Wide Open by Shelly Crane Book Review!

I'm FINALLY reviewing Wide Open by Shelly Crane. This is the sequel to Wide Awake and Wide Spaces. You can read this book by it self but I recommend reading the other books first. Warning: SPOILERS!!!

This book is about Mason's brother Milo and a girl named Maya. Milo is a drug addict who's been clean for two years. Maya is also an addict who's been clean for four years, and works as a counselor for kids who have problems with drugs. The book is about them falling a love and learning trust each other, running into a whole lot of heartbreak along the way.

When we first meet Milo in Wide Awake he was rude, and we only saw him for a second in Wide Spaces to see Mason's and Emma's wedding. He was also rude to Mason and Emma in the first chapter too. But skip two years into the future and Milo is a completely differently person who I never expected to love so much. He meets some people who helped him get clean. Milo is actually a really sweet person, and you can't help but love him. 

Maya is also very awesome. Maya's back story is very sad. Her mother died and that got her into doing drugs in the first place, and then her father helped stop and then he died, and to top it off: her brother is dying of cancer. Yeah, it's hard not to cry when reading Maya's POV. I'm also proud of Maya for not giving in and taking the drink even though she wanted to. She didn't want to throw four years of being sober down the drain, and she didn't want Milo and her brother to be disappointed in her.

I love Milo and Maya as a couple! It's sweet yet heartbreaking at the same time. I love that Milo always calls Maya sweetheart, and I love their thing with fortune cookies. If you read Wide Awake and Wide Spaces you'd know that Mason and Emma's thing is the books full of useless facts, Milo and Maya have fortune cookies and it's so cute. My favorite fortunes in the book are "I cannot help you, for I am just a cookie." and "The best feeling in life: to love and be loved.", and Maya's fortune was beautiful and is one of my favorite quotes of the book.

I don't think I've ever cried at a Shelly Crane book. Ever. I was crying mostly at Maya's parts then I did at Milo's parts. I cried at the part when they're going to see the new baby and Maya said that she always be there for him with her arms wide open to welcome him home, and Mason and Milo's reunion, and Will dying, and the ending. 

I don't do drugs and I never will, but I knew some stuff about drugs and addicts before reading this book, but reading a story told by people who went through it really snapped things into perspective. Like when I read The Fault in Our Stars, I knew about cancer but I didn't really know about cancer until I've read about someone who is going through it. That's how i feel with Wide Open because I know about drug abuse and such but I didn't know until I read this book, because all Milo and Maya want is to be forgiven for the things they did in the past and they feel like they can't be forgiven. And Mason tells Milo that all he ever wanted was for him to come back home (excuse me while I cry).

All in all, this is a fantastic read. I highly recommend it, but I suggest you have tissues ready.