her dream at risk, a rekindled friendship with Josh, who joined the Marines to get away then lost a leg in Afghanistan, and her job at the Paradise motel lead her to appreciate her home town.

• ISBN10: 0805097953
• ISBN13: 9780805097955
• Publish Date: 3 February 2015
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 22 November 2021
• Imprint: Henry Holt & Company
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 400
• Language: English

Reviews

[Sam@WLABB]

Rating: 4.5 Stars

Skylar and her friend, Chris, had a plan. They were going to conquer high school, remain celibate, and earn their ticket out of Creek View. The time had finally arrived, and it looked like their plan had succeeded. Sky was awarded a full scholarship to San Francisco College, and was on her way in just a few short months. But as the date approached, her mother was unraveling, and the return of Josh had her dealing with some complicated feelings. Would Skylar still be able to achieve her dreams?

• Pro: Sky was someone worthy of my admiration. She did not have it easy. I really appreciated how hard she was willing to work to make sure both she and her mother had some sort of security. Her combination of tenacity, strength, and generosity made her a phenomenal character, and one that was easy to care about.

• Pro: The bulk of the book was told from Sky's point of view, but WOW! Those few pages we got from Josh, here and there, were so telling and heart wrenching, but they also showed how he was slowly, but surely, coming to terms with some of the overwhelming emotions he was dealing with upon returning to civilian life.

• Pro: Demetrios did an incredible job capturing the struggles Josh was battling. Between his nightmares, PTSD, survivor's guilt, uncertainty about his future, feelings of uselessness, loss of his "family", and the physical pain - he was dealing with a lot. Though this was not a full list of the types of obstacles soldiers face when (if) they come home, it was a hard and important look at some of the issues they are faced with.

• Pro: Life in a small town was perfectly drawn. At first, all we saw were the bad parts, but as summer wore on, Sky changed and so did her relationship with Creek View, and we got to see that there are some good aspects to small town life, many of which shaped who Sky was, flaws and all.

• Pro: How cool is collage art? I was so enthralled with every description of Sky's work. I found it utterly fascinating, and it made me want to run out to get some paper and glue.

• Pro: There was a lot of focus on all various relationships throughout this story, and I found myself thinking of how lucky Sky was to have this many beautiful people in her life. Dylan, Chris, Josh, Marge, and even her mom. Each gave so much to Sky and inspired her to want more, to be more.

Overall: An emotionally charged story of the value of human connection, perseverance in the face of change, and not compromising your dreams.

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[liz089]

I really liked this book !! The main characters were both very likeable, even thought they had their faults, but that made them more real in some ways.
I liked the romance, how they help each other.. Both their issues had a lot of impact on me and where very realistic.
Though I would have liked a less open ending.. I want to know how and if they are still together in the future.. I just want my happy ending haha ^^

[Bianca]

There was something magical about taking bits and pieces of the world around me and creating something whole. It gave me hope: if you could make a beautiful piece of art from discarded newspapers and old matchbooks, then it meant that everything had potential. And maybe people were like collages—no matter how broken or useless we felt, we were an essential part of the whole. We mattered.

[empressbrooke]

At first I wasn't sure about this Forever Young Adult book club pick - I looked at a summary and thought, "Really, another 'contemporary romance?'" But my best friend encouraged me to read it and assured me that it was much more than that, and I'm glad I listened to her. It's really exceptionally well written and the characters were very well done. There was nothing cutesy or contrived about it like some of the other "contemporary romance" YA books picked for the book club this year.

[Stephanie]

This review was originally posted on Once Upon a Chapter



I'll Meet You There by Heather Demetrios is a book that I would never have picked up myself. It shows that book bloggers matter. Had it not been for my fellow bookish friends, I wouldn't have picked this one up. The cover certainly didn't do anything for me before reading it. After reading it though, the cover is certainly endearing.

Skylar is such a smart girl. She knows what she wants and she works her ass off to get it. That's not to say she doesn't do stupid things from time to time because she certainly does. The great thing about Skylar is that she is caring and loyal to the people who are important to her. It may not be a ton of people but she's made smart choices in who she loves.

Josh is a wounded war veteran. He has a lot that he's dealing with and his family isn't as supporting as they could be. His maintenance job at the Paradise keeps him active. It's Skylar who really helps him through. Skylar doesn't try to ignore the fact that he's lost his leg. She doesn't gloss it over either. She treats him like he's still human; calls him out on his shit and has normal conversations with him.

Demetrios has penned an excellent novel. It has opened my eyes to a problem that we aren't exposed to enough. We have veterans my age (it's young when you're used to thinking of war vets only as older people who fought in wars that happened before you were born) who need help. They served their country and now they need our help. Not only does Demetrios bring an issue to the forefront of our thoughts, she also tells a beautiful story of love, loss, and friendship. I am so grateful to the bloggers who talked about I'll Meet You There by Heather Demetrios. Thank you!

[pagingserenity]

I felt like I’ll Meet You There was too short. I want more gosh darn it! I want more! It was gritty and real. It had lots of hardships and problems the characters had to go through and solve. Most of which are relatable. And just as a warning, this book does tug at your heartstrings and can mess with your emotions.

I loved Skylar, aka Sky. She was strong throughout all the crap she had to put up with and go through. She was a good girl, but she still had her faults, and that made me like her even more. I liked Josh too. I felt bad for him, beyond what he had to go through. It was really obvious that his time in Afghanistan changed him. There were times when I felt that he was being stupid and I just wanted to shake him, but overall I thought he was a great guy.

I only wish there was more of Josh’s point of view in the book. It felt like I only got tiny tidbits of his perspective. I felt like his backstory was a bit lacking. I wanted to know more and it felt like we didn't get the whole story about what happened while he was deployed. I think there were some missing puzzle pieces to Sky’s background, but Josh was missing more.

I thought I’ll Meet You There was perfect romantic wise. I liked how the romance evolved slowly and was no where near something like instalove. Their romance was cute and it made me smile at times. The ending was kind of open ended though. Although it was satisfying, I would love to read another story about them, preferably set in the future. It doesn't even have to be a full length book. Please, Heather. I need more!

You can read my full, more detailed review at Paging Serenity.

[girlinthepages]

I’ve seen a lot of readers project that 2015 was going to bring a shift in trends toward the popularity of grittier contemporaries, and I’ll Meet You There definitely proves such predictions. This book was darker than I anticipated, following the lives of two teenagers from a dead end town in central California, one a former marine who’s landed back where he started, the other a budding artist with every ounce of determination focused on getting out of the desolate area. This book is not just an extremely well-written story, but it’s a relevant reflection of so many social issues today, especially poverty and the veteran experience.

I was initially sucked into the writing of the book because it was not only excellent, but uncensored in both its language and plot. In the first chapter Skylar introduces not only herself and her own impoverished circumstances, but the reality of what teenagers in lower socio-economic demographics go through. Underage drinking and drug use are frequent, dysfunctional families are common, teen pregnancy is not shocking (Skylar’s best friend Dylan already has a one year old at eighteen years old, and it’s treated as a fact of life, not as a morality tale about the consequences of sex). Poverty is real and stark and everywhere, but is so common for everyone in Creek View that once you get into the book you become resigned to reading about the struggles of the characters, rather than being shocked by it.

Aside from featuring poverty as a main theme, the book also was the best YA novel I’ve come across that features the topic of post-military life and veterans. Josh, the protagonist opposite Skylar, has returned to Creek View after losing a leg to an IED overseas while in the Marines. With the clutches of poverty digging in so deeply to most Creek View teens that they never read, it’s really an emotional journey watching Josh, someone who did make it out, have to return home with even less than he had before. He doesn’t always do the right or good thing and isn’t always likeable, but watching him deal with not just adjusting to live as an amputee but dealing with PTSD in a community that cannot even begin to fathom what he’s been through was really emotional. The best part of the book was watching Skylar and Josh learn how to interact with each other, how to overcome the trauma of the war and keep it from invading their interactions and relationships. At the end of the novel Demetrios includes an author’s note detailing just how much research she did on the issue of veterans dealing with PTSD and the consequences they suffer once they’re out of the war, with shocking statistics, such as the alarming rate of suicides due to PTSD in veterans. I have so much respect for Demetrios for choosing to tackle these topics in her novel, as so many men and women join the military to better their lives and end up back home dealing with severe demons, mental and physical health issues, and little to no support. I applaud Demetrios for acknowledging that no matter how you feel about the military conflicts themselves, we should support those who fight and those who return from fighting for our country.

The writing itself was poignant and raw and often uncensored, and there were certain scenes that really moved me emotionally, from the painful rejections Skylar faced at times at the hands of Josh to the discomfort Josh felt when being approached by strangers to thank him for his military service (made obvious by his prosthetic leg). The middle of the book did drag a bit for me, and I was frustrated so many times with both Skylar and Josh, from Josh’s continued bad decision making to Skylar’s continued loyalty to her alcoholic and irresponsible mother at the potential expense of her own dreams. Yet the novel does the wonderful service to its characters by truly showing how they grow, and unburden themselves from what’s holding them back: Skylar from her mother and Josh from Afghanistan. This was my first time reading a book by Demetrios and there’s no doubt that she is an excellent writer, especially by her ability to balance the topics of romance, social issues, and personal growth simultaneously.

Overall: This book was a undoubtedly a slow-burn with a dynamic ending that left me emotionally hungover. It has fantastic writing, dynamic character growth, and deals with social realities in an honest and uncensored way. This book really left it’s mark on me due to the unabashed ways it tackled social issues, especially poverty and PTSD, and left my heart full not just for Josh and Skylar but for all of the men and women serving in the military and for the families that learn to adapt and nurture them and carve their relationships around and despite trauma. At it’s core this book is about rising above your circumstances, and making the choice to change your life, while acknowledging that it’s not often a simple task. I’ll Meet You There impacted me as a reader on a deeper level than I anticipated, which is always a sign of a solid book.

Read this review and more at my blog Girl in the Pages

[Ashley]

I LOVED IT SO MUCH!! It was everything I hoped it would be. This romance is to die for. It was somehow heart warming and heartbreaking at the same time.

[shannonmiz]

I kind of fell in love with this book. And I don’t even know how to properly express that, but I am going to try. First of all, I’ll Meet You There puts the “real” in realistic fiction. I don’t know if I have read a more authentic book than this one, with imperfect characters, and hellish experiences, and above all, the resilience to keep trying to live better.

I’ll begin with Creek View. Creek View is, for all intents and purposes, a complete abomination of a town. No one wants to live in this place, least of all Skylar (and pretty much anyone else who has the misfortune of being stuck in this dump). It is the kind of town where dreams go to die, and Skylar has basically vowed to get out before it consumes her too. Only since life happens, Skylar’s mom loses her job, and all bets are off.

Skylar works at a shady road motel to try to earn the money she’ll need to go to school. She’d worked with Josh in the past, so when he came home from the Marines, minus a leg and plus a lot of trauma, Skylar knew him. She had even “dated” his brother for about a week. Josh and Skylar never really had anything in common outside of the motel, but when he returns to work there, she realizes what a different person he has become in the wake of his experiences in Afghanistan.

The characters made this book completely. Skylar was so flawed, but so easy to love. Sky struggled so much, with the death of her father, to her mother’s lack of ambition (and extremely poor taste in male companionship), and through it all she stubbornly tried to tuck her emotions away, to be so strong. She hit some very low points over the course of the book, but she always clawed her way back to her true self. Josh was, as expected, so, so broken. He witnessed not only the loss of his leg, but the loss of so many friends and innocent citizens, and the trauma stayed with him. Upon his return to Creek View, he jumped right into the party scene because it was basically all he knew. But he knew that it simply wasn’t enough for him anymore. He hit some incredible lows as well, but it was clear that at his core, Josh was a good guy.

Sky’s friends also were very well developed. I adored Dylan. She was a teen mom, but her storyline was handled very well and I found Dylan to be a very strong female character in her own right. No, she wasn’t going to be going off to a big college, or having any grand adventures, but she was caring for her child and trying to be the best she could be. I kind of loved her. Chris was a bit different. I liked how loyal and protective of Sky Chris was, but he did seem haughty at times, like he was simply better than Creek View as a whole. And Marge. MARGE. I wish Marge was in my life, is basically the situation. There should just be a lot more Marges in the world.

The romance was beautiful. There was no insta-love, and there was heartwrenching messiness, and the loveliest of moments. Again, I just have to reiterate how completely authentic it felt. And I could have read about Sky and Josh for 400 more pages, if Heather Demetrios had written it. The thing about this book is, it isn’t just a romance. It is life. It is wonderful and awful, sometimes at the same time. There’s tons of hope, but there is also some insurmountable despair. It is quite literally how real life ebbs and flows.

Before I stop flailing, I just have to say a few things about Josh, the Marines, and Afghanistan. First, this needs to be in more books. It is the horrific reality of so many young men and women, and the feelings that Josh had have assuredly been felt by so, so many real veterans. Not only did Heather Demetrios tackle this incredibly difficult issue, she did it with class and grace, in a way that was a tribute to those men and women. She painted Josh as a whole person, she never placed him on a pedestal, and she never vilified him.

I could probably go on for days, but I will stop so you can read all about the adventures of Creek View for yourselves. Obviously, I recommend that you do, in case the gobs of gushing weren’t clear.

**Huge thanks to Macmillan, who provided me with this review copy via Netgalley.**