The finely drawn characters capture readers’ attention in this debut.Īutumn and Phineas, nicknamed Finny, were born a week apart their mothers are still best friends. However, die-hard romance aficionados may be able to overlook the boilerplate plotting and simply lose themselves in Mouse and Rider’s smoldering glances and steamy kisses.Ī mainstream romance that covers well-trod territory. Although the intensity between Mouse and Rider is palpably sizzling, the all-too-conventional trope of the quiet girl and the bad boy is played out in classic formula fashion, sinking in its own clichés. When Mouse enrolls in high school for her senior year, she is reunited with Rider, and though they've gone in opposite directions, their mutual past-and their blazing chemistry-pulls them together. Rider, however, is still in foster care and lives a more dangerous life on the wrong side of the tracks.

When the novel opens, four years have passed, and Mouse has been adopted by Carlos and Rosa Rivas, wealthy physicians, who have dedicated themselves to helping her heal from past trauma and have home-schooled her. When the violence in the foster home came to a head, 13-year-old Mouse and Rider were removed from it and ultimately separated. The white girl relied on biracial Latino/white Rider, another ward in the home, to keep her safe and serve as her protector. Mallory-dubbed Mouse due to her selective mutism-grew up in a foster home with two abusive addicts. After surviving a horrific foster home together, a girl is reunited with the boy who always sought to protect her.

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