I think this may be the strangest book I've ever read... wish I could give this a 3.5 here, though. 
 The Good Stuff 
 When I started this book, I was like "Heck yes!!! This sounds amazing!! I'm so into it!!" At first, I was super confused. Mostly because I honestly hadn't read the synopsis, so I had no idea what I was reading. I thought I was going to be reading a contemporary that people were just crazy about. I mean the title makes it seem like a contemporary romance, right? No, no, no. That wasn't what I was reading at ALL. This is a story about the children who have somehow found doorways to other worlds (much like the Pevensie children from The Chronicles of Narnia ) and their stories after they return to our world. Fascinating!!! I'm so into it. I've never before considered what these children must be going through every day after they return. Much like studying abroad, they are saddened to return to normalcy. I guess I just always thought the Pevensies continued on with their lives, but apparently, they may have gone through a harder time than I could have ever imagined. 
 The characters are pretty awesome! So much diversity in such a small amount of time. It was great getting to know all of the different people and learning about the worlds that they had come to call home. I also enjoyed learning about the "directions" for the worlds (instead of North, South, East, and West, they refer to them as High-Nonsense, High-Logic, or Virtuous or Wicked. It's pretty fantastic.) So a great start! 
 But then I kept reading... 
 The Not-So-Good Stuff 
 I can't tell you how disappointed I was once I continued to delve deeper and deeper into this story. It wasn't bad! It just wasn't as good as I had hoped once I realized what I was reading. The more I read it, the less I liked it. And I honestly can't explain why! Like I said, this was the strangest book I've ever read. The characters are pretty great, and the murder mysteries (yep, there are murder mysteries too) are grisly and intense. Nancy's constant need to get back to the underworld-world that she had left was fascinating to me, as were the other characters' needs to find their doors again. But, I felt weird reading the story. Once again, I'm at a loss for words to describe why I felt so weird reading it. Maybe it's because I have always felt the pull to find my own little world. A place that I really feel comfortable and accepted. And the thought of those characters finding exactly that, and then LOSING it...it's so sad. It's a weird feeling. This book brings out a really, really strange feeling. 
 I also thought the answer to the murder mystery was a little easy to figure out. I liked that it turned out the way it did, as I think it made for an interesting character insight. But I don't think it was a hard one to figure out. 
 Overall 
 This was a good read! The story is probably the strangest that I've ever come across, but I think that's something in its favor. I think that may be a positive. The weirdness I felt when reading, though, sort of dropped my level of enjoyment. But it's a short read and I really think that you (whoever you may be, kind reader) should definitely check it out. Maybe read it and let me know if you got a weird feeling, too! I'd love to discuss! I'm also interested to see what McGuire brings for the next book in the Wayward Children series. Should be interesting!