This book was in an overly simplistic word CUTE. It had action and passion and fuzzy moments that made it impossible to put down (literally, I read it in one go). There were so many aspects about the book that I loved, but some that stopped the book from being the stop the world right now, I need to catch my breath type. I shall attempt to elaborate. 
 + The gangs 
 I thought the whole dynamics of the book completely set it apart from other YA books. Shamefully a lot of them are mindless drivel. I loved how hard hitting it was, even if it majorly softened the reality of gangs. I think it's important that in a book there are genuine stakes, and the whole threat of having your family killed is a pretty major one. 
 + Brittany 
 She so cool! Y'know when authors have that 'perfect' protagonist who's not perfect because she has one little flaw that should endear her to us? Nah, not here. Here we have a teenager who's desperately tried to fulfill the role her family and peers had placed on her. What I actually adored (and maybe squealed with delight about) was that, by the end she practically just stuck two fingers up to the world and told them all what she thought they could do with their opinions. What's not to love? Oh and she is the best big sister ever 
 + The epic friends 
 Not going to go into to much detail but let's have a shout out to Paco, Shelley, Sierra, Doug and Isabel. No matter what cost it had to them, they were there for Britz and Alex. They made the book special. 
 + Shelley 
 When you realise why she was angry. Oh. My heart broke and healed and then I totally high fived her in my head. 
 Now onto what I hate to mention: 
 - the gangs 
 Contradictory you say? Well, I loved the concept, but didn't love the cop out. For a vicious gang setting, personally I was missing the fear element. They weren't anywhere near as threatening and that made the book predictable. 
 - I wasn't really that emotionally moved 
 I felt that a lot of really sad stuff was not explored and described enough. In all honesty, I wanted this book to make me cry and it had plenty of opportunities, yet it fell through (Paco Paco Paco Paco). That was dissapointing. 
 All in all though, I really did like the book and despite being predictable still made me adore the characters and want the best for them.