This book is full of such tenderness and I’m so glad that teens will have it, especially the recipes woven throughout the story. I thought that the recipes as a resource for kids in situations similar to those in Hollis’s town was such a nice touch in a story about community, and how survival depends on having a community around you. Hollis and Walt are both deeply sad in ways that terrify each other, but it’s also why they work. They understand each other in ways no one else does because they also mirror each other.
I unfortunately discovered that possession horror and the particular flavor of romance within this book isn’t my cup of tea. That doesn’t change the fact that Ancrum is one of my favorite authors, and I’m so excited to read whatever she writes next, though I doubt anything will be able to top the way Icarus made me feel seen as someone with EDS. Her books are filled with so much love for the teenage experience and the particular challenges it brings, that even though I’m out of my teens, I find myself coming back to her characters and books, and the messy, real, tender ways her characters interact with the world. I’m not sure that I’d reread Hollis’s story, but I’m glad his story gets to be told.