I wasn't as wowed as I thought I was going to be by this book. I didn't find any of the characters particularly likeable. I felt like everyone was blaming everyone else for the way their life turned out, and not taking any responsibility themselves.

Danni blamed Finn for the fact that she didn't pursue an art career. Greta blamed June and Finn for her unhappiness. Everyone but June blamed Toby for Finn getting AIDS. June felt Toby was the reason she wasn't #1 in Finn's life on Toby. The only one that didn't seem to harbor resentment was Toby, and he was sent to the storage unit in the basement every time June and her family came to visit.

June was 14, but her narrative voice and actions made her seem (to me, anyway,) somewhere between 10 and 12. I believe the author was trying to portray June's social ineptness, and perhaps explain why she had such an attraction to her uncle, but it didn't ring true to me. It just seemed like her age was wrong.

The attraction that June had to her uncle seemed to be beat over the reader's head for the entire story. I also felt it was odd that Toby and Finn knew, but no one said anything to June. June kissing Toby's fingers when they were hiding in the storage space and Toby kissing the back of her neck was just weird. Again, it may have been meant to be "innocent" love, but any 40something year old man shouldn't be doing that with a 14 year old girl.

I didn't feel Greta's character was fleshed out as much as it could have been. I felt her story was built up, and just kind of left hanging. I wanted answers for the way she behaved, and I really wasn't satisfied with the explanation given. She was jealous of June, and was almost looking forward to Finn passing away so June and Greta could go back to how they were before. If Greta hadn't been such a miserable bitch, they probably could have had a good relationship even with Finn alive. I also wanted to know more of Toby's story...he was a prevalent character, but not much was known about him.

I felt more compelled by the story line than I did by any of the characters. The writing was good, but I felt the characters weren't as dimensional as they could have been. Not a bad read, but not as good as I had hoped for.

Tell the Wolves I'm Home - Likewise Book Reviews

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