Genre: YA Romance/Historical Fiction
Publisher: Wise Ink
Publication Date: June 5th, 2015
Edition: ARC Pages: 264
FTC Disclosure: I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Trigger warnings: abortion, (assisted) suicide
SUMMARY
College is not in the cards for Seth. He spends his minimum wage on groceries and fakes happiness to distract his mom from the MS they both know will kill her. It’s agony to carry around a frayed love note for a girl who’s both out of his league and beneath his dignity.
Quinn’s finishing high school on top. But that cynical, liberal guy in her social studies class makes her doubt her old assumptions. Challenging the rules now, though, would a) squander her last summer at home, b) antagonize her conservative dad, and c) make her a hypocrite.
Seth and Quinn’s passionate new romance takes them both by surprise. They keep it a secret: it’s too early to make plans and too late not to care. But it’s 1989. As politics suddenly get personal, they find themselves fighting bare-fisted for their beliefs—and each other—in the clear light of day. (Goodreads)
WHAT I THOUGHT
This was an interesting story overall. I haven't read much on the political fiction side of historical fiction but I found this very easy to follow and read even though I did not live through the events surrounding 1989, the year in which this book takes place.The prologue really drew me into the story, sadly I did have some issues with the book.
Things I liked: I appreciated the historical aspect of the novel and how it explored both sides of the political climate during this tumultuous time in our countries history. The book explored the impacts of the Cold War, apartheid, Roe v. Wade, and presidential decisions. This book would be a useful educational tool for helping students get historical information from fiction. The ARC copy even had a glossary and timeline for reference! I also thought the romance was really cute and somewhat realistic for the time period. I also appreciate what the author was trying to do with including abortion, MS, and a father in the military to highlight more of the issues that people faced during that time. I enjoyed the dual perspective between the two main characters/love interests.
Things I didn't like: The book was too short to explore so many different issues. The political issues with the cold war were enough to make the story interesting to anyone who understand the complete and utter opposition between a democrat and a republican but the author also added abortion, illness, living wills, and so much more to the story that it kind of diluted the impact that it could have had. The abortion scenes were quick and didn't have much emotion besides the activists and I was surprised at how the news was taken; it added to the political climate of the book but didn't really add to the story. I feel the same way about the sex scene, interesting but it fell flat because it didn't contribute to the story, honestly it lost me at "breast pancakes".
The political and historical angle of this book makes it great for getting that information across to students who just don't 'get it' from reading a history textbook. The romance makes it fun and the teenager angst makes it relatable. I don't think this book is bad, I just think that it could have been better had it been longer and took more time to complete each arc of the story with more detail. I feel like the issues addressed were very quickly resolved and somewhat unrealistic.
I would still recommend this book because the romance was cute, historical fiction is always interesting, and I did enjoy reading this book! I just wish it hadn't have felt so rushed.
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