What to say about this book. The only reason I can't rate it a 5 is because I don't like open endings and feel like I was left hanging. maybe there will be a book 2? I really hope there is a book 2 because I think there is more to Honor and Rusty's story that needs to be told.
Anyway this book was both heartbreaking, funny, and full of hope all at the same time. Honor gets a letter from her brother who died in Iraq after she received the news of his death. She can't open the letter until after his funeral at which she sees the boy who used to be her brother's best friend, Rusty.
She finally opens the letter and now sets off on her own adventure in her brother's 67 Impala (which is totally awesome by itself) to fulfill what she thinks is his last request. She figures this is something that she needs to do for him and decides to leave without telling anyone. Except when she goes to leave Rusty shows up still drunk from the night before and won't let her go by herself. So he hopes in and passes out drunk.
During her journey she starts to grasp that perhaps things aren't always what they seem. She also starts learning to deal with her loss rather than running away from it. She lost her brother, the person she felt closest to, and the person who always took care of her. Now she's on this adventure with Rusty who can be nice one minute and totally cruel the next. She must learn that she will have to be the one to take care of herself from now on. The one person she loved most in the world is now gone and she doesn't know what to do without him.
They both must find a way to cope with what they both lost. Afterall even if she thought Rusty and Finn were no longer friends, Finn was a part of Rusty's life and he too is grieving for a someone that was like a brother to him, even if it wasn't by blood. During the trip we get to see how Honor deals with her grief. Sometimes she laughs, other times she cries, and other times she is angry. Everything a person in grief has a right to feel. But the journey was never truly about Finn. It's about Honor and finally dealing with loss of her brother and learning to move on with life without him by taking care of herself and doing what's right for her.
I loved Rusty. The way you never truly knew what was going through his mind the entire trip. In the end even though I was glad Honor finally succeeds at her goal I felt that there was no true ending with her and Rusty. Things left open and undone in my opinion with the 2 of them. I also thought perhaps if we got some things form Rusty's POV it would have helped to understand him more as well. I as a reader am not one that enjoys open endings left to my own interpertation. I liked closed ending..show me 4 years from now and that the characters are happy and together. I hope that maybe there will be a 2nd book in the future with Honor and Rusty and that he does find his way back to her. I think there is so much to their story and I for one want to read more of it.
I was glad that in the end that Honor finally felt at peace with what happened and got to say the things she always wanted. This book was an emotional journey and I enjoyed every single step of it, from the beginning, to the end, and everywhere in between. The book was full of hope in my opinion. Even though it dealt with loss it was full of hope for the future and that living/moving on is what you do to truly honor the person you lost
Anyway this book was both heartbreaking, funny, and full of hope all at the same time. Honor gets a letter from her brother who died in Iraq after she received the news of his death. She can't open the letter until after his funeral at which she sees the boy who used to be her brother's best friend, Rusty.
She finally opens the letter and now sets off on her own adventure in her brother's 67 Impala (which is totally awesome by itself) to fulfill what she thinks is his last request. She figures this is something that she needs to do for him and decides to leave without telling anyone. Except when she goes to leave Rusty shows up still drunk from the night before and won't let her go by herself. So he hopes in and passes out drunk.
During her journey she starts to grasp that perhaps things aren't always what they seem. She also starts learning to deal with her loss rather than running away from it. She lost her brother, the person she felt closest to, and the person who always took care of her. Now she's on this adventure with Rusty who can be nice one minute and totally cruel the next. She must learn that she will have to be the one to take care of herself from now on. The one person she loved most in the world is now gone and she doesn't know what to do without him.
They both must find a way to cope with what they both lost. Afterall even if she thought Rusty and Finn were no longer friends, Finn was a part of Rusty's life and he too is grieving for a someone that was like a brother to him, even if it wasn't by blood. During the trip we get to see how Honor deals with her grief. Sometimes she laughs, other times she cries, and other times she is angry. Everything a person in grief has a right to feel. But the journey was never truly about Finn. It's about Honor and finally dealing with loss of her brother and learning to move on with life without him by taking care of herself and doing what's right for her.
I loved Rusty. The way you never truly knew what was going through his mind the entire trip. In the end even though I was glad Honor finally succeeds at her goal I felt that there was no true ending with her and Rusty. Things left open and undone in my opinion with the 2 of them. I also thought perhaps if we got some things form Rusty's POV it would have helped to understand him more as well. I as a reader am not one that enjoys open endings left to my own interpertation. I liked closed ending..show me 4 years from now and that the characters are happy and together. I hope that maybe there will be a 2nd book in the future with Honor and Rusty and that he does find his way back to her. I think there is so much to their story and I for one want to read more of it.
I was glad that in the end that Honor finally felt at peace with what happened and got to say the things she always wanted. This book was an emotional journey and I enjoyed every single step of it, from the beginning, to the end, and everywhere in between. The book was full of hope in my opinion. Even though it dealt with loss it was full of hope for the future and that living/moving on is what you do to truly honor the person you lost
