something in the way series jessica hawkins

Jessica Hawkins perfectly captured that moment in every teens life where they teeter between youthful, childhood fun and the realities of adulthood and the maturity that is slowly developing with each significant interaction in life. It's a coming-of-age story with well developed characters and the full gamut of emotions. Told from the dual POV's of Lake and Manning, we see the story from all sides. That first crush, the blurred lines of right and wrong, and the truth of how image really can change everything, especially in the eyes of the law. It's a slow burn romance that truly feels like I remember it being when I was 16. Something in the Way is a bit of what I expected, but a lot more of what I didn't expect.

The setting was even more so realistic for me, as I grew up in the 90's and 00's on the coast of Orange County. Every character felt like someone I knew, someone I either saw pieces of myself in or pieces of others. Tiffany broke my heart a little, despite being that A-grade student in high school I felt like she was me the entirety of my college career.

His life hasn't been easy, but he tries so hard to do the right thing. Manning is the older man, an adult but still so much a child himself. She's unaware of her youthful beauty, only just realizing that she mustn't do everything her father has laid out for her in his grand plans of success. She's smart and ambitious, but also far more innocent than others her age. Not only did I connect with Lake from the very start, but I was transported into her, seeing life through her 16 year old eyes as she had her first crush, her first moment of desire to grow up, her first moment of questioning everything she'd been told about right and wrong. Jessica Hawkins is my go-to for angst, she brings truth and reality to a sub-genre that's been so overplayed. My feelings are raw, my thoughts are jumbled, and my heart aches for Lake, for Manning, and even for Tiffany.

Something in the way series jessica hawkins