Milka Really Likes To Read

Honor's brother Finn has died in Iraq. Three days after she heard about the passing of Finn, she received a letter from him, which she left unopened until the night of his funeral. The letter, Finn's last wish, includes tickets to a concert of a famous country singer/pop star Kyra Kelly in California and a task for her to tell Kyra Kelly about her handsome brother. Confused, grief-stricken and lost, Honor decides to honor the wish of her brother and decides to leave immediately. She only manages to exit the house once she runs into someone on the driveway - Finn's best friend Rusty. He is arrogant, a bit of a douche and at that moment, also wasted. And apparently planning to join Honor on her trip to California. He jumps into the car and instantly passes out. So the only option Honor really has is to just start to drive and try to avoid Rusty as much as possible.




While they drive further away from Texas, Honor remains confused about why her brother joined the Marines, and though she is heartbroken about losing him, a part of her thinks that it never would have happened if her brother would not have left in the first place. Rusty knows why Finn joined the Marines, but is not ready to talk about it, especially not with Honor. After Finn's deployment, Rusty distanced himself from Honor as well, but after hearing about Finn's destiny, he seeks her out because he knows that she is the only person who feels just as hurt about the dead of Finn. 



I felt for Honor and identified with her problems after losing someone close to her. All the things she has planned for her future don't feel right anymore and the only thing she can focus on is filling the last wish of her brother. But once she gets closer to California, she realizes that seeking the fulfillment of Finn's last wish is some much more to her than a journey to a concert. She does things she never expected she would do, she meets people who help her understand things about herself and she starts to feel a connection towards Rusty that she never expected she would feel. Rusty is the only one who knew her brother as well as she did and spending time with someone who misses him as much as she does helps. The more time she spends with him, the more attractive he gets to her and she starts to realize that she might feel more than just friendly feelings towards him.


From the first moment we are introduced to Rusty, I right away connected him to the wonderful Tim Riggins from NBC's brilliant Friday Night Lights. Like Tim, Rusty is troubled and the type that does not like to talk about his problems. He drowns his problems into beer and booze and avoids opening himself up. But he is also honest, trustworthy and extremely caring. And okay, he's also super hot.



Rating this book was difficult for me because Rusty is worth five stars, but I eventually decided going with solid three stars, just because I felt like the book ended a bit too abruptly. Just a one more chapter of Rusty would probably have pushed the rating to four, maybe even five stars. But all in all, I really liked this book - it even made me cry. If you love Tim Riggins, you will LOVE this one.