There was some lovely writing in this book, and I appreciated seeing a bisexual on the page. But ultimately there seemed to be too much going on, especially when the book really only covers fourteen days of Willa's life. And her friends' lives.
The book captures that end-of-school feeling really well. Teachers are still throwing work at the students, but no one really cares enough to do much of it. Everyone is ready (or almost everyone) to take that next step and move out into the world. The sense of breaking free oozes from every page.
And the sense of loss that comes at the end of an era. Friendships changing with the realization that people aren't going to be just around the corner from each other next year, or even next week. Relationships falling apart for the same reason.
There was a lot to like - great parents (Willa's, not Teddy's), a positive and realistic attitude toward sex - but I just didn't connect with the main character. She seems not exactly content to drift, but accepting of the fact that's what she's doing. And even when she makes a decision to take a step toward discovering who she is, it isn't all that decisive.
Shame... There's a lot of potential here.
But don't just take my word for it. Here's the blurb:
Two-weeks until Willa Wohlbreuk graduates.
Fourteen-days left for exams and senior pranks.
Three hundred-thirty-six-hours for friendships to unravel and to fall in and out of love..
Twenty thousand-one-hundred-sixty-minutes left to go wild and grow up.
And one million two-hundred-nine-thousand-six-hundred-seconds to figure out what freedom really means.
Willa faces her best friend Teddy—Theo now—as he defies his parents and reveals something about himself she never expected. Joss appears with blue hair and stirs things up. And Grady, finally, after four years, suddenly knows Willa’s name. Meanwhile, the undercurrent of uncertainty about the future dredges up the possibility that Willa isn’t even sure who she is. All she knows is life is about to change, epically
Only two weeks? That's quite a short time frame. Too bad the MC is indecisive. It seems like in that amount of time she should be doing more than drifting.
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