IaEUR(tm)d never been more happy to be early, to get this serendipitous moment when our bodies collided. ThataEUR(tm)s how it was with us. One day we were two separate people and the next we collided, and neither of us stood a chance. 
 you know this book wonaEUR(tm)t end well from the very first page. it is there in every word, every punctuation mark: whatever relationship there was, it ended ugly. well, i am a sucker for heartbreak, especially when it comes to stories, so i was even more motivated to continue reading, but this ended up being one of the books i didnaEUR(tm)t really know what to feel about. 
 the story is about an sixteen-year-old exceptionally smart girl, madelyn, who carries on a forbidden romance with her professor, bennett, by misleading him into believing that she is actually eighteen. her whole life, madelyn has dutifully followed the path her parents have paved for her, and in fact, she is so smart that at sixteen she can attend college through a special program at her high school. thataEUR(tm)s where she meets her professor, bennett, and canaEUR(tm)t deny that he is incredibly attractive. they accidentally bump into each other outside of class, and discover that they have an undeniable connection. madelyn finds herself falling in love, but she knows if bennett knows her real age, he would never give her the time of day. so she selectively lies about her age to bennett, deliberately avoiding the topic and implying that she is actually eighteen. she believes that bennett understands her, the first person in her life who saw her differently from everyone else. 
 I just wanted someone to talk to me like you did. Someone who didn't see me as the same old bookworm, too studious, the wet-blanket sort of girl, but instead could build a whole new picture of me based on what I told him.A 
 the book is told in the form of letters from madelyn to bennett after their relationship has ended. it is what it is: a heart-wrenching ode to lost love and the power of lies to destroy a relationship. it is both a love letter and an apology. every word is a weight of foreboding, and my heart ached for madelyn as i kept reading, seeing her feel hopeful over every glance, touch, and finally seeing her joy when he confessed. because i knew it would never end well, and she would probably have dreaded that they could never work out, but maybe she had never known. there is so much pure emotion dripping from the prose that it was very hard for me not to empathise with madelyn in some way. after all, she was only sixteen, helplessly and desperately in love for the first time. and love drives people to do unthinkable things. 
 at the same time, iaEUR(tm)m conflicted because i know this book is wrong on so many levels. such romances shouldnaEUR(tm)t be encouraged. madelyn was selfish and no matter how smart she was academically, her wits deserted her when it came to her emotions. i thought it was despicable to lead bennett on like that and pose danger to his career and life, and it was in this one deed alone that i was truly reminded of madelynaEUR(tm)s age. but then again, love does drive people to do unthinkable things. you see sides of people youaEUR(tm)ve never seen before when theyaEUR(tm)re in love. 
 this book may have its faults, but it evoked emotion in me when i was reading it, and ultimately thataEUR(tm)s what i felt was its redemption. because after i thought about it, without the whole forbidden romance aspect, or the prose that is deliberately constructed to spell doom, there is not much substance in this novel at all.