Kami Glass and Jared Lynburn have been in each others heads since forever. As with all imaginary friends, Kami and Jared share everything (every thought, every feeling, every event). Unlike other imaginary friends, both Kami and Jared are real and when they finally meet...they are leery of each other because it's vastly different to chat with someone in your head than to actually come face to face with that person, a person even you thought wasn't real.Kami is a female of worth (as J.R. Ward would say). She's strong, determined, very responsible and flawed (which is important in a heroine as I hate those perfect Barbie females). Jared is your typical tortured hero who isn't typical at all. Admittedly he's had a rough go of it - his father is dead and his mother actively blames him. His mother is a nasty piece of work and you can't help but feel sorry for Jared and totally understand why he lives in his head with Kami. To really get a feel for both Kami and Jared's personalities and emotional situations, read their prequels [b:The Spring Before I Met You|16002855|The Spring Before I Met You (The Lynburn Legacy, #0.25)|Sarah Rees Brennan|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1347361443s/16002855.jpg|21765429] (Jared's) and [b:The Summer Before I Met You|15992339|The Summer Before I Met You (The Lynburn Legacy, #0.5)|Sarah Rees Brennan|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1347127282s/15992339.jpg|21749379] (Kami's). They will be more effective if you read them after you read [b:Unspoken|10866624|Unspoken (The Lynburn Legacy, #1)|Sarah Rees Brennan|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1333397426s/10866624.jpg|15781826] as they will completely be out of context if you read them first.
I really liked the fact that Kami and Jared weren't soul mates and didn't immediately fall into each others arms. I liked how Ms. Brennan stuck to her guns and kept both Kami and Jared individualistic. I enjoyed their clever banter (heck the clever banter of all the characters, except the Lynburns of course, who were too damn gloomy to actually be clever.) It wasn't really snark as much as a humorous way of looking at things (well everything actually). Even Kami's family was unusual in that respect. Jon Glass had a way of double talking to his wife and kids that was funny and kept he kids on their toes. I really liked this aspect of Ms. Brennan's writing style. It provided some much needed comic relief from the dark (and sometimes dangerous) events of the story.
This isn't your typical young adult book. Oh yeah, there is the outcast heroine, lots of angst, the new bad boy in town and a love triangle (or is it a quadrilateral - four sided triangle?). This is more an awkward, unromantic romance with a gang of friends (Kami, Jared, Ash, Holly, Angela and Rusty). I thoroughly enjoyed this story and will definitely be continuing the series as the cliff hanger ending made me want to scream and I have to see where this goes next. Poor Jared what will he do now?
