SINCE YOU'VE BEEN GONE book review

As I've said before, I'm only going to post reviews for books that I LOVE.
And I'm very much in love with this one. 5 stars.

It's a slow starter, because this author takes her time.
This calm, character driven plot progression is perfect for the story.

I'll admit, I had a hard time at first merely because the author used the word "sneakers" for running shoes.
Sigh.
I know it's petty, but it's a running things for me (top 10 things runners hate kind of thing), BUT I soon realized that the use of the word "sneakers" is a REGIONAL type of thing.
Like "soda" vs. "pop."

Okay, relax girl, get over it.
And I did.
Then there was the "I'm not in shape, but I'm running 10 miles to this one house..." (Which presumably is then 10 miles back... which is marathon training, not I'm-out-of-shape running destined to cause an injury... and as I've said before I'm picky about running, so NO ONE ELSE ON THE PLANET WOULD EVEN NOTICE THIS, and I got over it.)

And just in time, because this story is SO LOVELY.

It's so many things.

It's about friendships, the ones that last and the ones that restrict and the ones that are worth it after all.

It's about finding yourself, the person who's been hiding behind others, hiding even from yourself.

It's about young love, and NOT insta-love.

Let me tell you, I'm NOT a romantic book reader (no erotica or straight romance for me, makes me gag sometimes really), but I LOVED the kissing scene here (the one in the rain, not the pantry thing--although that was funny...) but I won't say more because I don't like spoilers.

This is a sweet read, not cotton candy sweet, more like sunshine and flowers sweet.

I loved it.