It’s been a long time since I read a book like this, that forces you to read and digest every sentence, that doesn’t allow you to read quickly and skim. It was a welcome change. This is a beautifully written book, from a surprisingly young full length debut author. It’s definitely a coming of age story, but it will appeal to people of all ages.

The book is about Cassandra, a haunted teenager undertaking her senior year at high school, however it focusses a lot on her relationships with others in similar situations to her, that all have a reason to be drifting and how they exist in the world together. The book covers a number of difficult topics, death, suicide, family losses, self harm and mental health, and how all of these impact others. Hedlund describes the main character as blurring the lines between fiction and reality and this is definitely true – Cassandra is battling herself and others both internally and externally.

The path the book takes meant I really enjoyed the secondary characters of Rachel and Lily and Owen is well written. If you’re reading for the LBGTQ+ content – stick with it – it’s there.

Hedlund shows a lot of potential with this title and I hope to see more like this in the future.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.