Pink Polka Dot Books: Like Moonlight at Low Tide By Nicole Quigley

Missy is returning to Anna Maria Island mid-junior year. This is not a place she wants to be. When she left in junior high she was known as Messy, a girl all the guys barked at. She crushed on the cutest boy in her grade, Sam King, but when a popular girl found out about it, she made sure Missy paid dearly. Now she shudders at the thought of being called Messy and being outcasted again.

Miraculously though things have changed. And Sam King actually likes her now. But the good things happening at school don't change the fact that her home-life is sort of a wreck. She doesn't remember her bio dad and her mom serial dates (mostly loser) guys. Her new next-door-neighbor Josh tries to look out for Missy and offer her some form of escape, but eventually that blows up. When her mom starts dating her brother's boss at the docks, she thinks maybe this time it'll work out.... it doesn't and her brother pays the price. This book is about bullying, high school, drugs, death, and religion. A lot of issues packed in... and a lot of emotions.

I have to say WOW this book really got to me. I was definitely crying on multiple occasions for different reasons... and I loved it. I love when a book makes me feel something that deeply.

The first half of the book is all about bullying and how lonely and ugly it makes Missy feel. I just loved the way all that was written. It made me feel it like I was in H.S. too. I could totally relate to feeling like if I could just fix something about myself everything would be fine.

The last part of the book was so hard to read. Just really sad and emotional stuff. I fell hard into Missy's life and was crying like a baby :(

I loved the setting of this book. (It was set on an island off the coast of Florida) The best part was the author didn't go all crazy on the descriptions. I kind of hate that every time I read a book that is set near an ocean the descriptions are like pages long. I skim over that stuff but still!! This one was perfect. Just enough description so I could picture it clearly without all that blablabla stuff. I even wanted there to be a little more about the division between the island kids and the mainlanders. I thought that could've been made into a cool Outsiders reference or something.

I totally would've given this a full 4 rating except for 1 thing: I didn't like Josh. He was so standoffish and weird, I just didn't get him. It was obvious he cared about Missy from day one, but he was all about pushing her away without explanation. And I really didn't dig the religious stuff. I felt like Josh was pushing his ideals on Missy and trying to change her to fit with what he wanted her to be. Not cool!

Although just so you know- the religious stuff wasn't in the book all that much, if it was I probably would've DNF'd it....

Semi-Spoiler-AND THEN they didn't even kiss at the end!!!! He kissed her hand?? WTF I'm pretty sure Jesus would be ok with a kiss.

OVERALL: It's definitely worth reading! Missy wasn't the strongest heroine in the world, but she was real. Her life felt real to me and I think we need more stories like this (minus the religious stuff).

Add this to your To-Read List!!