Tag: Contemporary Romance (Page 57 of 94)

BOOK REVIEW: The Lies About Truth by Courtney C. Stevens

November 6, 2015 / Chelsea / 0 Comments

The Lies About Truth by Courtney C. Stevens
Purchase on: Amazon, iBooks
Add to: Goodreads

Synopsis:
Sadie Kingston, is a girl living in the aftermath. A year after surviving a car accident that killed her friend Trent and left her body and face scarred, she can’t move forward. The only person who seems to understand her is Trent’s brother, Max.

As Sadie begins to fall for Max, she's unsure if she is truly healed enough to be with him — even if Max is able to look at her scars and not shy away. But when the truth about the accident and subsequent events comes to light, Sadie has to decide if she can embrace the future or if she'll always be trapped in the past.

Peace hid from me this year, and I’d searched for it at Metal Pete’s, in therapy sessions, in long runs on the beach, and hours of Star Time. I hadn’t found it hiding among that dark, black sea of sparkles or anywhere else. But tonight, in the gentleness of my friend stretched out next to me, breathing in and out so rhythmically that he sounded like breaking waves, it felt within reach again.

Okay so….I’ve been undeniably excited about another Courtney Stevens book coming out. After Faking Normal she became an instant favorite and I knew I would never pass up a book if she was the one who released it. I can’t say this blurb intrigued me like it did all of my friends…but this was more of a ‘I’m reading this because I am in love with this author always and forever’ type of thing. And while I want to say I loved this new addition despite my earlier trepidation about the lack of connection with the blurb, I just…didn’t. And it makes me sad because there was so much that I did like about it.

For one, I haven’t really had the time or patience to be reading new books lately, and I was hoping this would pull me out of my stupor and new book reading hiatus. Alas, this was not the case. As always, her writing was beautiful and her male lead was over the top perfect-two things with which I find to be without flaw in each of of her novels-making this a page turner…even if the story wasn’t as gripping as I’d hoped.

That’s not to say I didn’t love the idea of the story (once I delved into it), but there was a matter of living in the past for most of the novel and while in some books I tend to love this if done correctly, most books I find it to be rather tedious. It just so happens this book fell in the latter category, and that makes me incredibly sad. And it’s not so much the content of the story as much as how it’s delivered. Flashbacks and old emails encompassed the story to lead the readers into her life and why she is the way she is and what makes her tick, helping us to grasp onto a circumvent view of the girl that is Sadie (Love that name, by the way).

And I guess it’s not even the flashbacks. I hate them, but I could have made it work. No, my biggest problem is the lack of…hmm….presence? The lack of presence when we were in her current state. I felt like most of the story relied on those flashbacks and old emails to pack emotional punch in the story and make us fall in love with the people they all used to be…and while I did find some enjoyment out of these moments, I was bored more often than not when we were in the ‘now’. I think I noticed this about 40-50% in.

But, like I said, I love this author and her writing so it pretty much evened out for enjoyment level. That being said….there was a certain boy named Max, who stole my heart. I don’t think it’s possible for Stevens to create a boy that doesn’t break my soul and immediately cause me to pledge myself to him within a measly amount of numbered pages.

“Cassiopeia was a queen,” I said.
He took his eyes off the sky. “Like you.”
“Um, not exactly, Romeo, since she went around boasting about her unrivaled beauty.”
He laughed. “That does sound like you, but…” He turned back to the sky. “You should boast about your beauty.”
“Max.” I didn’t mean to sound so condescending, but it came out that way before I could correct my tone.
“I’m not joking.”

Loyal, sweet, kind, confident, and supportive, Max is everything Sadie needs in her life. She is in a shell and doesn’t show any signs of leaving said shell, but Max is determined to bring her back to life again. He, too, was in the wreck that killed their friend and his brother, leaving him with a permanent loss of regular voice, causing excessive whispering and raspy speech tendencies…ummmmmm….Am I sick? Because….yum. Oops. My favorite thing in a guy paired with a Courtney Stevens character? Shoot me dead, because I have fallen.

He huffed.”God, I’d like to kick Gray Garrison in the nads.” He sat up and forced me to do the same. His hands cupped my face and he locked eyes with me. “Look at me.”
We were inches apart. There was nowhere else to look.
“Your face is beautiful, but I’m not some shallow asshole who falls in love with a face. You hear me?”
That rasp in his voice was perfect.
I braved an answer. “Yes.”
“Sadie, you could go through a million windows and nothing would change.”

So, this book isn’t without it’s positives *cough* writing *cough* boy. But it definitely lacked the passion of Faking Normal. I fell so hard for FN and even want the hardback (DESPERATELY) for my bookshelf. But all I could think while reading this was how I couldn’t wait to start a new book. And it’s not fair because I am obsessed with Max and I loved everything to do with him. I got uncontrollable butterflies and could hardly breathe as they were falling in love….but that’s not enough to make me love a story. I need to fall for the substance, not just for the boy. And in this case, that’s really all the book had going for it, for me. And OKAY FINE I’LL ADMIT IT: I. FELT. BAD. FOR GRAY. There. I SAID IT. I adore Max. He’s the best….but still. I’m forever a bleeding heart.

BOOK REVIEW – Emmy & Oliver by Robin Benway

October 24, 2015 / Anna

Emmy & Oliver by Robin Benway
Purchase on: Amazon, iBooks
Add to: Goodreads

Synopsis:
Emmy’s best friend, Oliver, reappears after being kidnapped by his father ten years ago. Emmy hopes to pick up their relationship right where it left off. Are they destined to be together? Or has fate irreparably driven them apart?

Emmy just wants to be in charge of her own life.

She wants to stay out late, surf her favorite beach—go anywhere without her parents’ relentless worrying. But Emmy’s parents can’t seem to let her grow up—not since the day Oliver disappeared.

Oliver needs a moment to figure out his heart.

He’d thought, all these years, that his dad was the good guy. He never knew that it was his father who kidnapped him and kept him on the run. Discovering it, and finding himself returned to his old hometown, all at once, has his heart racing and his thoughts swirling.

Emmy and Oliver were going to be best friends forever, or maybe even more, before their futures were ripped apart. In Emmy’s soul, despite the space and time between them, their connection has never been severed. But is their story still written in the stars? Or are their hearts like the pieces of two different puzzles—impossible to fit together?

All in all, here’s an heartfelt story about family, friendship and what it means to belong somewhere, to grow up, without never hiding the hard truths and sore trials real life holds.

What is it that creates a family? A friendship? Are labels enough? Does calling someone a friend makes one?

“I looked up at my dad. “Tonight, when Oliver and I were talking, I said I’d still love you, even if you kidnapped me. I really would. I get how he feels.”
My dad smiled. “That’s the nicest and most sociopathic thing anyone’s ever said to me.”

Emmy & Oliver isn’t my first book by Robin Benway, therefore it doesn’t come as a surprise that her writing flows smoothly and hides several funny and thoughtful gems, making it really quotable, to put it simply. If the snarky monologues I adored in Also Known As are more discreet here, it remains that the characters’ interactions shared the smile-inducing quality that made me fall for her writing in the first place.

One might say that nothing really happens, but for me it can’t be seen as a flaw here : indeed it’s in the quietness that lie the most powerful scenes, don’t you think? Whose lives revolve around blowing things off and apocalyptic worlds, huh? To capture the essence of real life, sometimes we need to slow down, and in my opinion Robin Benway did it perfectly, even if I admit, it took quite a while for the story to completely hook me. Who cares, when in the end I’m smiling big and treasuring every moment I spent reading?

As for the characters, I can’t genuinely find a single one I didn’t like or understood, one way or another. They all show weaknesses without never crossing the line between what I can understand and what I find annoying.

Shaken to the core after Oliver’s kidnapping when he was 7 years old, they all had to find ways to cope, whether in being overprotective like Emmy’s parents or in creating a whole hidden life as Emmy did. All of them, while flawed, stay so supportive, realistic and heartwarming that I want to hug the hell out of them. Really. With a special mention for Emmy’s dad (thanks for the hooking up line, buddy) and her best-friend Drew (your driving skills didn’t go unnoticed, and I’m totally stealing your ‘The signs says STOP! Not GIVE UP!’ cry).

We recognize a great book when none of the characters is useless : family stands out in their lives (as it should be the case way more often in Young Adult), friends are well-developed characters (and don’t act as if they want to shred each others in pieces for once, thank you very much), boyfriends are supportive, kind, without any of the abusive and invasive traits that make me so, so angry. Not to mention that if romance there is, it stays light, slow, devoid of all this instalove crap authors love to feed us these days (or, to be fair, for ever – Romeo & Juliet, anyone?)

Life is messed-up and complicated, and I love nothing more than leaving a book without knowing how I would have reacted. This is what being a complex human is about, I guess, and I’m never denying that part of me, whatever that means.

► If you’re looking for a realistic, heartwarming coming of age story, don’t be fooled by that misleading cover and try it out, you won’t be disappointed.

Ps. THAT FUCKING ACOUSTIC GUITAR. GUYS. I know right??!

*high-fives Drew & Caro*

BOOK REVIEW: First & Then by Emma Mills

October 20, 2015 / Chelsea / 0 Comments

First & Then by Emma Mills
Purchase on: Amazon, iBooks
Add to: Goodreads

Synopsis:
Devon Tennyson wouldn't change a thing. She's happy watching Friday night games from the bleachers, silently crushing on best friend Cas, and blissfully ignoring the future after high school. But the universe has other plans. It delivers Devon's cousin Foster, an unrepentant social outlier with a surprising talent for football, and the obnoxiously superior and maddeningly attractive star running back, Ezra, right where she doesn't want them first into her P.E. class and then into every other aspect of her life.

Pride and Prejudice meets Friday Night Lights in this contemporary novel about falling in love with the unexpected boy, with a new brother, and with yourself

“When you love something, you can’t be happy all the time, can you? Like, that’s why you love it. It makes you feel all kinds of things, not just happy. It can hurt, it can make you fucking mad, but…it makes you feel something, you know?”

While both underwhelming and absolutely perfect, this was exactly what I needed. I say this because I am having the hardest time lately, between work, home life, and my little fur babies, writing reviews. It’s starting to bother me that I am losing my reviewing time-I find the moments when I write a review so cathartic, and to lose that has been devastating. My time on GR has even dwindled. But I’m not one to stop because it’s simply difficult. So here I am, making time to write a review for a book that not only kept me sane with its understated simplicity, but with it’s all around alluring characters and smooth, albeit not what I expected at all, story-line.

We reached my car, which was a shameful distance from the curb and sticking into the street at a really awkward angle. I couldn’t parallel park to save my life.

I can’t say I fell head over heels for this like I had imagined or hoped I would, but there was just something so charming hidden deep within these pages. I find, many times, that my favorite stories are those that I feel like I could have lived-IE, realistic fiction. It’s not enough to write a cheesy story that plays on the clichés of high school. I like to feel as though I’m trapped in the pages along with all the other characters. And while this one wasn’t perfect, it certainly made me smile, laugh, and extremely happy.

“It’s weird. Sometimes it feels like we’re still the ones in the pictures, and everything that happened after happened to other people. And then sometimes we’re the other people, and the strangers are in the frames.”

Perhaps one of my favorite things about this novel, besides the quiet, brooding male-lead, was the references to Jane Eyre. I’ve never personally read anything by Jane Eyre, but I found it a quirky defining character trait for our MC. ‘If I were Jane, I’d say something like’, ‘If this were a Jane Eyre novel, I’d carry myself’ etc etc. It was cute and funny, and I found that it kept me engaged, for whatever reason. And keep in mind, I didn’t say those lines even closely to how she says them, but I wanted to kind of give you an idea of what she was like.

“I really think you should, you know, give that, uh…soup…a chance.”
“Soup?”
“You know. That soup we were talking about. I think you should give it a shot. It’s a really…good recipe. Highly dependable. And obviously delicious.” Her eyes widened. “Not that I would know. Not that I’ve tasted the soup.”
“This is not a flawless metaphor.”

Devon was a girl who is very intelligent, but had no idea where to go with her life or what to do with it. As I sit here and type this, I realize that I kind of resonated with that. I never cared. That’s not to say I was lazy or had an identity crisis or anything, but I certainly never thought much into the future. I wanted to live in the then and now, and thinking about college and what I was going to do with my life scared the shit out of me. But back to Devon. She had a really funny inner-monologue that had me laughing out loud numerous times, and her quips about people were spot on (in my opinion). But then all of a sudden there were two new people in her life, and for once, she was completely wrong about them.

Ezra snorted and then grimaced, and it was quiet for a moment. “So, uh, did you write the ‘inaccessibly handsome’ part?”
“No, I definitely didn’t.” I realized how that sounded and then felt compelled to go on. My shoes suddenly became incredibly interesting. “But, I mean…it’s true.”
“You think I’m handsome?”

Ezra is an all-star running back with a future as bright as the blazing sun. He could go to any college he wants and he runs the field with the grace of an already established professional athlete. His quirk? He’s quiet, broody, and not good with words. I found this to be totally adorable. Devon would try to talk to him and he’d just stare or have so little to say…only to lead to an uncomfortable silence and a stilted, stuttered answer. He tried his best, he really did…He just did not have the gift of gab. And his vulnerability is just so so perfect-UGH! You’ll see. Just..sigh. Devon takes his silence for indifference, but he actually has so much to say. And most importantly…he wants to say it all to her.

He smiled a little as he looked back down at the paper. “What about the ‘inaccessible’ part? Kinda makes me sound like a badly zoned restroom.”
“It’s true, though. A few details here and there aren’t bad. You’re not exactly forthcoming.”
“I told you. I’m not great at talking.”
“You’re talking now.”
He shrugged. “You’re easy to talk to.”
Something fluttered around in my stomach at that. A lone butterfly, agitating me for some reason.

And then there was Foster. He was an unexpected favorite on my part, and Devon didn’t really know what to make of him at times. At first she finds that he is her annoying cousin that got pushed in on them and is an annoying tagalong, but when Ezra takes a kinship and liking to him, putting him under his wing, Devon realizes there’s more to him than meets the eye. His quirk? I’m not sure….but he was an amazing and completely thoughtful character that I wanted to reach into the pages and hug repeatedly.

“Are you drunk?” a voice said.
So it was only temporary peace.
I whipped around and ripped the shower curtain back. There sat Foster, fully clothed, in the empty bathtub.
“What the hell are you doing in here?”
There was a rubber duck balanced delicately on his head. It didn’t move as he spoke. “Just sitting.”
This was one of those moments. Those Foster moments. Early-morning smoothies and the like. I squeezed my eyes shut hard.

This story was sweet, simple, and utterly heart-warming. And while I can’t say it jumped to my absolute favorites, it will certainly be one that I look back on and smile about, fondly wanting to re-read all the adorable quotes that gave me subtle feels from beginning to end. Now, the end will either make you extremely happy and smile really big, or it will leave you feeling robbed and wanting more. I was luckily in the prior category, but it could go either way for any one person. I hope people will give this adorable story a chance. I waited a long time for it, and it was certainly exactly what I needed.

**********************

So…this book wasn’t what I expected. It wasn’t in your face and it wasn’t full of emotional drama or lots of cheesy falling in love moments and conversations. It was simpler than that. It was about a girl who doesn’t know what she wants. A girl who goes through the motions. A girl who is in love with her best friend. A girl who doesn’t need anything more in her life. Not until Foster…and not until Ezra.

Girl meets boy.
Boy is quiet and backwards.
Boy is star football player.
They fall in love.
Slowly….and then all at once. 😉

I loved this book, but I did want more. Though, it was exactly what I needed for my current mood and glacial pace at posting reviews. I can’t wait to write a review about this one. Ezra was adorably backwards.

Review to come.

View all my reviews

BOOK REVIEW: Between Us and the Moon by Rebecca Maizel

October 13, 2015 / Chelsea / 0 Comments

Between Us and the Moon by Rebecca Maizel
Purchase on: Amazon, iBooks
Add to: Goodreads

Synopsis:
A luminous young adult novel that evokes Judy Blume’s Forever for a new generation.

Ever since Sarah was born, she’s lived in the shadow of her beautiful older sister, Scarlett. But this summer on Cape Cod, she’s determined to finally grow up. Then she meets gorgeous college boy Andrew. He sees her as the girl she wants to be. A girl who’s older than she is. A girl like Scarlett.

Before she knows what’s happened, one little lie has transformed into something real. And by the end of August, she might have to choose between falling in love, and finding herself.

Fans of Jenny Han and Stephanie Perkins are destined to fall for this story about how life and love are impossible to predict.

WARNING: If you don’t like mean reviews, do not read this. If you don’t like RANTS, do not read this. If you don’t like curse words, demoralization of fictional characters, or just an all around bad attitude….DO NOT MOTHERFUCKING READ THIS.

No one has ever seen me post a mean review. I have NEVER lost my shit before. If anyone-ANYONE-is curious as to what my INITIAL reaction is after a book I am just all around generally disgusted by? THIS WOULD BE THE REVIEW TO READ.

FUCK MY FORMAT.

FUCK BEING POLITE.

FUCK ALL MY RULES.

FUCK ALLLLL THE THINGS.

**P.S. It has been two days since I wrote this and while I am cringing as I look at the review, I also still stand by these thoughts and why I was pushed to the edge. My delivery is harsh, but I am choosing to leave this as is. So, again, I warn you: Don’t read this if you want nice normal Chelsea**

I don’t know why this is the book that flipped my bitch switch-I really don’t. But I’ll tell you this: Not in YEARS have I been literally dog ass tired and wanted to go to sleep and finished a book I didn’t like right before bed and IMMEDIATELY catapulted out of bed to dust off my laptop to write emotions I fear I will sleep on and let slip by once I wake up. I don’t do this-EVER. I finish a book. I go to sleep-even if it’s hard-and I think on it. I wait, I deliberate…I write a fair review. But no. I can’t-NO-I WILL NOT, let this one slide. I don’t know why-

Oh, I know, wait, perhaps it’s because I have this irreparable, totally illogical, neurotic, irrational PHOBIA of spiders (oh no, believe me, there’s a motherfucking point to this) and after finishing this lovely gem of a book, I went to take my dog out (yeah, I can still be level-headed whilst in a rage) and was oh-so-nicely (not) waiting on her to come inside when I felt my BARE FOOT STEP PARTIALLY onto a crunchy ‘ol leaf. Oh nonononono, it wasn’t a leaf, my friends, it was a fucking LARGE BLACKISH BROWN (the devil is in the details) spider I had stepped on and it was STILL ALIVE because I have this weird thing where I can tell I’m about to crush something (probably because my dogs are forever under my feet) and what does it even matter???? I stepped on a SPIDER-something I have avoided doing MY WHOLE LIFE-after finishing this book. Coincidence? I THINK NOT. Oh! And even better-it’s little (I kid, it was BIGGER) friend was in the corner one foot from him! So I had TWO spiders surrounding me in my bare feet and my cantankerous dog WOULD NOT COME INSIDE and I am in hysterics trying to kill the bastards and one GETS AWAY. Needless to say? I HAVE LOST MY SHIT.

This review is A MUST. I still feel like they are in my hair or something. I feel just plain GROSS.

Where was I? Oh yeah, I thought I would conduct a scientific experiment-you know, like my FAVORITE main character here. She’s so smart…didn’t you know??

This is the
~~Scarlett~~
Loser Experiment.
How to lose a guy in one summer:

✔ Lie.
✔ Lie.
✔ Lie.

✔ Impersonate, oh whoops, emulate your sister’s nonchalant, flippant, bitchy ways to prove to your ex, and everyone, that you aren’t merely an observer in this world, that you have a personality and that you exist.

Oh yeah, because becoming someone completely different is showing you have a personality.

SPOILER ALERT: SHE HAS NO PERSONALITY. Like..for real. None. Zilch. Nada. I ALWAYS love my main characters, but this girl?? She had no backbone. No zest. No VOICE. I never care in stories but her lies….they hurt someone. You know what? In fact? They hurt literally THE ONLY PERSON IN THIS STORY THAT EARNED A STAR. Actually, he earned two, because I loved him. HAHAHAHA A boy! Shocking right??? I DON’T CARE.

And when you mess with the ONLY redeemable character in the story? I, again, lose my shit.

✔ Admit to having a nickname with the word ‘bean’ in it. I’m sorry, that name, in any form, elicits mockery and horribly disturbing thoughts. OH BEAN, ya little turd, come’re will ya?? Grab the forks, BEANIE!!! Come’re BEANIE WEENIE!!!

I’m sorry, are we talking about a dog…or a human being?? And don’t even get me STARTED on THE UGLY TRUTH movie pertaining to that beautifully coined phrase. Sorry if you have this nickname-for real, it’s probably cute on you. But this bitch??? She’s just asking to be smacked.

✔ PUSS THE FUCK OUT at every opportunity you receive to come clean. SERIOUSLY. YOU LITTLE WUSSY POS. YOU ARE RUINING SOMEONE ELSE’S LIFE!!!! Do you NOT understand this????

Oh! Let me get y’all up to speed: Our little astronomer? She’s 16. Literally-she JUST turned 16, And guess how old the lovely-and totally not in the know-Andrew is? He is 19, folks.

Frankly? This doesn’t bother me. It doesn’t make me feel weird. It’s normal, to me. I know a TON of people who date like this. I realize once you have one partner in HS and one not it gets tricky, I really do, but I just don’t care. And don’t clutch your pearls at me!

My point? If shit went south….HE’D get in trouble. HISSSSS life would be over. Think about that, you inconsiderate little twat.
How to lose readers after one chapter:

✔ Think scientifically All. The Damn. Time.

Like, what is this, the Big Bang theory??? I didn’t realize this was a Sheldon book. But, you know, I’ve seen this done before in other realistic fiction books…but not ONCE has it made me want to suffocate myself with my fluffy socks. In fact, one of my UNFORGETTABLE ABSOLUTE FAVORITE BOOKS has someone who relates a ton of things to physics. But this chick? Shoot me…shoot me now. Everything came back to….I don’t even know what. Constellations blah blah mathematic experimentation and tracking the comet blah blah SHUT THE FUCK UP, BEAN!

✔ ALWAYS PITY yourself and your lack of voice-that’ll do it, too.

✔ MAKE. MY. BOY. CRY. Because of your lies. YOU SIT ON A THRONE OF LIES, and they are poorly constructed at best. Need I say more? You hurt my guys, you pretty much shoot yourself in the foot-capiche?

✔ You make me kinda start to like you, like you enough to pity you and tear up for you (even though you were still at a soft 2.5 star-you were never special to me, even when you started to figure shit out). I start to FEEL for you…and then you STILL don’t do your job. And when you do??? You crush someone’s soul. How do you like them apples??

You pretentious little shit-GO TO HELL.

Yes, I still gave this a two. Andrew was wholly quotable…and this story?? It had a ton of potential. I swear it did. I liked it, then I hated, I liked it, then I hated it. And, more often than not, the parts I would start to like would have Andrew in them. And when she was alone, I started to hate it and skim. Hmmm….curiouser and curiouser…

I wish, I truly do, that I had a pensieve like Dumbledore had in Harry Potter so I could pull all my thoughts at the moment out of my head and hold them in the swirling crystal ball of not-so-forgotten memories, because I have so much I want to say right now and so little time. And I know I’ve lost numerous people by now-sorry guyzzz-but I just HAD to get this evil out of my system. I would not recommend this to one person… I never say that, but I just can’t find it in my heart to push this on ANYONE….

Actually…

If you like twatwaffles who use their own sadness to experiment against innocent and down in spirits college guys for their own gain, girls who are incapable of telling people NO, girls who can’t speak their mind, girls who literally-And I do mean literally-say mean shit about the boy they’re dating to act all nonchalant to girls she barely knows but assumes are cool or popular to gain status quo….then be my guest-Enjoy it. REALLY. Enjoy. It.

And yeah, I feel bad because I truly want to cocoon Andrew and pull him from this book and transport him into a more promising and substantial novel, because she just isn’t worth my breath. But he is: He is the most concerned, thoughtful, patient, friendly, protective guy…and she didn’t deserve an ounce of his time if she couldn’t be braver than she was. She was a coward and she deserves to be left in the dust. But what do I know? I’m just merely a girl whose spirit was crushed as surely as that one dead spider’s spindly, creepy (okay I’ll stop) legs. Eew. Just…eew.

Ohohohohohohhoh! I just thought of some other people who might like this book! If you’ve ever wronged me….YOU’D LOVE THIS…I JUST KNOW IT!

BOOK REVIEW – First & Then by Emma Mills

October 13, 2015 / Anna

First & Then by Emma Mills
Purchase on: Amazon
Add to: Goodreads

Synopsis:
Devon Tennyson wouldn't change a thing. She's happy watching Friday night games from the bleachers, silently crushing on best friend Cas, and blissfully ignoring the future after high school. But the universe has other plans. It delivers Devon's cousin Foster, an unrepentant social outlier with a surprising talent for football, and the obnoxiously superior and maddeningly attractive star running back, Ezra, right where she doesn't want them first into her P.E. class and then into every other aspect of her life.

Pride and Prejudice meets Friday Night Lights in this contemporary novel about falling in love with the unexpected boy, with a new brother, and with yourself.

▶ In the end, I got the impression that First & Then was trying to address way too many issues without really giving them the time of a day.

Cut off the Darcy-ish romance slooowly built that I genuinely enjoyed (with the important exception of one of the most anticlimactic ending I’ve ever read – Ugh, just ugh), the reader makes its way in a widespread confusion :

☑ You’ve got truthful “WTF” moment where you realize that you have no idea what the characters are doing – think scenes cut short, weird transitions, a general “WHERE DOES THAT EVEN COMES FROM?” feeling, and characters who pop up from nowhere.

☑ You’ve got important issues that aren’t addressed properly/left unresolved : in a nutshell, a mum in rehab (maybe? I guess?), a teenage pregnancy (what is the point of Marabelle’s character really?), a weird gambler-survivor guy (don’t get me started about that Emir guy : who is this person and why should I care for him? Huh?), a crazy asshole who puts a psycho move when it’s convenient (but we know nothing about him whatsoever, and guess what : it isn’t handled at all either), an attempt at girl friendship (resolved in two pages) and big revelations that felt flat because they came out of nowhere. None of these issues are properly dealt with.

☑ You’ve got flat characters whose names I didn’t bother to remember (except Cas, the so-called best friend, whose name I do remember but whose personality I never saw – not that I was interested in this jerk in the first place, to be honest).

☑ You’ve got an uneven pacing and an uneven writing, if that makes sense : if some parts made me really smile, others made me roll my eyes something fierce (because HELLO, cheesy lines), especially in the first 30% (that got me bored) and the last 40% (WTF and cheese blended together). Yes, I do realize that the only part that remains is the middle-ish 30-60%. Don’t judge.

To be fair, I did appreciate Devon’s growth toward her cousin, Foster, who’s been living with her family since the beginning of the story. If I wanted to slap her at first, she started opening her eyes wider and slowly, slowly, became aware that fitting in wasn’t the only life goal we could pursue. Good for you, girl. Note that I didn’t hate her. I mostly felt indifferent to her, to be honest.

As I did appreciate several of Devon and Ezra’s (non) interactions, because I have a soft spot for guys who have the communicating skills of a turtle. I really do. Don’t ask.

Too bad everything felt flat and cheapened in the whole mess that was this novel. Sorry, I guess I’m just mad. I hate when the last thought that comes to my mind after closing a book is : WHAT WAS THE FUCKING POINT? You don’t add important issues to a story only to let them hanging in the air somewhere.

*arc kindly provided by Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review*