I have a love/hate relationship with Alice Hoffman books. Luckily, this one fell on the love side. It was real, and down to earth. Shelby was relatable, and so easy to root for. I couldn't have asked for anything else from this book. It was exactly what I needed. 
 There were times that this book made me extremely uncomfortable, and I was tempted to just close the book and be done with it. I could have, but I felt that it was something I needed to push through. I was supposed to be uncomfortable. That was the whole point. Life gets messy and complicated, but pushing past it and moving ahead is the ultimate goal. You can't turn away when things get tough.