You’d be surprised at what I liked and didn’t. This being a story of self discovery as well as one of her accepting things as they were… there were times I felt ‘the sit you down and tell you how are things going to be’ versus someone giving you a kernel a wisdom, I much preferred the former. If only because the second came too many times and felt like doing so was the thing to do in that moment. Consider these:“Let’s get one thing straight… You don’t get to that now, Lemon,” she said. “You don’t get to make him something different than he is.” She leaned back and shrugged. “Maybe he’s a good guy and maybe he’s not, but you don’t get to decide. He get’s to show you- that’s why you’re here. He get’s to show that’s why you’re here. You quit that game when we get on the bus.” And then she tapped her finger on the table and said, “Quit.”or “Life’s too short to walk away from people who love you. Even if that love us complicated and screwed up…it’s love. And that makes it worth finding a way to hold on to it.”There’s nothing wrong with the second one, or the first one for that matter except that something similar is said at the sweetest/saddest/ most appropriate juncture in the story every. single. time, so that instead of feeling ‘Aaw, shucks. That’s right...” I didn’t. It’s a surprise for me to find that when she’s told what to do, I felt those things could actually happen. All those other profound moments on love and loving, living then leaving: I didn’t buy them. But when told what to do and why? Those moments felt like they could have happened. So the story is…Of a girl about to repeat what her mother had done…Of a girl insisting that she isn’t her mother. …Of a girl who loves her friend(s). …Of a girl who wants so many things…Bottom line, of a girl who’s not sure where to startEventually things shift, making this one …Of a girl seeing things for what they are…Of a girl accepting finally things as isThen there’s that love story that’s sweet and new but a bit sad too. 3/5
