I’ll Meet You There by Heather Demetrios
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
Received: Publisher
Publication Date: February 3rd 2015
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)
Point of View: 1st Person & Alternative
Recommended Age: 13+
Genres & Themes: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance, Military, Disability, Family, Friendship, Real Life Matters
BLURB:
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.
REVIEW:
It gave me hope: if you could make a beautiful piece of art from discarded newspapers and old matchbooks, then it meant that everything had potential. And maybe people were like collages—no matter how broken or useless we felt, we were an essential part of the whole. We mattered.
How I love this quote…
Unlike what I first thought, this wasn’t the kind of read that will take you boxes and boxes of Kleenex to get through. But then again, I didn’t cry while reading The Fault in Our Stars so, perhaps – perhaps – it is just me that has a heart made of stone or the illusion of it, when picking a book full of drama up. But I was actually surprised by the lack of necessity to shed a tear; I was expecting this story to transform me into a helpless cry-baby creature – because MILITARY. There’s something about this subject that makes me feel so sad and melancholic. I can’t even describe you the wreck that I was after finishing Dear John. I loved it but nevermore. Nevermore. That’s why I couldn’t bring myself to buy a physical copy of it… I don’t even know how I survived the movie.
Well, I unconsciously drifted off topic (this book) so let’s slowly return to I’ll Meet You There. It was clear, after reading the author’s note, at the end of the story, that she did a throughout, or so, research on life after war, physiological war damages on human beings, how war can change a person, and so on. And there were buckets of information but, since Josh rarely talked about his time at war and kept all painful and rough memories secluded, I couldn’t envision the schedule he followed daily back in Afghanistan. He couldn’t have just… fought non-stop during the day (or night?). Maybe this is me getting too deep into the subject, something the author’s didn’t plan on doing, but I’m quite curious. I guess I’ll have to make a little research or read one of the books she recommended.
The characterization – even for the less important characters – was splendid! What frustrated me though was seeing how Josh let himself appear as a player and selfish person when, obviously, his chapters showed us a part of him that was completely different! And he knew what people thought of him and didn’t even care. He only cared about Skylar’s opinion and, even then, he messed up quite a few times with her. The ending is easy to predict, because YA + contemporary romance (you know how it goes), but what I liked was that both characters focused on themselves as human beings and what they wanted, needed, and didn’t skip steps. Slow-burn and angst in abundance!
If you enjoy realistic fiction books dealing with real life problems and powerful themes, such as forgiveness, acceptance, family, friendship and what it truly means to love someone, then don’t hesitate to grab a copy of this novel!
Hit or Miss Books 
I’M DYING TO READ THIS ONE. It just sounds like a powerful read that I would enjoy and constantly think about. And you mentioned it has great characterisation — how I love the sound of that!
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I’m glad this was a great read even if it wasn’t as moving as you were hoping or at least, thought it would be. I tend to cry at everything so I would imagine I would need a box of Kleenex for this one. 😛
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Great review. This book is on my TBR list. Hopefully I’ll get to it soon.
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I always shed a tear when something contains a military subject, I’m not really sure why other than it is a very hard life to live. I’m still undecided about this book though. Maybe if I stumble upon a copy I’ll get into it but for now, it’s not on the top of my TBR
PS I’ve tagged you for the Ultimate Book Tag. If you have the time it would be great to see your answers to the questions; if not (or you have already completed it), I completely understand!
Happy reading!
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I haven’t read a single bad review about this novel. Everybody seems to love it, so I think I will most likely buy my own copy and see what I think of it myself 🙂 Fantastic review, Lola
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Oh so glad you liked this Lola. This book is so precious to me because Skylar’s life and mine is kind of similar. And really, I just love the story. ❤ Lovely review.
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On point with that rating and review. I particularly liked the characters and, even though they were rather crumpled around the edges, it wasn’t written so that was over-dramatic. More like, sh*t happens, let’s make our lives better.
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I’m so happy you loved this one Lola. If you hadn’t my heart may have broken open. I’ll Meet You There impacted me on so many levels. I completely loved Josh and Sky and their individual stories had me feeling so much. And don’t get me started on Josh’s chapters. While relatively simple they packed a punch. Lovely review.
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IMYT is going down as one of my favorite books of this year. I thoroughly enjoyed the writing, the characters, everything really. I cried more than a couple of times during Josh’s chapters because they were just so . . . raw lol. Glad you enjoyed it girl!
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I’ve been procrastinating writing my review for this one for a while because I didn’t know what to write, but your review literally took the words out of my mouth Lola. I guess with all the 5-star review saying how emotional it was I was just expecting a bit…more, you know? Thanks for sharing and, as always, fabulous review! ♥
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This book was so amazing. I felt the author did a very realistic job of portraying Josh’s PTSD. I could tell even before reading the author’s note that a lot of research must have gone into the book. It really paid off!
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I thought this was an amazing book, the military aspect was really unique you know? I’m glad you pointed that out in your review. Even though you didn’t completely love the book, I’m happy you liked it for the most part – beautiful review.
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Oh no, books about war are always troublesome for me to read. I get emotional and I don’t know why… I don’t approve of the idea of war in general but I do understand why some people go and do it. I think this is going to be a sad book for me. As for The Fault in Our Stars – FINALLY someone like me who didn’t shed a tear. (But that might be more to do with me being unimpressed with the book, actually.)
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I have this book on my shelves and I CANNOT WAIT to pick it up because, as you put it, MILITARY!!!
And I’m pretty much a crying baby when it comes to this kind of books, so I will definitely need boxes and boxes of tissues 😛
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