3.5 stars 
 "It was strange how words meant something when they came out of your mouth. Inside your head they were safe and silent, but once they were outside, people grabbed hold of them." 
 Important subject matter gets dealt with in this one!! 
 I loved how Downham indirectly addressed many aspects of victim blaming here - I say indirectly because they were there but she barely gives them any importance! 
 Which is so important, because everyone should realize - there is nothing a person can do to make it acceptable for someone else to force them into sexual situations. 
 Another important topic - honesty and justice. 
 I disagree with the blurb "but above all it's a book about love." 
 I felt more important themes here. Loyalty is tested, integrity is played with and there are bucket loads of empathy. 
 Mike would have been an interesting character without the events of this book - a young man working hard to take care of his two sisters and alcoholic mother. He is flawed and real and I enjoyed his POV. 
 "It had never crossed his mind that his body might be special too. No girl had ever taken the time to show him." 
 Ellie is just great, and I loved her even more the further on in the book I got. Girl power for the win! 
 (view spoiler)[I'd like to think she had the strength to do what she did without the romance. Brave brave brave girl. (hide spoiler)]. 
 Somehow, even though the love story was unimportant for me in the greater scheme of things, this still managed to be a pretty good love story. 
 "Was this love? Because it hurt. It was like a bit of glass stuck somewhere important - his heart or his head, and it was throbbing."