I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Nikki can’t wait to leave Texas and follow her dreams of a music career . . . After a painful betrayal by her sister and a heated argument with their mother, Nikki is kicked out and finds herself homeless. She decides to go to California to pursue her singing career. When her best friend, Malachai, discovers her plan to flee Texas, he begs her to spend the remainder of spring break with him. He believes that over the course of a week, he can convince her to stay in Texas, or to at least graduate high school. But their plans are interrupted when Nikki’s little sister Vae goes missing.

Nikki is forced to work alongside her difficult mother as they set off in search of Vae, with Malachai’s support. Will Nikki find a reason to stay in Texas, or will this spring break be the last time she sees them? Through her emotional journey, Nikki ultimately finds the love she’s always been missing and discovers the power of her own voice.

Short and Sweet Review

Nikki is ready to get out of Cactus, Texas and start pursuing her music career. Its spring break and Nikki doesn’t really see a reason to stay so she finds this the perfect time to head to California. When Nikki stops at home she ends up getting in trouble for something her younger sister Vae did and ends up getting kicked out, feeling betrayed Nikki ends up ignoring Vae and continues with her plan to leave. When her best friend Malachai catches wind of her leaving, he convinces her to spend a week with him and see if there’s anyway he can get her to stay in Cactus. When Nikki learns that her sister Vae has run away Nikki knows she has to put her plans on pause and now she has to work with her mom to find Vae.

I have very conflicting feelings about this novel. I liked the rawness and how realistic Nikki’s journey is with being kicked out and feeling like she has no where to go and also wanting to follow her dreams. I think my biggest problem with this book was the romance. So first the family dynamic, Nikki and her mom have a tumultuous relationship, Nikki is literally walking on eggshells around her mom and its always like she can’t do anything right. Which is why Nikki has run away multiple times, and when she does run away she ends up at her friend Malachai’s house. Her sister Vae on the other hand gets treated a little bit better. Nikki wants to pursue her music career and she has an audition to go to in California but her friend Malachai convinces her to stay with him for a week before making what he thinks is a rash decision. The two end up going on a road trip but have to cut it short when they find out Vae is missing. This is when Nikki has to reluctantly work with her mom to find her sister. The two end up being civil with each other but you can definitely sense the tension between the two. I did like how this brought them together but they still had to get to the root of their problem which took time a little time, which was more realistic then everything magically being solved because of Vae running away. Now my problem with the romance, it was just too easy. Nikki and Malachai have always liked each other but haven’t really acted on those feelings, he even gets a girlfriend to make Nikki jealous and then breaks up with the girl when he finds out Nikki is leaving. The two end up spending a week together and it isn’t a slow burn it was instant and it was off-putting to me. I wish their relationship had more time to develop, because it felt like two friends who just got together and were always together, the title of the book also doesn’t leave much to the imagination.

Overall, this book was okay but it could have been better. I didn’t enjoy the romance, but I did like seeing the family relationship and how realistically it was portrayed. I do wish we saw more about Nikki’s singing career we saw snippets of it but not as much as I thought there should have been for someone who wants to pursue singing. I feel very indifferent about this book, it wasn’t the great but it wasn’t that bad either.