Waiting on Wednesday: I'll Meet You There

I remember when I read Something Real by Heather Demetrios, and I didn't really expect anything from it at all. The cover didn't speak to me, I thought it wouldn't be very deep, and yet it captivated me from the start,  and it catapulted its way to being one of my all-time favourite contemporary stories in the YA genre. So, I'm on the lookout for stories like that these days, and where better to look than at a new title from Ms. Demetrios herself?

Title: I'll Meet You There
Author: Heather Demetrios (Twitter)
Publisher: Henry Holt BYR
Publish Date: February 3, 2015
Genre: YA, Contemporary
Pages: 400

If seventeen-year-old Skyler Evans were a typical Creek View girl, her future would involve a double-wide trailer, a baby on her hip, and the graveyard shift at Taco Bell. But after graduation, the only thing standing between straightedge Skylar and art school are three minimum-wage-months of summer. Skylar can taste the freedom—that is, until her mother loses her job and everything starts coming apart. Torn between her dreams and the people she loves, Skylar realizes everything she’s ever worked for is on the line.

Nineteen-year-old Josh Mitchell had a different ticket out of Creek View: the Marines. But after his leg is blown off in Afghanistan, he returns home, a shell of the cocksure boy he used to be. What brings them together is working at the Paradise—a quirky motel off California’s dusty Highway 99. Despite their differences, their shared isolation turns into an unexpected friendship and soon, something deeper.

I'm all about gritty novels that capture reality - and hey, if they pepper in a little romance, that can't hurt either, right? The beauty of Ms. Demetrios's writing is that she can make the most mundane of circumstances come to life, and she makes her characters just sing with reality, heart and honesty. That's why I'm completely and utterly sold on I'll Meet You There. Is the cover necessarily something to write home about? No, but I have a feeling that it suits the novel, and that the book will definitely be something to keep on my favourite shelf. What do you think, and what are you waiting on this week?

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly feature from Jill at Breaking the Spine.