I was sadly underwhelmed by this book.. 
 It's my first Sarah Dessen book and maybe I went in expecting a bit too much since everyone has such good things about her books. 
 So I liked Owen quite a lot, because I live by the same policy. My husband will tell you that it's not always a good thing! But I often hate how other people never say what they mean, I used to think that everyone was honest like I was and when I found out people lied I really struggled to get over it. 
 I loved his outlook, his management of his anger and his complete openness of who he is. Unabashed. 
 Needless to say, I was not a huge fan of Annabel. Not my type of person. 
 Sophie sounded heinous, and it said a lot about Annabel that she stuck around for so long. Standing by Sophie's side as she broke people down. Tsk. She definitely added to the story though. 
 I loved the family aspect of the book, seeing Annabels sisters grow and the family heal a bit. The parents need to open their eyes a little though... I feel bad saying that but they seem to be missing a lot of things they shouldn't :/ 
 The sisters relationship is really complicated, and I felt it could have been developed more. 
 I also thought there were some major things that happened in this book, the thing that almost happened to Annabel especially - and she sort of just went on with life as if nothing happened. I understand sometimes family wouldn't notice and that's a true tragedy - that the people that know you best and should be first up to protect you don't see that you're hurting - but I still feel like she didn't really show any outward signs of the trauma. Even at the end - the act of telling people was still a nigger deal than the thing itself. Like once she told people it would kind of go away. Which seemed a bit unrealistic to me personally, even though I am sure it's possible - everyone has their own way of dealing with things (or not.) 
 So it had a good message - or messages rather, about being honest and telling the truth even when it isn't pretty. But I didn't really feel connected to the characters, so the message didn't have the same impact that it could have had. 
 It just felt underplayed. Which is better than being overplayed I guess. 
 A good ending though!