Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by haletostilinski1
Finding Home by Garrett Leigh
5.0
***ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review***
OH MY GOSH!!!
THIS. BOOK.
I Am..SPEECHLESS.
This was completely, amazingly beautiful to me. Yes, this has what I have heard of as the typical Garrett Leigh angst - boy howdy is there ever angst in this, be prepared for that - even though I've only read one other book by Garret Leigh before - which I also loved - but this was a beautiful, beautiful book.
Leo goes through something horrific at the start of the book - after already enduring years and years of abuse - with his sister, Lila, and he's only 15, his sister only 6, so they're put into foster care, and he ends up in a home filled with a love that he doesn't trust at first. Except for Charlie, who he trusts practically right away, because there's just something about Charlie he can't resist.
And this is definitely a young adult romance - we get kisses, but these are two 15 year olds, not even quite legal for the UK, i believe - which is 16 for the legal age of consent, I believe - and we see them falling in love - and it is adorable, but no sex in this, which is completely fine, not only because these boys are so young and one has gone through horrific trauma, but because their romance was beautiful on its own.
I would love to see these two later in life - I wanted so badly to see Charlie and Leo grown up, stronger and grown up and happy, together. But the ending was still sooo sweet and happy and adorable.
This is no easy read, mind you. It deals with being a teenager, but the added weight of trauma piled on top of that, as if being a teenager isn't hard enough. Leo goes through a lot through this book, and how he gets to the place where he is ready to see a therapist and get better is a long and hard journey, but he gets there, and Charlie plays a big part in it.
These two were so sweet together, and they are each other's first loves. Will their relationship make it beyond into adulthood? Who knows, but I like to think they do, that they are one of the rare first love type couples who make it, because they're just so in love and sweet on each other, it's adorable.
I zoomed through this book, finished in about 6 hours even though it was 250 pages, it was just addicting from the first page, engaging as it was hard to read, because sometimes life is suchhhh a shittt, so fucking hard. My heart hurt for Leo throughout this book, and for Charlie even, who while he didn't have trauma, had some of his own hurts.
GAhhh, this is one of my favorites. Superb writing, superb story that treated teenagers how I think they are - more grown up than grown ups think, but also still a lot younger then they think they are. The balance between these boys being mature beyond their years - most of it out of their control, like with Leo having to deal with what he has the first 15 years of his life - and still immature at times, not quite having an adult awareness of the world, was written so well. They weren't dumbed down like they were children, but they weren't completely wise either. They still did completely immature things at times. I loved that balance.
I highly, hiGHLY recommend this book. It was beautiful, it was real, it was breathtaking.
OH MY GOSH!!!
THIS. BOOK.
I Am..SPEECHLESS.
This was completely, amazingly beautiful to me. Yes, this has what I have heard of as the typical Garrett Leigh angst - boy howdy is there ever angst in this, be prepared for that - even though I've only read one other book by Garret Leigh before - which I also loved - but this was a beautiful, beautiful book.
Leo goes through something horrific at the start of the book - after already enduring years and years of abuse - with his sister, Lila, and he's only 15, his sister only 6, so they're put into foster care, and he ends up in a home filled with a love that he doesn't trust at first. Except for Charlie, who he trusts practically right away, because there's just something about Charlie he can't resist.
And this is definitely a young adult romance - we get kisses, but these are two 15 year olds, not even quite legal for the UK, i believe - which is 16 for the legal age of consent, I believe - and we see them falling in love - and it is adorable, but no sex in this, which is completely fine, not only because these boys are so young and one has gone through horrific trauma, but because their romance was beautiful on its own.
I would love to see these two later in life - I wanted so badly to see Charlie and Leo grown up, stronger and grown up and happy, together. But the ending was still sooo sweet and happy and adorable.
This is no easy read, mind you. It deals with being a teenager, but the added weight of trauma piled on top of that, as if being a teenager isn't hard enough. Leo goes through a lot through this book, and how he gets to the place where he is ready to see a therapist and get better is a long and hard journey, but he gets there, and Charlie plays a big part in it.
These two were so sweet together, and they are each other's first loves. Will their relationship make it beyond into adulthood? Who knows, but I like to think they do, that they are one of the rare first love type couples who make it, because they're just so in love and sweet on each other, it's adorable.
I zoomed through this book, finished in about 6 hours even though it was 250 pages, it was just addicting from the first page, engaging as it was hard to read, because sometimes life is suchhhh a shittt, so fucking hard. My heart hurt for Leo throughout this book, and for Charlie even, who while he didn't have trauma, had some of his own hurts.
GAhhh, this is one of my favorites. Superb writing, superb story that treated teenagers how I think they are - more grown up than grown ups think, but also still a lot younger then they think they are. The balance between these boys being mature beyond their years - most of it out of their control, like with Leo having to deal with what he has the first 15 years of his life - and still immature at times, not quite having an adult awareness of the world, was written so well. They weren't dumbed down like they were children, but they weren't completely wise either. They still did completely immature things at times. I loved that balance.
I highly, hiGHLY recommend this book. It was beautiful, it was real, it was breathtaking.