Krista Reviews: Heather Demetrios's - "I'll Meet you There"

If seventeen-year-old Skylar Evans were a typical Creek View girl, her future would involve a double-wide trailer, a baby on her hip, and the graveyard shift at Taco Bell. But after graduation, the only thing standing between straightedge Skylar and art school are three minimum-wage months of summer. Skylar can taste the freedom—that is, until her mother loses her job and everything starts coming apart. Torn between her dreams and the people she loves, Skylar realizes everything she’s ever worked for is on the line.

Nineteen-year-old Josh Mitchell had a different ticket out of Creek View: the Marines. But after his leg is blown off in Afghanistan, he returns home, a shell of the cocksure boy he used to be. What brings Skylar and Josh together is working at the Paradise—a quirky motel off California’s dusty Highway 99. Despite their differences, their shared isolation turns into an unexpected friendship and soon, something deeper.

Hardcover, 400 pages  Expected publication: February 3rd 2015 by Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)

This story makes for a great summertime read: hot weather, long boring days, and fun parties at night. The setting of Creek View is a small town where everyone knows everything about each other. People date, break up, hook up, hang out and in Skylar’s case, work… a lot. Skylar doesn’t drink or do drugs; this sets her apart at times from her friends at parties as the “straight-edger”. She lives in a trailer park with her mother and her best friend Dylan has a baby. This is what she knows, her life is full of friends and family, and for the most part, is comfortable. That is, until her future plans of college seem unclear and she begins doubting everything.

Although the summary does portray the story,  we also get some of the book from Josh’s perspective, and it’s not in a traditional way. He gets a page every here and there and written more like a diary passage than regular narration. Josh and Skylar know each other from before he left, she even got close to his brother. But something is different about Josh when he returns home, and it’s not just the fact he lost a leg in the war. His whole persona has changed, and over the summer they get to see those changes in each other.

Overall, the story is more pensive than full of humuor. It deals a lot with big issues like sex, careers, and future goals. Both Skylar and Josh are in very defining points in their lives. She is torn because she her future goals are no longer realistic. Josh is angry and suffers post war nightmares. They find a friendship, and lean on each other for comfort.

What I really enjoyed about this story is their slowly developing friendship and them getting to know each other for who they are now; who they have become since life’s decisions hold so much more weight in their futures. I recommend this book to those that enjoy contemporary romance. There is great character development and a couple of steamy scenes!