Loved it (with some reservation)

(Spoiler)
I kept wondering whether anything terrible would happen with the stepdad. I had to keep reassuring myself that other reviewers says, "brings back memories of first love", and that can't be right it bad things happened.
It was the only way I got through the book to be honest. Not that the writing was bad - it was great - but because I couldn't stand something terrible happening to such a sweet story.

One problem I had though was that the threat of the stepdad and the constant nagging, "is this story going to be a happy ending or a tragedy?" made it impossible for me to just enjoy the story; to just enjoy the sweetness of first love.

And the ending didn't answer any questions but just raised more; where did her mum and siblings go? Is that postcard just a once off?
I know sometimes it's best to not answer every question, but I'm not one who could appreciate it in this book. And I know true life doesn't give you all the answers, but that's why I'm reading a fiction story.

Overall I loved the start of the book, enjoyed the middle of it, and got really distracted by the darker stuff as the book neared the end. YMMV.