Wow. You can't tell who's good and who's bad in this one. Edgy, romantic and beautifully told. ( )

I find it hard to review this book because the main character goes through so many things in her life that I can't understand unless I experienced them. The main plot of student-teacher relationship is just a coping mechanism for all that happens to Jenna.
An unexpected story that taught me a lot.

“They call it the drowning instinct. It's when drowning doesn't look like drowning. In real life, if the water's very cold, a person can't help but gasp. It's reflex. The thing is as soon as water hits your lungs, your throat closes off, even it the water's warm. Your body's trying to protect itself, and the reality is that a lot more people suffocate than truly drown. Regardless, to people on land, especially when you're really close to the end, you don't look like you're in trouble. You don't scream, but that's because you can't, and you don't wave your arms either or expend a lot of energy flailing. You're just there. So people don't notice that you're drowning. That's me. I think I've been drowning all this time and doing it so quietly, even I didn't know it.” ( )

Okay...how do I review this book? First off, this was one of those reads that felt like the plot was never going to be revealed. I kept waiting and waiting for the "point" of the story to be unveiled. Unfortunately, it happened more towards the end. But once it did, it was hard to put down.

There was one major issue I had with this story. The relationship. It was not a relationship that I was at all comfortable with reading. I wasn't sure how the author was going to make sense of it within the context of the story, especially with it being a young adult novel. But after reading the acknowledgment at the end, I questioned whether or not I was focusing on the right thing.

It was a story of sacrifice, of finding oneself, of hope, of a world that isn't just black and white, a story of good people making some pretty damn dumb decisions, a story of "love" and its many forms. The content of the material is iffy for a young adult audience IMO. But overall, after finishing the book and thinking below the surface of the story, I would probably give it a 3.5 rating instead of 3. ( )

I don't even have the words for this one, but I'll try. Long story short: I loved it. There were so many twists and so much stress that there were times I didn't want to put it down.

Finally a student-teacher relationship that is done well, in my opinion. I'm so tired of things either being laughably romantic/sexual or written just to show how evil this sort of situation is. Rather than painting people are simply black and white we are left to form our own opinions and asked to really stop and think about things. But this wasn't even the only focus of the story, poor Jenna has so much shit going on that all I can say is read it and see for yourself.

Personally I was rooting for the relationship, even in the end. I believe that there was love there despite anything else that might've been going on. Mr. Anderson was my favorite character, though I know that Jenna wasn't the most reliable narrator and that I could be missing some details here. Either way I'd definitely recommend it. Just be warned, tragedies are always my favorites. ( )

I love a good mind f and this one provided just that! The Author left us on the edge of our seats trying to piece together what happened in the past and what would happen in the future.


The main character is damaged and emotionally broken. She alters the truth and hides secrets about the past. When she meets Mr. Anderson he shows her the attention she seeks. He protects her and provides a safe place for her. She opens up to him and they slowly form a more intimate relationship. Yes it is taboo... Yes it is illegal, but somehow and someway it worked for me.


This story is about a tormented soul trying to forget and live a life she can tolerate. My heart hurt for Jenna. She had deep set issues and her family was a train wreck. Her self confidence was gone and she was addicted to cutting.

Mr. Anderson was sneaky and kind. He was a book boyfriend for sure.

The things that I didn't like about this book were... At times the mind f was bit confusing and I felt some of my questions were left unanswered. Overall though I enjoyed it and would recommend it to all readers....

*The sexual scenes are not descriptive. They often cut out and give no details.* ( )