Well... wow. This book is just drenched with grief. Everyone is grieving. It's a jumbled mess of emotions and everyone reacting differently. I think if I had read this as a younger person I wouldn't have liked it, I would have fallen into the misconception that this was a story of two brothers falling in love with the same girl but this is so much more than that and Jenny Han is master of hidden subtlety. In this sequel we're introduced to Jeremiah's POV which, if you're not seeing what Han is doing, you might fall into the incorrect misconception that this is about Jeremiah. It's not. Jeremiah is given a POV for one reason only - to get insight into Conrad. I think I realized it when Jeremiah continued giving us his 'opinion' and I realized it's Han's way of showing you what Conrad is thinking without giving him a POV which I thought was fantastically done. 
 This, essentially, is a book about growing up, the ties that bind us together and the ones that will tear us apart. Han gives us an immature protagonist that literally acts her age - hormones are everywhere, tears are everywhere. On top of that Belly looses a mother figure and at the root of all this 'I like him', 'does he like me' is the fact that these 3 kids are utterly broken over the loss of Susannah. The house represents her, represents childhood and how without her there things are just a mess and it's personified in Jeremiah coming up to bat for Belly's affections. 
 Despite Jeremiah's involvement in this book this series is not - let me repeat - this series is not a love triangle in the sense that you will think because this book is truly about 2 people despite one being led to believe that it might be otherwise. This is a story of Belly and Conrad and it's very evident as Conrad's actions are what move the story forward. Jeremiah, unfortunately, is truly as spectator here and despite Belly leaving with him her heart is set. Her heart doesn't fluctuate. This is the story of how a young girl held on to her love for a boy and this is their story. Unfortunately people will get hurt along the way. 
 On the other side of the spectrum this story is barely about love, it's about grief and love one has for family and the idea of childhood. Laurel came in to bat like I'd never imagined and I quickly became her #1 fan. Not only that but Han managed to humanize their father - Art - in ways I did not expect. It would have been easy for Han to paint him bad but she didn't do that, she made him human. 
 I will be finishing this series pretty soon but based on seeing what Han set up in this one I have a clear idea of where she's going and look forward to seeing the conclusion.