I'll Meet You There

by Heather Demetrios

[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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