I appreciated the setting, which was very familiar and relatable to me. I suppose some might feel it was too much like an agenda, too PSA-y, but that possibility didn’t occur to me until just now, because I was so wrapped up in the well-developed, three-dimensional characters that it didn’t feel like there was an ulterior motive, it just felt real. I respected Phillips tackling a sticky, uncomfortable subject like teenage sex. He wasn’t around much, but I found myself very concerned for him, and I just wanted to wrap him in my arms, give him some bacon, and tell him he’s a good kid, doing a good job, and he’s loved. I loved all the secondaries, too: the Winchesters, the teenagers-Psycho had two seconds of screen time, yet he oozed charisma and I still want to know more about him-the Phishes, the Dennings, and Eli’s family. I not only liked the characters, I respected them and sympathized with their complicated, well-realized emotional struggles I bawled hard and ugly when Tess had to give Wren up.

There was zero dancing in between and dancing didn’t matter to any of the characters via career or hobby or fond memory or anything, it was just a useless and irrelevant plot device to tie in the title. It served no purpose except to illustrate that at the beginning, Tess danced because she was sad, then at the end, she danced because she was happy.

Also, the whole dancing thing should have been nixed. Only a couple things come to mind-the beginning was a bit slow and there wasn’t much of a hook to pull you in. (Oh my god, was that really four years ago already? Holy shit.) But fear not! This felt like classic Phillips, and I adored it. I was so disappointed in First Star and didn’t want to see more of the same. I was kinda nervous to crack this book open, not gonna lie.

Marshmallow malice