Book Review: I'll Meet You There by Heather Demetrios

Title: I'll Meet You There
Author: Heather Demetrios
Publication Date: February 3, 2015
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co./Macmillan
Pages: 400
Format: ARC & Hardcover
Source: ALA & Bought
Age Group: Young Adult
Genre: Contemporary

       

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.

I’ll Meet You There was a great read.  It was inspiring and pretty darn accurate when it comes to PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder).  Many of our military heroes are coming back not only with physical wounds that can be seen with our eyes, but a lot of them come back shattered inside.  My husband is a former Marine, just like Josh, but luckily for my husband and us, he came back all in one piece on the inside and out.  He was one of the lucky ones.  I’ll Meet You There gives you an idea as to what these poor men and women have to deal with after returning home from their tour over in Iraq or Afghanistan.  The things they have to see and endure has to mess with their heads and I applaud Heather, for creating a story that even though the characters are not real, the reality is very much real.

JOSH MITCHELL:

At just 19 years old, Josh Mitchell has seen the worst of man kind.  He is medically discharged from the US Marine Corps after his tour in Afghanistan after losing his leg.  He was the only one in his group that made it out alive.  Now having to live with PTSD and surviver's remorse, Josh has to come back home and nothing to look forward to.

SKYLAR EVANS

Skylar is fed up with her life.  Her mother never got over her husband's death and now looks at the bottom of a bottle to hide her feelings.  Living in a trailer in the middle of no-where, California, Skylar's only way out is college.  She got accepted to a great art school and that is her golden ticket to escape the dead end life her mother was never able to escape.

Skylar and Josh worked together at the Paradise motel just off Highway 99 before Josh enlisted in the Marines.  Luckily, he was able to come back there to earn a little extra money until he decides what he is going to do next.  But things are different this time.  Skylar and Josh have become "closer." Before they were just co-workers and now they seem to spend time together every chance they get. Feelings are revealed and Skylar must chose between leaving this place to follow her dream, or stay behind to be with the boy she loves.

If you pre-ordered I'll Meet You There, the amazing and sweet, Heather Demetrios mailed out to those people, a book mark, sticker/personalized message and a special letter from Josh to Skylar.  We are not allowed to reveal what the letter says, but I will tell you this: It's suuuuuuper sweet and totally made my day.  Thank you so much, Heather! xoxo