I'm so glad I randomly found this book in a Savers because I loved it! Maybe it's just because I'm really into 80s fashion/music right now, but I loved all the fashion and music mentioned in the book. I really fell in love with the characters, too, especially the main friend group (I love James and Becky sm!!! Especially James, I want to be his friend!). They really felt like real teenagers to me. I loved the complicated brother relationship between Michael and Connor and how it evolved.

Also, I absolutely loved how the book was told in little vignettes! I saw on some reviews that some people didn't like that, but for me this format really kept my attention and kept the book focused on the important details. It made me realize that I want to write my books in vignettes like this. Some people also complained about the lack of quotation marks, but I didn't mind. I feel that it lent to the atmosphere of the book. This book definitely succeeds at showing teens "coming of age" in a realistic and bittersweet way.

My only critiques would be that I honestly didn't feel the chemistry between Michael and Gabriel and felt really meh about Gabriel's character--I feel he was underdeveloped. Also, the fact that he was 18 and Michael was 16 was kinda weird? In real life I don't think it would be that bad because he'd just turned 18, but in fiction the author purposefully made that choice, which feels... odd.

I know those seem like big complaints, but I'm still rating it 4 stars because I loved everything else about this book so much. Overall, I feel like the book is an underrated gem and I recommend it.

*spoiler ahead* Tbh I kind of wished Gabriel hadn't showed back up at the end. That would have been a more interesting ending imo.

Hauntingly inspiring!

Maybe a bit too contemporary for my taste. It spent a lot of paragraphs peppering in tons of exposition and reflecting on the character’s past when I would’ve rather seen more concerning the present. The amount of subject-changes during the chapters kept making me think I was skipping a page because there was little transition in between. Over all, it was a bit hard to follow. I liked the story the author told, but everything else got in the way for me. I’m sure other people would love this type of writing, especially if you like to go back and analyze. 
FYI: It’s one of those books that doesn’t use quotation marks.