Lately I've been breaking all of my rules. I've dipped my toe into YA contemporary fiction. I'm one part horrified, one part curious, and on part irritated. YA Fiction can be so shallow. And so cheesy. And so ridiculous. And I think I'll go back to my exciting adventure books that have grit and gore in them, thank you very much. 
 But YA contemporary doesn't have to be shallow, and cheesy (well, maybe it does have to be cheesy, but YA fantasy and science fiction and adventure have that too. I'll just have to bash my head against buckets to forget those bits.) 
 This book was something that had more to the surface than you might think at first glance. At first glance, it looks very typical. Two misfits, find *drum roll* Twu Love 
 This book had an added element that looked into abusive situations. I think it was portrayed quite realistically. There's something sobering about knowing that there are situations that the woman won't leave. It can be abusive, and dangerous for her and her kids, and yet she'll stick around. Why? Why does that happen? I don't know. I'm not sure Eleanor's mom knows why she sticks around either, but she has her reasons. Watching Eleanor's family with their struggles was definitely a highlight for me in this book. 
 The other thing that this book does differently, and that I appreciated, was the gradual relationship that happened between Eleanor and Park. Everything happened slowly, as they actually kind of got to know one another. The fact that it happened over reading comic books is an added bonuses. Though, the fact that Eleanor dissed Batman may cause me to shave off a star ;) 
 The main thing that I didn't like this book was how ridiculously cheesy it was. Some of the lines were pretty, well, think the balcony scene in Romeo and Juliet. 
 Also, they were a bit too physical for my taste, but I can deal with that. 
 All in all, this wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. I liked it. 
 Red Flags: Swearing, innuendo, hinted sexual abuse, two characters sleep together.