Leaving Paradise - Simone Elkeles

Hi!

Another review today for books that are written by Simone Elkeles.

Short description

Nothing has been the same since Caleb Becker left a party drunk, got behind the wheel, and hit Maggie Armstrong. Even after months of painful physical therapy, Maggie walks with a limp. Her social life is nil and a scholarship to study abroad—her chance to escape everyone and their pitying stares—has been canceled.

After a year in juvenile jail, Caleb’s free...if freedom means endless nagging from a transition coach and the prying eyes of the entire town. Coming home should feel good, but his family and ex-girlfriend seem like strangers.

Caleb and Maggie are outsiders, pigeon-holed as "criminal" and "freak." Then the truth emerges about what really happened the night of the accident and, once again, everything changes. It’s a bleak and tortuous journey for Caleb and Maggie, yet they end up finding comfort and strength from a surprising source: each other.

My Opinion

Leaving Paradise was a lot more complex than How To Ruin. What if you neighbor  hit you with his car and ran away? And to make it worse you were in love with him. This is exactly what happened to Maggie and Caleb. When they meet again after he got out of prison, she thinks that ignoring him will help. But it turns out that he’s the only one who really understands through what she’s going. But there is something bigger than the accident that is keeping them apart. A big secret Caleb never can tell anyone , not even Maggie.  So I think you can see what I meant with complex. But you don’t need to think that this books were depressing, because they weren’t. the book was still full of funny parts, which we can expect from books by Simone Elkeles. And the characters weren’t whinny like they would have been in other books. On the contrary they were strong and learned from each other’s mistakes and problems. And like always the boy was swoon worthy. This are definitely  books  you have to read if you liked Pushing the Limits by Katy McGarry and Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles.

Stars

Leaving Paradise: *****
Return to Paradise: *****

See you later xx
El