Saving Quinton by Jessica Sorensen

 Saving Quinton is the book following Breaking Nova, and it isn't the last in a line about Quinton and Nova and their very complicated lives.  At this point Nova has gotten herself out of the pit she was in almost a year ago.  She had been doing some drugs and drinking.  Quinton had been doing the same.  They were both running from things in their past that they just couldn't seem to deal with at the time.  Nova had found the help that she needed and was now in college and working at a suicide hotline.  When she decides to go back and get Quinton out of the mess he is in, her mom and best aren't so sure about it.  When she finally finds him in Vegas, she sees just how bad it has really gotten.  He hardly eats or drinks anything, just living for the high that he's getting off of the heavy drugs he is on.  Everyone living in the run down apartment with him is on some type of heavy drug.  Gone were the days of just drinking and smoking pot.  Things have escalated farther than Nova could ever have imagined.  And upon reconnecting with Quinton, her feelings come back for him as well.  It is almost killing her seeing him like that, but trying to get him out has taken a far bigger toll on her emotionally than she could begin to comprehend.  Her mother comes and gets her before Nova can fall back into that dark place that she was.  Nova does all that she can to save Quinton from that awful place, but even she starts wondering if it will be enough.

  This book was almost too dark for even me.  Dark because of the depth to which Quinton had gotten into drugs and the contemplation of death and its release.  His demons are never far away and the drugs keep them at bay.  But he never forgot Nova.  In fact, he draws her a lot still.  But then he feels guilty, like he is betraying his dead girlfriend and so he tries to drown out his pain and his memories.  Quinton  never feels like he is good enough or deserving of anything.  If he doesn't get help, he will slowly die from his lifestyle.  Nova, on the other hand, had her life all in control again.  She had goals and was working towards them.  She was trying to help other people.  But when it came to Quinton, he was a much harder case than anticipated and she would need all of the help she can get.  Every time she is around him she remembers how easy it was to forget everything.  All of her troubles had been much easier a year ago, and it would be so easy to slip back into that lifestyle.  Still, she is determined to do what she can for Quinton, even if it comes at a great cost.