It took me a long time to get into this and buy into Will, but when I did, I really, really liked this story. It's about grief and death, but it's about hope and living, too. There's love and philosophy, and as much as it could come off as a kid being too smart for himself, it's not at all. It's Will pushing grief away, rather than dealing with it.

Hills has a fantastic and poetic writing style, and this book mixes it up with flashbacks and images that make up Will and his mother's story lines. There's also a hard and fast romance, and while I felt Taryn could become a manic pixie dream girl, she didn't, as proven by the end of the story. I was so pleased their relationship was able to sustain itself after all they went through. And yes, there's grief sex, which is something I'm not a fan of, but it works here and it's actually important to Will's grieving. There's a really smart line about being naked with yourself to understand yourself and your purpose.

Lots of philosophy to consider here and a lot of musing about the meaning of life and the meaning of death. It's not a fast read, despite being a thinner book, and it's one worth savoring.

This reminded me a LOT of CK Kelly Martin's I KNOW IT'S OVER with flavorings of MY BEATING TEENAGE HEART. Smart male voices that don't become too emotional but offer us enough emotion to really connect with them.

Unrelated: I have the US hardcover and think the cover is atrocious and misleading and completely devalues the power of the story inside. A girl and a guy making out in a shadowy, illustrated grave yard sure get at the depth here. Sigh.