This story is about two troubled teenagers, a boy and a girl, that are struggling to live normal lives after some very traumatic events. The main character is a teenage girl named Nastya. She took a vow of silence after she was badly beaten and almost killed by an unknown aggressor on her way to a piano recital. She changed her name from Emily to Nastya and her identity from a nice piano prodigy to a goth girl.
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Nastya Kashniknov is 15 years old. She decides to move away from her parent's house and the city where she was injured. She goes to live with her aunt in a small town, 30 miles away. She is a high school senior and her main goal is to go through her last year of high school without being noticed. She wants to be left alone. She has nightmares. She writes the events of that unfortunate day when she was almost killed over and over and over again in her diary. She runs for miles every night. She vomits and gets extremely exhausted but this way she tries to escape her anxiety so she can finally get some sleep.
She meets Josh Bennett, a 17 years old boy who lives alone because everyone in his family is dead. She starts going to his garage every night after her run but she doesn't talk to him at first. She just sits in his presence and he doesn't push her to talk. Nastya goes to that place to take a break from her pain and she finally decides to open up and talk to Josh. She did not talk anyone in almost three years.
Josh and his best friend Drew like Nastya and they are all getting along well. But she still does't talk to them about her badly injured hand and about her past.
In the middle of the story Josh and Nastya have sex one night and then they break up.She feels unworthy of him so she pushes him away. She loves him but she is not ready to stop grieving for her past and for her lost career as a pianist. She wants her revenge.
Nastya knows the guy that destroyed her life and career but she wants to make him pay in her own way so she doesn't report him to the police. One day, Nastya and her aggressor meet in a very unexpected way and she learns about the circumstanced that lead to the attack. The boy was looking for his brother's girlfriend. He was blaming that girl for his brother's suicide and he wanted to punish her. Insted, he met Nastya and mistakenly took her for his brother's girlfriend. He took her in an isolated place, ruined her hand and almost killed her. He tells Nastya that he is very sorry and that he will turn himself to the police.
Insted of punishing the boy she decides to forgive him and to start healing her own wounds. She decides to let go of the past and to accept Josh in her life again as friend and lover.
Best part of story, including ending:
I like the characters. They are teenagers but very mature for their age.
Best scene in story:
I like when Josh and Nastya are cooking together. They seem so right together. The scene is peaceful.
Opinion about the main character:
I dislike the way Nastya treats people in general. She blames the world for her pain so she treats people like they are responsible for all that happened.