"The story of April and Oliver, two inseparable childhood friends whose existences again collide with the sudden death of April's younger brother"--Provided by publisher.
This debut novel is about a lot of things… grief, family, the ebb and flow of friendship (especially those you once thought will last a lifetime), and love (some of it unrequited). I could appreciate the delicateness of a friendship with someone of the opposite sex, and how easy it is to let friendship fade away once life starts to take you in different directions. April and Oliver are unceremoniously thrown back into each others lives following the death of her brother, and everyone seems to expect them to be able to pick up right where they left off. Unfortunately, they’re not the same people they used to be. There is a tug of war between the two of them as April tries to keep her distance, ashamed of who she has turned out to be but clueless as to how to change and as Oliver looks to her for answers to his own questions. I thought it was incredibly sad that the family decided to keep Buddy’s death from Nana – doesn’t she deserve to grieve too? – but it did add another layer to the story. The ending here falls short of happy (which I think would have felt contrived), but it is nicely hopeful.
