It's not often a contemporary book like THE START OF ME AND YOU comes along. It made me laugh out loud and want to gross sob (sometimes simultaneously). This book has heart. 
 While it has elements most YA contemporary books do: being cute, humorous, and fun, it also deals with grief and loss, finding oneself, and learning to move on. It makes you think about what it means to truly live. 
 The pacing is great, while it's somewhat long for its genre (near 400 pages) it never felt drawn out. When I put the book down to get something to eat or go run errands, I couldn't wait to get back to Paige's world. I'm going to be a zombie for the next few days. 
 As for romance, this might be the exact opposite of the dreaded Insta-Love, the two characters first form a tentative friendship before moving into anything else. Slow and steady, just how I like it. This developed in tandem with the storyline and character development. Paige is still learning how to be happy herself and I'm glad she learns to grow and realizes when she's truly ready to start a relationship. 
 Speaking of Paige, she's a great, easy-to-relate-to protagonist. All of the characters are well written and incredibly fleshed out. They all had their own traits and quirks and personalities, and I loved their interactions with each other. It made me want to have them all as friends. 
 Now my favorite part-this book isn't just about romance. Like I said before, it deals with so many different issues. Family and friendship play a huge role in the story and it was awesome to see the focus switch between the bond between sisters one moment and the bond between friends the next. 
 There's so much that goes into this book it's impossible to cover it all-it has so much depth. Just know it's a really great read, and I recommend it to both contemporary fans and people that might be hesitant towards the genre. You'll want to get your hands on this one come the 31st.