Oh boy. Why do I write shitty reviews for books I get for free? 
 Because I'm a crusader for candor, my ducklings. I do it for you. 
 This review may trigger some people, as the novel deals heavily with abuse and I'm going to be wildly candid about the subject, and the author's failings with the subject. 
 This book is a love story between the world's most well-rounded abuse victim and a really hot rich guy with no problems. It really should be two different books. A gritty, pseudo-memoir of abuse and family problems, and a quirky love story of that awkward girl and that hot guy. You know. Every New Adult book released in the last three years. 
 What we get is a fully formed...neither. Neither of these things are properly flushed out. The abuse is handled like our narrator is, in all honesty, special needs, and the romance is slapped on, strained to death for tension, and really fucking stupid. No teenage boy is resilient enough to withstand that many mixed signals. I'm sorry. They just don't. I don't pull even half the shit Emma does and all the guys I've hooked up with are still screening my calls. Sorry, what? I didn't say anything. 
 But perfect teenage boy is perfect and her savior and emotionally supportive and romantic and athletic and smart and handsome and talented at everything ever. Ever. 
 Where are you finding these guys, YA fiction? Where are they? Should I have not cut so many classes in High School? Should I have participated in more clubs instead of hooking up with my friends' boyfriends? 
 Evan is almost sexist in his portrayal. He's not a human. He's the emotional equivalent of a Victoria's Secret Ad: sexy, unattainable, edited as hell to be a completely unrealistic ideal. 
 And despite Emma's fervent rejections, he just doesn't give her any privacy. I'm an incredibly private, kind of openly obscene person. But I keep my personal shit under wraps. So his invasive personality was more of a trigger than anything else in this book. 
 I'm going to say something horrible: Emma gets snuck up on way too much for someone going through abuse. Her reflexes are way too dull. 
 There, I said it. It's awful that I know this, but honestly, the fact she doesn't sense the abuser in the room...I'm calling bullshit. Sorry. Them's the rules. The fact she's humming to herself, oblivious, while her back is completely unguarded...god I hate that I know this... it's not a realistic place to be. Years of abuse would have sharpened her senses. 
 Here's my problem, Emma is too normal. She is too smart, functional, and completely un-fucked up. Yes, she has social problems, but it's played off as an inconvenience instead of a complete emotional deficiency. She mostly comes across as a total bitch. But not in an emotionally damaged way. Her coldness seems more rooted in being spoiled, which doesn't really match up with anything in her life. Emma has no interests, only behaviors. She's boring. We have nothing to connect with her with, only our pity for her. She's too resigned to the abuse, and closed off to the rest of the world. She honestly puts up with way too much. The first time the bat gets brought out was a line that shouldn't have been crossed without consequences for Carol. 
 Also, the abuser has no depth, no humanity, nothing. So you have no motivation to have this bitch not imprisoned from chapter 1. I don't give a shit about the young, happy, impressionable kids. She was too selfless, it made her seem masochistic, or stupid. Emma should know how hard it is adjusting as a teenager, giving them a chance to move on while they're young and adaptable is the best gift she could give them. 
 The biggest middle finger is when Emma seemingly dies in the epilogue of the book. The last chapter is her strangulation, caused by to be quite honest, her own stupidity. Of course this if the first book in a trilogy (really? Was that really necessary?), but let's say this book never got a sequel. Say this is where Emma's story ended. (It's where it ends for me, because I have no fucks to give). She had the chance to leave, even stay the night with a friend, and instead gets tied up and strangled by the aunt. STUPID. Emma has no survival instincts. Katniss Everdeen would have her dead halfway to the cornucopia. This is what you have to appreciate in a character raised in abuse: they typically are tougher and self-reliant. Emma needs her friends, or her boyfriend, and can't function enough to just get out. 
 This book...makes the abuse victim as helpless as the abuser wants them to be. It's offensive how Emma literally lies there like a corpse and doesn't fight back. She plays three fucking varsity sports, push her off, show George the bruises Carol left, and take care of it that way. Jesus.