Alright, so I admit this one lived up to the hype. Whenever you hear people raving about a book, a small part of you tends to remain skeptical. It can't be THAT good. Well, I was wrong. It was completely and utterly THAT good. 
 Contemporary novels have never held much appeal for me. I prefer to stay a little further removed from reality, where I'm safe from the contemp "themes". You know what I mean... abuse, depression, loneliness, bullying, etc. I usually find myself feeling empty after reading something so real. And there was certainly no lack of depression in this one, either. But I was left feeling uplifted, with just a little bit of hope. 
 The characters are broken. Which just makes them brilliant. I literally screamed at the book. Luke is such a douchebag! You belong with Noah! I wanted to reach through the pages and slap Grace silly. And, of course, Echo and Noah. So steamy! This is literary foreplay! 
 And yes, I cried. Sometimes I think I've become a little desensitized to books, and their cookie-cutter characters, so it's not often that one can actually bring me to tears. 
 I stayed up WAY past my bedtime to push through to the end. Needless to say I highly recommend this one, and not just for contemp lovers. I will most definitely have to read the next one to see how it all turns out.