This was one of Sarah Dessen's best books, if not her best. I don't say that lightly. 
 Sydney drew me in; she was lost and confused, always in the shadow of her brother even when he was no longer around. Unable to forgive him for what he'd done she felt like she needed to carry all the guilt alone. I wanted to help her, wanted to reach out to her, be part of this story because she desperately needed someone. She couldn't rely on her parents or even her friends who knew her brother and her history. 
 And then she transfers schools, and everything changes. She meets Layla, whose parents own a pizza shop and is drawn into her chaotic, wonderful world. The Chatham family were the best kind, close, supportive with their fair share of problems. Nobody is perfect and I love that Sarah Dessen shows this, even though the Chatham's have become a kind of safe haven for Sydney. 
 One thing that really struck me about this book was Sydney's friendship with Layla. Sydney starts to have feelings for Layla's brother, but she always tries to put her friendship first. I love that this was a story of friends and growing, rather than just a romance. The love between Sydney and Mac grew so naturally, and Sydney still made sure that she gave Layla her time. 
 Mac was a great character. This is another thing I love about Sarah Dessen, I have a whole long list by the way, she writes male love interests that no, aren't perfect, but aren't bad either. They are real, maybe they do stupid things, or maybe they are really kind, but they are also insecure or sometimes fight with their parents or are trying to sort out their lives. She creates these people who have such depth; they aren't your stereotypical hero or bad boy. 
 Sydney's mother was a whole different story. Honestly I couldn't stand her. She acted like Peyton hadn't done anything wrong, like he was the victim. She treated Sydney so bad a lot of the time just because she didn't have a hold on her own life. I got incredibly angry at this book in parts because of this woman. One thing I will say is even when towards the end Sydney thinks about her mother's feelings Sarah Dessen doesn't try to justify the mother's behaviour. She makes you think about why she might be feeling this way, but never does it take away from Sydney's experiences. 
 I had seen in reviews of ARCs that possibly the issue of fat shaming might come up. The following may contain spoilers, though not ones that should ruin the book for you. Mac was formerly (view spoiler)[the fat kid; he got sick of being treated like he was nothing and tried to change his life. This is both good and problematic at the same time, and I'll try and explain my feelings on it here. On the one hand, I see a lot of books where someone who is overweight isn't valued and either they stay that way, or lose weight to seek approval. I guess you could say that is what Mac did, he made changes to his life and he felt better for it. But on the other hand, he still had the same group of friends after losing weight. He didn't suddenly become the most popular guy in the school, still sat with the same group at lunch who he had known for a long time. I suppose more girls did show an interest in him after, but it wasn't written in a way that suggests that losing weight automatically made him better. So I don't think it was hugely problematic. I would like to read a book where there is a love interest that is overweight but this isn't made a big deal of. Usually if a character is, then it kind of becomes the focus of the book when in reality a lot of people are a little bigger and nobody even cares, it's just life. This wasn't that book though, and that's ok. I felt that Sarah Dessen wrote about the issue very, very well. A lot of teenagers who are overweight do receive criticism for it, and she never made out like that was ok at all. (hide spoiler)] 
 There were so, so many layers to this book, half of them that I haven't even been able to touch on in this review. If this is the direction Sarah will be taking in future then I embrace it. I love her previous works, but this was something a little different. It was a more complex story, still told in her signature style. 
 I would definitely recommend this book. In fact, don't be surprised if I start buying it up and forcing it upon you.