Review : I'll Meet You There by Heather Demetrios

Summary (from Goodreads)

Title : I'll Meet You There
Author : Heather Demetrios
Publication Date :  February 3rd 2015
Publisher : Henry Holt and co.
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If seventeen-year-old Skylar Evans were a typical Creek View girl, her future would involve a double-wide trailer, a baby on her hip, and the graveyard shift at Taco Bell. But after graduation, the only thing standing between straightedge Skylar and art school are three minimum-wage months of summer. Skylar can taste the freedom—that is, until her mother loses her job and everything starts coming apart. Torn between her dreams and the people she loves, Skylar realizes everything she’s ever worked for is on the line.

Nineteen-year-old Josh Mitchell had a different ticket out of Creek View: the Marines. But after his leg is blown off in Afghanistan, he returns home, a shell of the cocksure boy he used to be. What brings Skylar and Josh together is working at the Paradise—a quirky motel off California’s dusty Highway 99. Despite their differences, their shared isolation turns into an unexpected friendship and soon, something deeper.

Personal Thoughts

Having read all three of Heather Demetrios' books now, I can safely say that she is one of my favorite authors, no matter what genre she tackles. With every book that she produces, she continues to amaze me with her ever growing talent. I knew going into I'll Meet You There that it would be one of my all-time favorite books and boy was I right. I'm going to ahead and just say it : I'll Meet You There is Heather's best book yet and it's a book that most, if not all, of you will love just because of how gorgeously written it is.

I've said this repeatedly, but it is incredibly hard to write a review for a book you love. How do you express the beauty of the words within through your own mediocre writing style? It really is one of the hardest things to do, for me. It was easy to tell that I'll Meet You There came from deep within Heather Demetrios' soul. The beauty of it along with how raw and honest it was are what made this book such a winner. With every word that Heather wrote, she punched me right in the feels. Only on rare occasions will I sit down and attempt to continue to read the book in one seating (mostly because of school and work), but this book, damn, this book overtook my LIFE. I was so consumed in it that I was ready to not go to classes to finish it up. It's a book that I completely devoured and I don't regret spending my time with it one bit. Books featuring military characters suffering from PTSD are always a wrecking experience, but I also think it's important we have more books like this because they spread such an essential message and bring more awareness to the post-war obstacles that individuals in the military go through.

Heather Demetrios does all of these through her complex and beautifully fleshed out characters. Both Skylar and Josh were phenomenal characters that underwent a lot of growth throughout the book. I have to say while I loved both Skylar and Josh tremendously, Josh was the one that I had a more emotional reaction to. This boy broke my heart with how shattered he was and there was nothing more I wanted than for him to be able to pick up the pieces of himself. The book was also told in dual POVs and Josh's ones were short, but they were absolutely poignant. You could just tell by reading his paragraphs how utterly devastated he was and how tremendously the war had affected him. It was heartbreaking to watch him deal with everything, but I was also very pleased to see how he had a huge support in the form of Skylar. Skylar was a completely precious main character. She was sweet, down-to-earth and completely brave. She was exactly the kind of person Josh needed in his life and I loved that she was able to see through all of Josh's hard exterior and reach out to the broken man within. Her relationship with Josh has to be one of my favorite romances of all time. It was achingly beautiful and there were times when it was incredibly hard to read because you just want these characters to be happy and have an ending they wholeheartedly deserve. Skylar and Josh hinged together so perfectly. I loved that this was the kind of romance where one person forces the other to indirectly grow up. It was mature and realistic. In addition to these perfectly blemished main characters, there were also some well-developed and lovely main characters that reached out to me from the pages. I was invested in everyone's stories and it's not every author who can do that to me.

Beautifully written, with memorable characters that will become embedded in the core of you, Heather Demetrios' I'll Meet You There is one 2015's strongest YA contemporary reads. This is a book that will stay with me for the rest of my life. Do yourself a favor and read it.

Rating

Cover : 4/5
Plot : 5/5
Characters : 5/5
Writing : 5/5

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan for the e-ARC of I'll Meet You There.