by Jennifer Salvato Doktorski
Pages: 287
Release Date: May 5, 2015
by Sourcebooks Fire
Goodreads / Purchase
Sunbathing, surfing, eating funnel cake on the boardwalk—Lucy loves living on the Jersey Shore. For her, it's not just the perfect summer escape, it is home. And as a local girl, she knows not to get attached to the tourists. They breeze in over Memorial Day weekend, crowding the shore and stealing moonlit kisses, only to pack up their beach umbrellas and empty promises on Labor Day. Lucy wants more from love than a fleeting romance, even if that means keeping her distance from her summertime neighbor and crush, Connor.
Then Superstorm Sandy tears apart her barrier island, briefly bringing together a local girl like herself and a vacationer like Connor. Except nothing is the same in the wake of the storm. And day after day, week after week, Lucy is left to pick up the pieces of her broken heart and broken home. Now with Memorial Day approaching and Connor returning, will it be a summer of fresh starts or second chances?
Then Superstorm Sandy tears apart her barrier island, briefly bringing together a local girl like herself and a vacationer like Connor. Except nothing is the same in the wake of the storm. And day after day, week after week, Lucy is left to pick up the pieces of her broken heart and broken home. Now with Memorial Day approaching and Connor returning, will it be a summer of fresh starts or second chances?
They are whited out so you can only read them if you highlight the text
I have nothing personal against this book or author, or subject matter even, I just don't have the patience for a book like this.I don't enjoy the cheesy drama story where the girl pines after a boy who has remained aloof and unattainable, but this other boy likes the girl and she's torn because she wants what she can't have and gets jealous when she sees him interact with his many past girlfriends but this other dude is nice too, oh ma lawd she doesn't know which one to pick. It just seemed like a very simple, unworthwhile story. The plot was disjointed and it was obvious that the action was forced. Small events were blown out of proportion for the drama of it, but they weren't developed or explained clearly so it just felt bumpy. I didn't think the writing was amazing, some sentences were very hard to decipher and the descriptive scenes were non-existent. I could see the attempt at humor and relatability being made, but it just didn't connect for me. It was just too simple, and too easy. Maybe it's because I can no longer relate to these younger characters (I'm getting old, people) so I don't have time for the stereotypical teenage romance drama that so many people enjoy and I'm only bringing this on myself by continuing to read books like this. It isn't that it's a bad book or that people who enjoy this book are lesser, it just isn't for me.
The characters were also a problem. They were boring and typical, their development was nonexistent, they all had flat personalities. Lucy was an attempt to be a relatable, socially-challenged teenaged girl, but it came off forced. Connor was the typical hot, blonde, well-muscled boy next door, but it came off as overdone. Andrew was the incredibly nice longtime bestfriend-turned-boyfriend, but he was redundant. Nobody had any real reason to be attracted to each other, there was no back story or connection between anyone because nobody had any personality. As a result, the romances were forced and I didn't feel any connection between any of them. And plus, the whole thing that happened last summer was so damn anticlimactic and poorly described, it wasn't impactful at all.
I really couldn't follow Lucy's logic when she was juggling Connor and Andrew. [Spoiler:If she knows it isn't working out with Andrew why doesn't she just break up with him? If she can't give him her full attention and affection, she shouldn't be holding him back, it isn't fair to him. It seemed like she was only with Andrew because she didn't want to be alone, and would have dropped him in a second if Connor showed even the slightest hint of interest (which is what happened). And then when Andrew was found with a girl on his lap, Lucy got all mad at him, when the night before she had been about to kiss Connor. I don't understand that logic at all, and I don't have the time or patience to deal with bullshit like that, in real life or fiction.]
Maybe there's something wrong with me that prevents me from enjoying these simple books about summer flings, but I couldn't help but poke holes in the logic and let my personal views dictate my opinion of the book. The right person would definitely enjoy it, maybe even I would have if I was in a different mood, but this book just was not for me. The characters were too flat, the story was too poorly constructed, and my patience was too thin.
1 star
Q. What did you think of the book? Have you read her other books?
Wow! 1 star! You really did not like it. I agree that it is annoying when they have the perfect guy right there and just keep pining over a different one. For me, as long as when that other guy comes back after they're finally starting to like the new one, if they don't go to the new guy, that saves them for me. Great review!
ReplyDeleteYeah I know 1 star is a really intense rating, and it's not that it's a bad book, it's just...it wasn't for me. I feel bad giving it that low of a rating because it was my own fault I read a book that I knew wasn't up my alley. Yeah that's true, then at least then they don't really play games. Thank you so much for actually reading my review and commenting, it means a lot to me!
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