“Wow!!!” That’s all I can say about this book. The author Chelsea Fine has done a remarkable job with the characters Sophie & Carter. You can’t help but feel an immense amount of love and compassion for them. They overcome some many problems that are thrown their way. I cannot imagine going through the things they go through on a daily basis. You can’t help but want a happy ending for them. They pretend to not know each other at school when in reality these neighbors are best friends. There are heartbreaking moments in this story that add to the fact that these situations do happen. Anyway, I think this is a must read. If anything just to see how these teenagers deal with their problems and what happens between Sophie and Carter. ( )

Wow. This book was amazing. It’s full of hope, understanding and well, of course—love. The protagonists were really awesome. I got all teary-eyed in reading this. There’s something about them that makes me believe that we can go through all the struggles in life if we have someone to help us go through them. Someone who completes us and makes us whole.

Love.
Not the kind you see in the movies or hear about on the
radio.
The real kind.
The kind that gets beaten down and bloody, yet
perseveres.
The kind that hopes even when hope seems foolish.
The kind that forgives. The kind that believes in healing.
The kind that can sit in silence and feel renewed.
The real kind of love.
It’s rare and we have it.

I really loved the story. It's so touching and I can't just explain it right.. :) ( )

Wow. This book was amazing. It’s full of hope, understanding and well, of course—love. The protagonists were really awesome. I got all teary-eyed in reading this. There’s something about them that makes me believe that we can go through all the struggles in life if we have someone to help us go through them. Someone who completes us and makes us whole.

Love.
Not the kind you see in the movies or hear about on the
radio.
The real kind.
The kind that gets beaten down and bloody, yet
perseveres.
The kind that hopes even when hope seems foolish.
The kind that forgives. The kind that believes in healing.
The kind that can sit in silence and feel renewed.
The real kind of love.
It’s rare and we have it.

I really loved the story. It's so touching and I can't just explain it right.. :) ( )

Read the full Review at Witchmag's Boekenplank

Okay, that’s one really short story! So short it’s impossible for me to write a short summary of the beginning without major spoilers. So I decided to not write one ;) . Besides, the most important things are already said in the blurb.

First of all I won this book on Goodreads and was very surprised to open my mail and look at a real small and thin book. My first reaction was: Is this all? The blurb sounded very interesting when I applied for the giveaway, but can everything be told in so few pages? Not that I’m unhappy to win something, but I just expected more. And I don’t have something against short stories, some of my favorite stories are even shorter, but after reading it, I think it could use some more content. I got the feeling the story already ended in the beginning, way too soon.

Because it was so short I got the feeling that I only saw two days in the daily life of Sophie and Carter. First the situation is explained and then the past is brought up to explain everything. Oh and they confess their love. That’s it. That’s what happens in a nutshell. So basically nothing interesting happens. And although some of the things are terrible it doesn’t move me at all. Me, the one who usually is the first one to grab a tissue or thinks something is cute…

There are two different kinds of fonts used in this book to make it easier to know who’s speaking. That’s quite handy, some books I’ve read could have definitely used something like that! But the problem was with Sophie’s font. I didn’t like it. I hated to read it. That’s what also made me like the story less. Oh and the way they speak about love *rolls eyes*. No problem if they like each other, but to proclaim every page how good and great the other is, was a little too much.

Overall rating 2 hearts. The story didn’t captivate or move me at all. The characters stayed shallow to me, with no dept in them. They didn’t grow, they just “were”.The only reason I finished this one was because I wanted to know how it ended, and even that didn’t satisfied me or made my time worthwhile. ( )

In this short novella by Chelsea Fine, Sophie and Carter are two high school students dealing with serious problems at home while leaning on each other for support. As their high school careers are coming to a close, however, they struggle with the idea that their friendship may be deeper than either suspected.

I was amazed at how quickly Fine managed to draw me into the story and make me connect with these two characters. She is a master at snagging your attention fast and not letting it go (her “Archers of Avalon” series had me at the first paragraph). Fine also likes to alternate the narration of her stories between characters, and with Sophie and Carter she is extremely successful with this style. Changes in font help indicate the shifting points of view, with each chapter providing a first-hand look at the difficulties each teen is experiencing on a daily basis. Carter is taking care of his mentally impaired mother, both of them victims of his missing father’s abuse, while Sophie is dealing with an absentee, drug-addicted mom and raising her three younger siblings the best she can. The only relief each of them finds is at school – where they try to act as normal as possible – and on the swing on Sophie’s porch each night where they meet to discuss their day and draw strength from each other. After years of this support, however, Sophie and Carter begin to realize that friendship may no longer be enough.

This is such a difficult story to describe because it sounds so very grim, but both characters hold out so much hope for each other’s future that it brightens the narrative. While neither feels worthy of the other, their love is the foundation of each of their lives. Fine tells this story simply and in a straight-forward fashion, making it incredibly accessible to pre-teens and up. Seeing how these two cope with keeping Carter’s mother calm through her hallucinations or getting Sophie’s siblings off to school in the morning, you feel they are each other’s REAL family and that nothing will tear them apart. Now they just have to find the courage to recognize their love for themselves.

The only thing I wish was that this story was a little bit longer; I was so connected with Sophie and Carter that I hated to let them go at the end. At the same time, though, I don’t know how Fine would have been able to lengthen the story without weakening it, since brevity is also one of its strengths. The story jumps right into the middle of Sophie and Carter’s lives and provides just the right amount of information at just the right time to keep your attention riveted. Because these characters are dealing with some very serious issues, dragging the story out could have taken it to some really dark places. As it is, Fine treads lightly over this troubled ground and manages to keep the focus on the relationship instead of the tragedies that made it necessary.

With a simple narrative, engaging characters, and an emotionally satisfying conclusion Chelsea Fine’s Sophie and Carter is a powerful, moving novella about the support two teens provide each other as they struggle through their troubled lives and how that relationship is on the edge of changing into something even deeper. While the difficulties Sophie and Carter face on a daily basis are upsetting, each character has such hopes and dreams for the other that their loving optimism manages to break through the grimness and leave the reader with the feeling that they are going to be all right – as long as they have each other. ( )