1.5/5 stars

Holy shit, these two need a goddamn therapist, not a relationship. Not only are they both too immature and co-dependent on each other, but Ellis has deep-rooted trust and abandonment issues that should have been treated the year she was away from Indiana. Neither of them know how to properly communicate their feelings with each other without shutting down or outright lying. I cannot believe they just ended up together in the end. One of the primary themes in this book is that love isn't enough to save the day. And yet, despite all the shit that's gone down between them, since the arrest to Ellis unfairly blaming Easton and Sandary for rightfully sending her away because she needed to get away from the toxic, drug-fueled environment her parents created, Ellis and Easton got together and decided to travel in the end, anyway, because they couldn't live without each other. Even though I suffered through over 300+ pages of miscommunicated-filled angst, the sheer bullshitery of this ending pisses me the most.

Why are toxic relationships like these are still perpetuated in YA? It's 2022, for god's sake; why can't we leave this fuckin' bullshit behind? I was looking forward to this one, too, but I'm just so needlessly angry of how bad this main duo is. The writing was fine, the plot was non-existent but this is a character-driven story and that's ok, the side cast, especially Easton's family, were good, but the main relationship really scraps out any good quality I could give this book.