I enjoyed this book quite a bit. I found the story was much deeper than I anticipated going in. This wasn't just a love story and these characters weren't "broken" as many new adult books tend to be these days. These characters were facing very real life issues and dealing with the realities of racial and socioeconomic differences. Although it just gave us a peek into what they faced, it made the story that much more real. 
 I like both Lacey and Drake for the most part. He's a fairly spoiled, bored rich kid but deep down he's a caring soul. We see that when he interacts both with Lacey and with his sister. Lacey is struggling to support her ailing mother and working behind the scenes in a local theater when she's definitely talented enough to be on stage. Because of the situation with her mom, she's all but resigned herself to not reaching for her goals...it just doesn't make sense to her and I can see why. The secondary characters in the book are also quite well written. Drake's parents are they typical wealthy, detached kind but his sister turns out to be a really good kid. Lacey's best friend and her cousin look out for her and the other characters in her rough neighborhood really add to the believability of the story. Lacey and Drake have good chemistry and I enjoyed seeing their fight for what they wanted. 
 I must admit that, although I am a lover of all love, I am always a bit concerned with the insta-love connection in books. I fully understand that we only have a certain number of pages to make things happen so the instant connections have to be there. But, even with my tolerance for things to move quickly, this particular story was fast! I mean, really fast...whiplash fast. It felt like there were about 10 sentences exchanged between Drake and Lacey before the kissing began...that's just too quick for me! And, although it shouldn't irk me, or affect my enjoyment for the book, I felt like I was always questioning the depth of their attraction because of how fast it began. 
 Overall, however, this was a good read with likeable characters and a great storyline. Although some of it was a bit cliche, the way the author let us look behind the scenes and examine the real life situations of people from very different backgrounds was great. I really enjoyed the diversity in this story. It's a good quick read!