This title is misleading. If you are looking for a title that lets you know a little bit about the book then this isn't the one you want. Also, if you don't want to read a cheesy romance then this isn't for you either. But if you enjoy teen romance and learning who you are as a person, then you will enjoy this book.
Darcy Wells is a seventeen-year-old girl who lives in LA, and she has never known her father. She has one close friend, Marisol Robles, and she loves books. She has books memorized almost line for line, and she escapes through her books when life gets to be too much for her. However, Darcy has a secret that she is hiding, and the secret is that her mom is a hoarder. Since Darcy doesn't have a father, she and her mother rely on her mother's income, but at times, her mother's shopping prevents Darcy from paying for necessities, like rent, groceries, and maintenance for their apartment. Darcy is counting down the days until she turns eighteen and Child Protective Services cannot take her away from her mother. However, prior to her eighteenth birthday, her grandma has been helping out financially, and her grandmother tells Darcy that once Darcy is eighteen if she chooses to continue living with her mother then the money will be cut off. Darcy decides to stay with her mom, but her part time job at a bookstore doesn't cover everything that she needs. So, Darcy, with the help of Marisol, starts selling some of her mother's hoarded makeup online to make up for the income that she loses from her grandmother.
In addition to dealing with her mom, Darcy meets Ashton. Ashton graduated from her high school, and she never really knew him, but he starts showing up at her work each day during his break. Ashton had a goal to get into the military, but an automobile accident right before he graduated caused him to lose full mobility in one leg, and the recurring headaches from the accident make it so he can't fly anymore, which was his dream. As Darcy starts to spend more time with Ashton, she gets to know him, and they develop a relationship, but she still doesn't let him fully in to her life. She doesn't want Ashton to know about her mother or the problems that she faces with a hoarder as a mom.
Because I am a sucker for Young Adult romance, I fell in love with this one pretty quickly. I love Darcy because she was me when I was in high school. I still would much rather read a book than face reality, and a lot of times, I try to make books my reality. It's much easier for me to read and escape into a fictional world than to look someone in the eye and tell them about my personal struggles.
I also love Asher because he wasn't the typical teenage boy that I expected at first. He accepted Darcy from the beginning for who she was, and surprisingly, he didn't leave when he learned the truth about her mother. In addition, he was open and honest with her about who he was, and he never hid anything from her. It was refreshing to see a boyfriend who wasn't trying to be the "perfect boyfriend".
The only drawback to the story was that I was a little surprised at how quickly Ashton and Darcy started dating. I thought for sure that their relationship wouldn't really begin until closer to the end of the book, but instead, they actually started dating about halfway. The real conflict was Darcy coming to terms with her mother's hoarding and also learning who she really was as a person. I loved the end of the book, but I won't ruin it for you here. Let's just say it ends happily, and there is hope for Darcy to continue to grow and become the person she wants to be.
I would definitely recommend this for lovers of young adult romance and coming of age stories. It's one that I feel the female readers in my class would enjoy, but I know that there are a few males in there who would enjoy it as well. It will be one that is on my list of recommendations for all of my classes from now on.
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