strictly literary: fade to us by julia day

in fade to us, brooke has plans for her summer before senior year. those plans don't include babysitting her stepsister, natalie, who happens to have asperger's. but when natalie is forced to move into her father's home for the summer, brooke's plans must change.

brooke inadvertently shares information about a theater camp with natalie, who loves performing and is genuinely interested in the camp. her mom, jill and stepdad, jeff, proceed to lay all the blame on brooke for natalie's interest in the camp. but her parents didn't inform her about their plans. how they thought they would manage natalie's inclusion in their family dynamic. they leave brooke to figure out this stuff on her own and then get upset with brooke when she tries and the result is something they didn't plan for.

this is kind of a recurring theme throughout this book. every conflict, brooke is expected to be the bigger person every single time.

her relationship with jeff for example, it's distant. he's judgmental and often acts disappointed in her choices. and somehow it's her fault because she didn't give him the right signs? he's the adult. why is it all on brooke?

i actually really like brooke as a character, but everyone around her was so awful. not all the time, but just enough of the time that you want her to not be such a doormat and yet there is no good way for her to get out of the awfulness.

even her romance with micah is tinged with this. at times he was really sweet and great. and other times he was somehow always slightly disappointed with her in a way that felt terrible.

i had a lot of feelings reading this book. mostly i wanted to help brooke with her self-esteem. something i think every character in this novel went out of their way to destroy. even jill, is pretty bad at supporting her daughter. she says things that seem supportive, but somehow place all the blame on brooke instead of acknowledging that maybe she failed to communicate properly.

anyway. this is a story about family and friendship and young love. brooke is a really great character. everyone else in her life though, she could probably leave behind no problem once she's ready to go to college. not that she ever would do that, because she is too damn nice.

**fade to us will publish on february 6, 2018. i received an advance reader copy courtesy of netgalley/st. martin's press (wednesday books) in exchange for my honest review.