I think that I let the hype of this book heighten my expectations, which turned out to have a negative impact on my overall thoughts. Yes, the book was good. There's no denying that. BUT...I didn't feel like it was "Book of the Year 2014" good. Maybe I was expecting more, I'm not sure, but I did enjoy it nonetheless. 
 You're probably wondering why I gave an enjoyable book a 4 stars instead of a 5. The story and characters were really enthralling, but there was something that overshadowed that. While this book was enjoyable, I found it to be tiresome to read. The formatting was meant to be poetic and meaningful, but sometimes I found it to be a chore. I get what Lockhart was trying to accomplish, but I found it somewhat annoying and a little pretentious, honestly. 
 Overall, the ending was a shock to me. I'm glad it wasn't spoiled for me because finally finding out the truth about that summer was intense and heartbreaking.