6 stars!!! 
 I don't know how she does it. Each time I pick up a new book by Mia Sheridan, it surpasses any expectations I have for it, and let me tell you, that bar is set high. Kyland met and exceeded every hope I had for this Appalachian story of poverty, love, and the search for "that thing" that give us purpose. 
 Tenleigh Falyn and Kyland Barrett both grew up in Dennville, Kentucky not far from each other but both caught up in their own struggle to get out. From the run down trailers and garbage strewn yards to the lack of job opportunities outside the mine, Dennville is one of those places that screams poverty and Tenleigh and Kyland both had first hand experience going hungry, being cold, and struggling to get by. 
 Sometimes my life felt so small. And I had to wonder why those of us who were given small lives, still had to feel pain so big. It hardly seemed fair. 
 But there was one shining light in their struggles -- a scholarship opportunity for one student. Full ride, anywhere in the country. A free ticket out of Dennville. What neither counted on was getting to know the competition. 
 "Even for people like us -- there's always someone who's hungrier. And hunger, well, it comes in different forms." 
 Tenleigh is a character who looks beyond her immediate circumstances and dreams. She knows she doesn't want to stay in Dennville. Her childhood was not easy by any stretch, but she never lost sight of her goals. But she also worried about those around her. Helping her sister, watching out for her mother, her goals were all based on making things better for everyone around her. 
 Kyland also focused so hard on his endgame that he didn't see anything else. Until he saw Tenleigh, and then, though he knew he still had to get out of town, he wasn't sure how to accomplish it any longer. 
 And together? I loved these two. As their relationship developed (she having sworn off men, and he being very friendly with the ladies), it was fun to watch their reactions, their feelings, and the way those two things changed the more they got to know the other. 
 But nothing is perfect, and the implications of the scholarship looming over their heads cast a shadow over any sweetness that might have developed between them. That darn scholarship! 
 I read this with the scholarship in the back of my mind until the scene where it is awarded. Even as it was happening, I was both happy and crushed. Because only one could win it, and I wasn't sure how that one point would change things. And I couldn't have imagined the way things would play out either. Epic -- as I was cheering for one, my heart was breaking for both (and for a variety of reasons as it would play out). 
 This was such a fantastic, emotional story. As only Mia Sheridan can do, these characters are so different from any other archetype, or other characters I've read before. While I was reading, I just kept thinking that while I have never been to Appalachia, have never lived in abject poverty, and was reading fictional characters, everything in Kyland felt so relatable that I couldn't help but feel what the characters were feeling. While we are still early in the year, this is one of those reads that will stick with me and will be at the top of my favorites list for longer than just the year. 
 I was gifted a copy in exchange for an honest review.