When Holder says, “I love you, Hope,” it is a small moment in a novel so filled with drama. But it is the emotional tipping point in Sky’s difficult journey to reclaiming her identity. A buzzed Holder, collapsing on Sky’s bed, drifts off to sleep, his arms and legs entangled with Sky’s. Inadvertently, his guard down momentarily by the hard lemonade, Holder reveals his suspicions that the new girl in school is, in fact, the girl he and his twin sister played with years earlier as neighbors in Austin. The sentiment drives the thematic argument of the novel.

The novel, which begins as a familiar young adulty romcom, quickly morphs into a harrowing investigation into the short- and long-term impact of sexual abuse on defenseless, vulnerable, and trusting children. In the face of the struggle to process years of abuse, Sky, even years later and long out of the reach of her predatory father, still struggles with the trauma. She cannot understand why, atypical of teenagers, she is unaffected by the powerful persuasion of sexual activity. She cannot feel what she assumes would be a healthy reaction to kissing.

Given the novel’s use of two names for the primary character, the novel is literally and thematically about reclaiming hope.