This book was requested by a previous Lesbrary reviewer who did not finish or review it. In order to keep my Netgalley feedback up to date, I am submitting this review marking it as a DNF, though it was another reviewer who requested this.

I can understand why some reviewers disliked Rhea. She's very much an unreliable narrator but that's sort of the point: she a teenager with an enormous amount of trauma and is gay, and the book is set in 1999 when it neither of those things was accepted nearly as well as they are today. She is also, as Lurie tells her repeatedly, kind of a dumbass.
It's still a good read though, even while it is super heavy at times.

Not sure what to expect on this book, but I somehow can relate. saying goodbye on something/someone is just really hard, right? what more if that's someone really close to you and you're dealing with other things on your end? this book is like an eye opening for the readers

***This ARC was provided by Netgalley for a honest review.***
I absolutely love this book its beautifully written wonderful development of characters. It really was fantastic.
It had so many things to say on topics that are hard to talk about depression, suicide, sexual abuse, neglect and sexuality I really liked Rhea her story brought up strong feelings.
It’s been a decade since Rhea has written to her mother it used to be something that she did weekly even though her mother passed away. It was a ritual her father started to help her cope with her grief. Now almost 18 she finds herself alone in the streets of New York with nobody to talk to about the future or the past. They’re just like she used to do she begins a letter to her mom. She tells her mom all the things that she can’t tell anyone else. She begins to take the time to dig into her mothers passed and then covers who her mom truly was and in the process figures out who she wants to be.

The book did not really work for me. I DNF'ed it. I wasn’t able to connect with any of the many characters in the book and I found myself putting down the book a lot because it was never really catching my attention.

I unfortunately was not able to read this book. I was excited when ever I had chosen to download or pick this book up on Netgalley. However, time moves by so quickly and I never got to read it.

Unfortunately I did not get on with this book and therefore cannot rate it very highly. I really struggled to connect with the characters and storyline.

I am working through and clearing out my list of galleys and unfortunately not interested in reading this any more.

It was a very emotional read but it definitely didn't hook me that much, I felt very disconnected from the plot.

This was one of the most recent books that gave me that rush of emotions that everyone, I feel, needs to have sometimes. In a story where writing a letter to a person who is no longer with us can be a crucial factor in finding the person we are meant to be. It a part that helps us with moving on, finding that closure in unsaid conversations and this is true for everyone but especially true for main character Rhea.

I do not know if I would have to ability to do what she did in finding that closure but I know I was rooting for her the whole way. Cassidy transported me to a place where the questions I had for myself, personally, began to really resonate with me. This is the book I needed. I needed a book that told a story that felt real. That allowed me to feel this emotions I had buried so deep down.

If you are looking for that book that will give you that necessary cry, this is the book for you. Sometimes its hard to say goodbye to someone already gone but sometimes writing a letter is what you needed to do all along.