After being unwanted for 17 years, Bless Adler doesn’t let anyone get too close, besides her cat, Marbles. Yet somehow, Liam Reid is able to break through her hard exterior, and she finds herself falling in love. But the closer Bless gets to Liam, the more her fears increase. In an attempt to help, Bless’s best friend, Maylee, drags her to a psychic. Rather than helping her deal with her difficult past, the psychic leaves her with a haunting image of her father drunk and bitter on the beach, a crowd gathering, and Liam lying in a pool of blood with a gun by his side. But not everything a psychic says is true, right? That’s what Bless thinks until the predictions start happening.

Running for Water and Sky by Sandra Kring is a hauntingly beautiful book. The connection readers feel to Bless’s character deepens with each page. Kring crafts a realistic story full of raw emotions: love, pain, hopelessness, and everything in between.

The one component I found problematic was Bless being able to drive. In the beginning of the book, her family would not pay for her to get a license. But when her father gives her a car, she drives without a problem. However, Bless never mentions learning to drive. Despite this plot hole, which can be easily overlooked, I really enjoyed the book.

Sandra Kring writes in a fashion that can capture any reader’s attention. The novel is geared toward teenagers, and even though I’m on the upper end of that spectrum, I still found it very engaging. I do think that readers should be older, since the book deals with serious topics like rape and suicide. But Kring handles these mature subjects with elegance to paint a realistic picture of life. Running for Water and Sky is one of the best books I read in 2016, and I highly recommend it.