This was just an absolutely lovely read. 
 I actually listened to the audiobook, which slowed the pace down and just gave me time to let these wonderful words seep in. 
 "The funny thing is, I sometimes think my mother loves my father more than he loves her. Does that make sense?" 
 "Yeah, I guess so. Maybe. Is love a contest?" 
 "What does that mean?" 
 "Maybe everyone loves differently. Maybe that's all that matters." 
 I just adored Ari. He is such a thoughtful, careful young man. I enjoyed the imagery in his observations and just the way he sees the world. (Okay, yes he is fictional so this is actually me tipping my hat to Saenz.) 
 "And I knew that there was something about me that Mrs. Quintana saw and loved. And even though I felt it was a beautiful thing, I also felt it was a weight. Not that she meant it to be a weight. But love was always something heavy for me. Something I had to carry." 
 He's a struggling teenager who isn't comfortable in his own skin. 
 "I have always felt terrible inside. The reasons for this keep changing." 
 "It was good to laugh. I wanted to laugh and laugh and laugh until I laughed myself into becoming someone else." 
 Dante is great. He just is who he is and that's that. I loved watching their friendship unfold! 
 The family dynamics portrayed were great - loving but imperfect and open to change. 
 "Sometimes, you do things and you do them not because you're thinking but because you're feeling. Because you're feeling too much. And you can't always control the things you do when you're feeling too much." 
 "Words could be like food - they felt like something in your mouth. They tasted like something." 
 "I came to understand that my father was a careful man. To be careful with people and with words was a rare and beautiful thing."