Imagine that after five years of not seeing your older brother, you walk up to his apartment, ring the doorbell, and find the door slammed in your face. Well, that is how this story begins for 16-year-old Jace. After a 19 hour drive from Chicago after being kicked out of his house, Jace ends up in Albuquergue, New Mexico, where his brother Christian has set up a new life as a medical intern.

Their family was split by their father's abuse. After reaching a point when he could no longer watch his family being hurt, Christian fled from college and built a secret identity, changing his last name and moving away. Jace was able to find Christian after being given his address by their mother, who had been receiving funds to build an escape plan for herself.

After attacking his own girlfriend and going head to head with his dad after his mother being brutalized yet again, Jace ends up on his brother's doorstep. With the help of Christian's girfriend Miriam, Jace is able to convince Christian to let him stay. It is quickly clear that it is not going to be an easy arrangement since they both have difficulty in talking about their shared past and how it has affected their present.

Christian settles into a new school and a job as well as exploring a growing relationship with a girl he works with all while relearning how to be a younger brother. Together Christian and Jace must explore their past and present if they are going to find happiness in the future, and they each hold a key to that.

This is really an amazing tale. The scenes of domestic violence are not easy to read, and I would dare anyone to read this without at least getting teary-eyed as the two brothers open up more and more. Avasthi masterfully captures the difficult situation involved for the victims of abusers. She brings the readers into their minds and shows how it affects everyone in the family, not just the person in the most immediate danger.

To sum up, it is simply a "wow" book.