4.5 Stars 
 You can call it love, or you can call it freefall. They're pretty much the same thing. 
 This book is another wow in it's beauty and uniqueness but also very taboo subject matter. 
 Maise is young girl with a troubled past but old soul. She has had to grow up way to fast and made some terrible life choices in order to feel some love and compassion from others. 
 Thanks for the abandonment issues, Dad. Fuck you very much. 
 "But this is who you are. You're a liar, and a thief, and a junkie. I don't hate you, Mom. I'm disappointed in you." 
 One of bad choices leads her to a one night stand with an older man that she can't seem to forget about. There was something about him that touched her in a way that she never thought was possible. 
 Part of falling in love with someone is actually falling in love with yourself. Realizing that you're gorgeous, you're fearless and unpredictable, you're a firecracker spitting light, entrancing a hundred faces that stare up at you with starry eyes. 
 With a bleak reality Maise quickly finds out that her one night stand is now her new teacher whom holds the key to her future. 
 Right away their attraction is at the forefront but reality is holding them back. They quickly realize that they can't fight their feelings so they risk everything. 
 "I can't hold on to you. You're like that shooting star, Just a trail of fire in my hands." 
 "Who am I to you?" I said, my voice hoarse. "Maise, or your student?" ... He touched my cheek. "Who are you?" "Your student." He shook his head. "No, You're the one teaching me." 
 And that made my heart ache, too - the thought of how much happiness lay scattered across the universe, unrealized, in fragments, waiting for the right twist of fate to bring it together. 
 We also realize that Evan also has a past. 
 "Now I know," he said, touching me again, "why I was drawn to you. We have the same darkness inside." 
 For Maise and Evan their relationship is very trying but they can't let it go. With them together there is such beauty in a world of taboo. 
 Why did everything beautiful come from pain? 
 A lot of people don't understand their relationship or commitment to one another. 
 This is what being in love feels like, Wesley. Gratitude. Gratitude that you exist in this fucked up, beautiful universe. 
 "You changed my life, Mr. Wilke." His arms tightened around me, and he whispered back, "You changed mine." 
 Even though this book has a taboo subject, Leah has an ability to create beauty in such darkness. The way this book was written encompasses the all the emotions of all the characters as well as the depth of the feeling that you can only route for them instead of being appalled by the idea of them. 
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