Some spoilers..... I enjoyed this book once I got going with it. I had put it down for a while but glad I picked it back up. I loved Landon so much. He was kind, patient and so sweet, yet tough and strong in all the ways I like. There's nothing sexier than a man willing to put his life on the line for you. Lexie annoyed me with Joel but I understood she was young and first love does break you in away that nothing else ever does. Joel wasn't good her for, not because he wasn't good because in the end he was trying to change to be a better man. He obviously never had the support and love to become a man with help so he was left to figure it all out alone. His life was complicated and I felt for him but Lexi changed who she was for him for all the wrong reasons and that's why he was bad for her. He wanted to change for the better for all the right reasons. I was happy with her growth and that she was finally able to see past her grief and see the truth of what Joel had and hadn't been. The story was believable in the sense that this kind of stuff happens all the time. First Love hurts, finding yourself, figuring out what love is and isn't it's rough and painful this book depicted that all so well it took me back to being young. At first I wasn't so sure if I wanted to read this book, the synopsis looked pretty good. So I tried a sample & after the sample I was like nope! Alexandria annoyed me in that sample but it kept popping up as a good read & than it went on sale. So I ignored my first gut instinct & bought it & read it & wow am I glad I did. Don't get me wrong Alexandria (Lexi) still annoyed me at the beginning with her I'd do anything for Joel even deal drugs bullshit. But I kinda had to take myself back to my first love & high school and realize that at that age during that time we can be stupid. So I got past it & continued to read & that's when all the good stuff happened. It was a coming of age story for Lexi on discovering who she is after she gets caught dealing for Joel & getting sent away. At first she was miserable but she tried to make the best of it. While she was away she met Landon & he helped her to start to see the kind of person she is & that there was more to her than being Joel's girlfriend. She was already starting to realize the changes that had happened while she was dating him & starting to think that some were really who she is & that some were do to the environment she put herself in. This book had me irritated, laughing, falling in love & grieving. Such a good story & so glad I gave it a chance :)
