First of all I would like to applaud Cynthia Hand for knowing how the mind of a teenager works. When I started reading this, I feared it would be the kind of shallow immature high school cliche kind of novels. But, gladly, I was wrong. Beneath I'll list some of the reasons that earned this novel it's five star rating: First star for-Clara,the protagonist, developing as the story continues (I know this is one of the basic things authors should put in mind when writing a novel, but believe me, not all novels have a developing character)Second star for-Cynthia knowing how to describe teenage love. One of the things I admired is how Cynthia can get into the head of teenage girl. She doesn'texaggerate Clara's feeling of love with the whole this is the guy I'm marrying kind of obbsession alot of authors seem to put their female protagonists into. Third star for-The romantic scenes not being cheesy. That alone might've won this novel it's five stars. In one of the scenes, I actually had goosebumps, and that's someting coming from me. Fourth star for-The characters being likeable. I for one tend to be kind of a perfectionist when deciding wether or not I like a character. Meaning, the silliest things can make me hate a character, but in this novel, the characters were likeable without being perfect. My favourite characters were Tucker, and Angela. Fifth star for-Being well written. It was fun to read, fast paced and not boring.
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