With Rogerson, Catlin can be anybody, not just the second-rate shadow of her older sister, Cass. She falls in love with him, but soon, Rogerson shows his true nature. Caught in a trap that is baited with love and need, Caitlin must frantically manage her every action to avoid being hit by the hands that once seemed so gentle. All around her are women who care - best friends, mother, sister, mentor - but shame keeps her from confiding in any of them, especially Cass, her brilliant older sister, whose own flight from home had seemed to point the way. 
 Sarah Dessen has created an extremely compelling story here. Unfortunately, for me, I feel that this novel had several loose ends for me to feel wholly satisfied. Catlin is an extremely relatable character. She's a girl who has always lived in her sister's shadows and when her sister runs away from home on her own 16th birthday, she finds herself at a loss. 
 Her parents are, for all intents and purposes, ordinary and very normal parents. Her mother falls apart at Cass' disappearing act while her father tries to hold it together. I suppose in a way, this contributed to Catlin feeling like she was unable to confide in them when Rogerson started abusing her. 
 I think Sarah Dessen paints a very realistic portrayal of an abusive relationship here. Rogerson is, at first, a likeable character. Sure, he does drugs, doesn't go to school and gets beaten up by his own father, but he's nice and he's smart and somehow, you don't get the sense that he would turn out the way he did. Then he starts being a bad influence on Catlin, he introduces her to questionable influences and when Catlin starts saying how she always has to end her conversations just so Rogerson won't get annoyed, we start to see the signs. When Rogerson first hits Catlin, it's fast, the action in itself is something completely unexpected. I think readers will be stunned, just like Catlin was. 
 While I personally can't understand why Catlin, or any girl for that matter, would allow herself to remain in an abusive relationship, I appreciate Dessen trying to bring understanding to this difficult topic. What I didn't like though was the ending. It was completely unjustified to me. Rogerson beats Catlin to the point that she is, at any one point, covered in bruises that are in various stages of healing, is actually caught in the act of beating her, and he ends up with just (view spoiler)[jailtime on the weekends and "tons of" community service? (hide spoiler)] This is something I cannot reconcile with. (view spoiler)[He actually got her hooked on drugs, for which she needed to be admitted into a care facility for. Are you telling me that this is not in fact, illegal? And he gets only community service and jail on the weekends?? (hide spoiler)] 
 Still, it was a good read, just not as great as her other works. :D I'd recommend it to girls of all ages, sort of as an example of how bad relationships can be. 2.5 stars from me.