Synopsis
As a military brat, Eliana Davis is no stranger to moving from place to place. However, moving in the middle of her sophomore year to the small Oregon town where her parents grew up is something she never expected. Knowing she will only be there for a year, she is torn between making new friends or keeping to herself. Will she listen to her heart or keep flying solo?
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My Review
I’d had this on my kindle for two months, and this morning, after trying to decide which book to next read, I looked up the synopsis and decided that THIS book was definitely worth a read.
The synopsis kind of gives off the wrong impression of the book in my opinion. As part of a Military family, Eliana has lived all over the world, following her dad to wherever he is based, but although they move a lot, she is very close to her parents, especially her mother.
The book starts off with the family living in California and Eliana’s parents telling her that her dad has been deplored overseas for a year so her and her mum are moving back to her parent’s childhood town, Myrtle Creek in Oregon, to live with her mums parents. As you can see, if doesn’t bode well at all with Eliana as she loves Cali and doesn’t want to be uprooted yet again and moved away.
Anyway she and her mum moved in with her grandparents. Her grandma seems off with her but her granddad welcomes her with open arms, and it was so nice to see her relationship with him blossom over the course of the book.
Deciding that because it’s only a year, she won’t grow close to anyone or let anyone see the real her, because what is the point if she’s going to be moving away in a year? I could see her point in thinking this, as it must be hard to keep moving around, especially when you keep leaving the friends you have made and have to make new ones everywhere you go. It must get depressing repeating this scenario all the time.
But what she didn’t plan on was that she would make new friends, have an enemy, have a love interest and over the course of the months fall in love with Myrtle Creek. As her granddad said “Home is where you hang your hat.”
Casey and Lucas were wonderful characters to read about. Casey, although one of the populars at the school befriended Eliana and their friendship was so touching and nice to read about. Casey wasn’t your usual stuck-up popular and over the course, you see Casey’s true colours shine through and that was lovely to read.
Lucas – Eliana’s love interest. When they first meet and become friends, Eliana did annoy me when she kept going to him “just friends” but the heart wants, what the heart wants, and their relationship was lovely to read. At points it did infuriate me, mostly on Eliana’s part as Lucas just wanted to help, but all relationships are like that, so it was a good representation of a teenage affair.
Eliana, over the course of the book, kept her ‘real’ self away from everyone apart from her mother and grandparents. She has always loved to dance and she loves to run, so when she stumbles upon a secret location she can relax at, that’s when she can show her true self.
There is so much more going on in the book and I loved the way it was written. All the little dates that Lucas took Eliana on, the meeting of parents and grandparents in Eliana’s case, prom and the talent show. I couldn’t put the book down and as I’ve said, I started it this morning and finished about an hour ago.
If you’re looking for a fun, heart-warming read about friendship, love and finally being your true self then this is definitely the book for you. More importantly, the sequel ‘DUO’ is out soon, after the release date was pushed back, so we get to read more Eliana, Casey and Lucas!
Z. Elizabeth 