School Library Journal Starred Review (Mon Apr 01 00:00:00 CDT 2019)

Gr 9 Up-Aggi Frank and Max Granger have grown up together, neighbors their whole lives. They finally declare their love for each other in the most dramatic truth or dare and then lose their siblings in the same night. Aggi's sister loses control of her car on the way home from a concert with Max's brother, who is killed instantly. Ten days after the crash, guilt ridden and alone in her anguish, Aggi's sister dies by suicide. The Franks and the Grangers struggle to come to terms with this horrific tragedy, leaving the two young lovers at odds. Once two inseparable families in a small town, now they are bitter enemies who blame each other for their losses. Can a restraining order keep Aggi and Max from finding a way to live and love again? Rufener ambitiously tackles many topics in a single novel: manslaughter, suicide, bullying, sex, drugs, mental health, family violence, parental neglect, and abuse. Rufener successfully weaves all of these difficult subjects into a real and relatable narrative without platitudes or apologies. This is a modern-day Romeo and Juliet story that stands on its own. VERDICT This book is a definite first purchase for high school libraries. Christina Paolozzi, Bonaire Elementary School, GA

ALA Booklist (Fri Feb 01 00:00:00 CST 2019)

Aggi and Max have grown up next door to each other in homes bordering a lake in North Carolina. Just as their friendship was ripening into romance, tragedy struck their families: Max's older brother was killed in a car accident, and Aggi's older sister killed herself weeks later. Grief turned into animosity as the fathers began a feud that drove a wedge between Aggi and Max. Now they gaze at each other forlornly from a distance, each certain that the other has moved on. Over the course of the novel, told alternately from Aggi's and Max's viewpoints, the circumstances surrounding the double tragedy are slowly revealed. Just as slow is the inevitable rekindling of romance between Aggi and Max. At times, the mutual heartache of the two teens is believable, but the plot tends to veer toward the antic, as when Max spies on Aggi as she works at a college campus. Die-hard romance fans may stick with the story, but it's likely too ponderous and predictable for mainstream readers.

Horn Book (Thu Aug 01 00:00:00 CDT 2019)

Childhood friends and neighbors Max and Aggi had just confessed their love for each other when their older siblings died tragically. Now, a year later, their families are feuding, and their relationship has dissolved. This lyrical novel realistically conveys Max's and Aggi's guilt about what happened, their sense of loss, and their deep connection to each other.

Kirkus Reviews

It took 17 years for Aggi and Max to fall in love but just one night to lose each other.Next-door neighbors in rural North Carolina, Aggi Frank and Maxwell Granger took years to admit that they were in love. Their romance felt like it could last forever—until Max's brother, Cal, died in a car accident while Aggi's sister, Kate, was driving. Kate's role in the accident drove her to commit suicide just 10 days after Cal passed away. The double tragedy tore the Frank and Granger families apart, culminating in a restraining order that prevented Aggi and Max from talking, let alone dating. For a year, Aggi and Max followed the rules and avoided each other until the night their best friends, Umé and Henry, plotted to bring the two together to mend their broken hearts. Rufener's (Where I Live, 2018) treatment of grief is nuanced and deeply felt, and Aggi's and Max's complex feelings about themselves, their families, and their aborted romance drive the skillfully crafted narrative. Unfortunately, Kate and Cal, whose deaths are the reason behind the book, are disappointingly two-dimensional, overly wise, almost magical older siblings rather than fully formed characters. Aggi, Max, and Henry are from working-class families, Umé is queer, and all main characters are white.A compelling story about grief told through the voices of two expertly drawn protagonists. (Romance. 14-18)