I found this book through the game (I play the Free version on my iPhone). At first I wasn’t sure about diving into the world through a new character (Emily), but I was able to really relate to her. She’s a sweet girl starting out at a new school as a high school freshman. She holds herself to really high expectations in everything that she does, from academics to her really aggressive training schedule—she’s training to be an Olympic swimmer. The pressures on her are really deeply drawn: Her dad is her coach, her sister was on her way to breaking tons of records before she died in a terrible car crash. Emily feels like she needs to live up to her sister’s reputation and in a sense, live for her sister now that she’s gone.

You might expect a story like that to feel kind of bleak, but it was actually filled with excitement. I think this in large part thanks to the fun characters. Ben Kale, Emily’s crush, is a party guy and prankster who isn’t afraid of breaking the rules. Emily’s best friend, Kimi, is super aware of popularity and has very unique ways of looking at high school, some of which include spreadsheets of how popular or dateable the guys are.

I really loved this book, particularly the ending. I cried when I played the episodes leading up to the novel (for anyone who hasn’t played the game, the last few episodes chronologically before the start of the novel show Sara’s life and the real story behind how she died) and I teared up at the end of this novel too.

I’m really looking forward to seeing what happens next for Emily in the game! It was fun to see everyone from the game in the novel, and now I’m looking forward to seeing the characters from the novel back in the game to see what happens next in their story. I don’t want to say any spoilers about the end of the book, so that’s all I’ll say.