The love story between Lizzie and Hugh borrows many elements from the romance genre. For example, the moment that they meet on the bus and instantly fall in love with each other plays out the trope of love at first sight, while their evolution from best friends to romantic partners in adolescence is an example of the friends-to-lovers structure. However, the novel also subverts romance expectations. In particular, it overturns the idea that love conquers all—and that all seemingly destined couples get a happily-ever-after ending. Instead, Walsh underscores that love is often not enough to overcome trenchant problems like illness and trauma, and that one person’s intense support of another often comes at the expense of all other life experiences.

Hugh and Lizzie are incredible sources of support for one another. When they struggle, they offer each other unconditional care, intuiting exactly what the other needs—often just lying with each other and being present without needing to discuss what’s wrong. However, it soon becomes clear that Lizzie needs much more of Hugh’s help than vice versa. When Hugh learns about Lizzie’s bipolar disorder, he helps manage her treatment, giving her medication and insisting that she needs to speak with her therapists. The burden he takes on is clearly unbalanced, as Lizzie’s problems are atypical. Lizzie is there for Hugh’s grief after the death of Gibsie’s father and always encourages him academically and in rugby—but Hugh, in preadolescence, takes on the burden of caring for a friend with severe mental illness. Nevertheless, at first, their mutual support emphasizes the value of unconditional love.

However, their relationship soon tests the extents of commitment. As Hugh spends more and more time stabilizing Lizzie’s mood swings and seeing to her care, he questions what it is doing to other areas of his life. He loses focus on rugby, abandoning his teammates and his training, while also distancing himself from his mother and his friendships with Feely and Gibsie. Moreover, while Hugh’s presence offers Lizzie’s short-term relief, her condition needs professional intervention for long-term solutions. Hugh wonders whether his relationship with Lizzie does “more harm than good” (404). Hugh gives up an entire summer to nurse Lizzie through another episode of depression, but this does not cure Lizzie’s illness. Instead, fully reliant on Hugh, Lizzie distances herself from her mother, and from Claire and Shannon. She also refuses to speak with therapists and even stops taking her medication, insisting that Hugh is enough to support her and help her through her mental health episodes. This leads to uncontrolled mood cycling, promiscuous sex, and dissociative episodes.

The novel ends with Hugh’s realization that love, however totalizing, is not enough—it cannot conquer Lizzie’s condition and is instead harming Hugh by making him withdraw from other parts of his life. In the end, their love story ends with their breakup, with both characters agreeing that they will always love each other—but that the relationship is not viable.