Novel Melodies: I'll Meet You There - Heather Demetrios

Title: I'll Meet You There
Author: Heather Demetrios
Pub Date: February 3rd 2015
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)
Page Count: 400

If seventeen-year-old Skylar Evans were a typical Creek View girl, her future would involve a double-wide trailer, a baby on her hip, and the graveyard shift at Taco Bell. But after graduation, the only thing standing between straightedge Skylar and art school are three minimum-wage months of summer. Skylar can taste the freedom—that is, until her mother loses her job and everything starts coming apart. Torn between her dreams and the people she loves, Skylar realizes everything she’s ever worked for is on the line.

Nineteen-year-old Josh Mitchell had a different ticket out of Creek View: the Marines. But after his leg is blown off in Afghanistan, he returns home, a shell of the cocksure boy he used to be. What brings Skylar and Josh together is working at the Paradise—a quirky motel off California’s dusty Highway 99. Despite their differences, their shared isolation turns into an unexpected friendship and soon, something deeper.

Title: Echo
Artist: Jason Walker
Album: Midnight Starlight
Release Date: February 21st, 2011
Record Label: Word Music
iTunes

I'll Meet You There has received so much hype and so I decided to jump on the bandwagon. My review is going to go up eventually but it goes without saying that I ended up LOVING this book a whole lot.

To those who haven't read this book: I felt like it had a lot of character struggle in it. Both Josh and Skylar went through their own set of issues. The song, Echo, talks about someone being alone, calling for help but all that can be heard is their echo.

And if you haven't heard this song, let me know what you think! It's been stuck on repeat for me; I'm obsessed!

"Echo"

[1st Verse]
Hello, hello
Anybody out there? Cause I don't hear a sound
Alone, alone
I don't really know where the world is but I miss it now
Josh suffers from PTSD and when I first heard this line, I just imagined him stumbling through a darkness aimlessly because of the tragedies he's been through. He isn't the same person anymore and he "misses it now."

[Chorus]
I'm out on the edge and I'm screaming my name
Like a fool at the top of my lungs
Sometimes when I close my eyes I pretend I'm alright
But it's never enough
Both Josh and Skylar connect to this in very different ways.
Josh actually has night terrors so I really think the first two lines can relate to that. The last two reminds me of the party from the beginning of the book. Josh comes back trying to act like the same person before he left, but Skylar and the others can see that he's a shell.
Skylar however, is trying to keep everything from falling apart for her mother. I connected the entire part to a moment where Josh called her a staightedge and "perfect" because we see that Skylar is far from that. 

Cause my echo, echo
Is the only voice coming back
Shadow, shadow
Is the only friend that I have


[2nd Verse]
Listen, listen
I would take a whisper if that's all you had to give
But it isn't, is it?
You could come and save me and try to chase the crazy right out of my head
Skylar and Josh. I ship it. There's no "he saved her" or "she saved him" because they saved each other and it's relationships as beautiful as that, that make love worth it.
For example, Josh got Skylar something to eat when she hadn't eaten for days and Skylar gave Josh someone to talk to so he wouldn't have to bear his scars alone.

[Chorus]

[Bridge]
I don't wanna be an island
I just wanna feel alive and
Get to see your face again [x2]
Neither want to be lonely. This part reminds me more of Skylar because she wants to leave Creeksville. It's her plan to just leave everything behind. However, throughout the story, we see this idea develop as Josh comes into the picture. Because it becomes more about love and healing than just a clear cut escape.

[Chorus]

Hello, hello
Anybody out there? 
I wanted to leave this in because this ending to the song is like the ending to the book: open-ended and full of possibilities.

This song and this book are so filled with emotion. All the recommendations, guys! And if you have read the book, what do you think of my comparison?

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When she’s not traipsing around the world or spending time in imaginary places, Heather Demetrios lives with her husband in New York City. Originally from Los Angeles, she now calls the East Coast home. Heather has an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts and is a recipient of the PEN New England Susan P. Bloom Discovery Award for her debut novel, Something Real. Her other novels include Exquisite Captive, the first in the Dark Caravan Cycle fantasy series, and I’ll Meet You There. She is the founder of Live Your What, an organization dedicated to fostering passion in people of all ages and creating writing opportunities for underserved youth.