I thought this was a great book. It was engaging, funny, sad; and I loved the history of the Cuban missile crisis woven in. ( )

Teen fiction (for people who don't read teen fiction). A curious amalgam of war novel and historic romance, this is a slower-paced book (the lovers don't actually meet until p. 137) but thoroughly enjoyable. The narrator's voice is intelligent with occasional malaprops: "as cunning as a lavatory rat" (p. 235) and "brain choked on an anagram" (p. 364). I would suspect these were deliberate choices by the author, but the effect is imbalanced rather than humorous--the book would have been better without. ( )

I thought this book was perfect. I was gripped the entire way through and I really, really didn't want it to end! It kept throwing surprises at me and I never knew what was happening next.

I identified with the characters, and I think they are really good portrayals of teenagers. They just seemed right, you know? I think the dialogue was spot on as well.

I loved the style of writing. I desperately want to read another of Peet's books, to get my fix of his writing because it is amazing!

And the ending! Oh the ending! I won't spoil anything, but oh my god the ending! ( )

bonkers, a slow burn but super intense and awesome. however, coming of age stories aren't necessarily young adult stories, DANG. ( )

Clem is not wealthy. Frankie is. Clem's father works for Frankie's father. Frankie and Clem never should have met, but Frankie was doing penance for acting out at school, and had to do labor on her father's farm. And once Clem and Frankie met, there was no turning back. They must keep their relationship secret, so they sneak around and find places to meet. As their relationship progresses, so does the Cuban Missile Crisis, which creates evens that push Clem and Frankie to do things they may not have otherwise. This book was okay. I had a hard time keeping some of the characters straight, and this time period is not all that interesting to me. I finished reading it because I have read so many dystopian YA books lately, and wanted to branch out. But boy, was it hard to get through. The language was beautiful, and the research seemed well-done, but I just didn't like it overall that much. I don't know many teens who would read it either; the love story was there, but it was a little hard to follow because the story jumped around, and there were chapters with quite a bit of history interspersed with the chapters of the story. ( )