3.5 stars
This book is hard to categorize. Part mystery, part coming of age, part love story, part subtle ghost story.
At times it all managed to work really well. There were some genuinely sweet...and also a few heartbreaking moments, that are executed quite well. Unfortunately, there were also some things that just didn’t work. The “romantic” aspect of the story (all the friends to some extent are in love with the same person), as well as each friend’s confession that they were the real reason that their lost friend had turned their back on the formally tight knit group. All of that felt clunky and very contrived.
I did love Mikey as a character, and my favorite aspect of the book was his journey. His relationship with Alice, and how they were truly there for each other, was by far the best part of the story. It felt natural that these two would end up being so close and the fact that Alice chose to be Mikey’s “person” when his condition got worse...even to some extent against Mikey’s attempts at pushing her away...I loved it. They were just beautiful together.
At times this book felt more than a little all over the place, but the good definitely outweighed the bad.
TW: animal death (totally unexpected and, unsurprisingly, I cried. However, this scene in the book produced one of the saddest, yet beautiful lines I have read in ages), and suicide.
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