Debut author Katie Cotugno's powerful love story effectively alternates "Before" and "After" chapters. She doesn't play her entire hand immediately, always managing to reveal new information that seamlessly ties into the story's crux when the time is right.
Reena Montero, now 19, had finally gotten used to life without Sawyer LeGrande, when he returns to their Florida hometown after a three-year disappearance. In his absence, Reena gave birth and raised their daughter, Hannah, and has rebounded with a new boyfriend, Aaron. But Sawyer's reappearance revives feelings Reena had buried and introduces confusion as to what's best for herself and her daughter. The "Before" chapters offer readers the chance to see why Reena fell in love with Sawyer, even when a tragedy threatens to divide them. Reena, who narrates, was preparing to graduate early to major in travel writing at Northwestern, neatly playing into the book's overarching themes of belonging. The wrenching "After" sequence follows Reena as she struggles to forgive the boy she once thought was so special and mature that he must've "already lived a thousand different lives." Cotugno crafts many touching moments between these young parents and their daughter.
Even with an unexpected pregnancy, the novel avoids preachy territory. Cortugno does not dismiss the struggles; instead, the once naïve Reena takes charge, grows up and makes mistakes. Readers will want more from this fresh new voice. --Adam Silvera, reviewer and children's bookseller