See Me, See Me Not (Gavert City #2) by Elodie Nowodazkij

🌟🌟🌟🌗 out of 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Synopsis:
The second standalone novel in the YA romantic suspense "Gavert City" series.

SEE ME, Try as they might…
SEE ME NOT, Tessa and Luke can’t escape their pasts.

Six years ago, Tessa Gardner’s sister, Mellie, disappeared. Despite lingering guilt and the never ending desire to find her, seventeen-year-old Tessa works hard to keep it together. Her grades are decent, and thanks to her part-time job, she can help pay her family’s bills. But when her childhood crush, seventeen-year-old Luke Simon, rolls back into her small Texan town, he threatens to topple the delicate balance she created. She’s drawn to him—and the way he makes her smile. He’s the only one who seems to understand her, but he’s got a dark past of his own. Even the fake psychic who swears Mellie is still alive tells Tessa that Luke will cause her pain.

Luke Simon knows a thing or two about guilt. He moved in with his uncle to escape his past, but memories threaten to eat him alive. He does what he can to keep his anger in check—quieting his thoughts by making out with one meaningless girl after the next. Tessa, and her long legs and her hard-earned smiles and her kindness is the only girl who’s ever mattered. She’s the one untainted memory he has from his childhood and he could talk to her for hours. He could do anything with her for hours. But the truth about his past might send her running. Or worse.

While Tessa and Luke try their hardest to live in the present, their pasts lurk in the shadows, more intertwined than they could imagine.  And it may be too late to save Tessa's sister—and themselves.

*I received this copy from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review* 

This book intrigued me from the very first page. I didn't expect the book to have such a thought provoking and serious subject matter. I thought it would just be another second chance romance not that there is something wrong with them. I appreciated the attention to detail and the depth concerning the characters and the issues each of them were dealing with. I felt that their methods of coping and reactions were realistic which helped me to believe the story more fully. I thought the mystery of their pasts and what happened to Mellie were well done. The author was able to put enough interesting breadcrumbs to make readers want to continue to read without giving away too much information that would give away plot points. It made for a good flow to the story wherein everything happened at good pace.

I know that the books in this series are supposed to be standalone but I felt like I should have read the first one. See Me, See Me Not starts off by throwing the reader right into the fray and I felt like I was missing something...like maybe there was information I needed to know beforehand to fully grasp the situation. There were aspects of the book that I felt needed to be explained more thoroughly concerning Luke and Tessa's pasts. I still don't feel like I can fully grasp exactly what was going on and why. I get the main idea of the conflict but would have liked to understand some of the details better.