This book seems really promising, but there do seem to be a few things that may turn into really annoying cliches down the line.
On the one hand, I get what Jack did; when you have parents who check out, for whatever reason, it forces you to think a little differently. We can appreciate those reasons as we grow older and feel a bit more sympathetic towards our parents, but as a teen things don't that way. It's understandable that his next steps are to try to keep his brother safe and happy, even if what happened was a little messed up.
Ava seems to have been written in a way that seems a little stereotypical, the "some people have ice in them" rubbed me the wrong way, but she definitely seems like a sixteen-year-old with all that. The black heart tattoo is something I would have done at that age and I know I'm basic at heart.
But of course, this is all based on the first 27 pages, so it really depends on how the author chooses to play all this. They can make them both really interesting and complicated characters, or make this really terrible.
On the one hand, I get what Jack did; when you have parents who check out, for whatever reason, it forces you to think a little differently. We can appreciate those reasons as we grow older and feel a bit more sympathetic towards our parents, but as a teen things don't that way. It's understandable that his next steps are to try to keep his brother safe and happy, even if what happened was a little messed up.
Ava seems to have been written in a way that seems a little stereotypical, the "some people have ice in them" rubbed me the wrong way, but she definitely seems like a sixteen-year-old with all that. The black heart tattoo is something I would have done at that age and I know I'm basic at heart.
But of course, this is all based on the first 27 pages, so it really depends on how the author chooses to play all this. They can make them both really interesting and complicated characters, or make this really terrible.