Recommended: sure
For a story where you know what's coming and that's part of why you enjoy it, for a character who is afraid of commitment in a way I haven't often seen in main characters especially in young adult novels
Thoughts:
For me, the most compelling aspect of our main character Kaylee is that she is not into commitment and long-term relationships. She works through the story to find a sort of root cause that leads to that, but I think it's fairly unusual to have an MC who is so straight up uninterested and even afraid of that. I can only think of one other book like that: Just Listen by Sarah Dessen, which I loved intensely when I was younger.
Other than that, there's a heavy streak of perfectionism and expectation addressed in here, along with being friends even through arguments and general family-ness. In the family-ness aspect though, one thing that killed me was how inconsiderate the adults seemed in this book of their kids and at times, of each other. They just kind of sucked? And I thought that was an odd and almost cruel inclusion. I was happy when Kaylee confronted her pain with one of them head on though and was able to resolve it, as that's difficult to do at any age and was an admirable representative in the story.
The angle that Kaylee took with Dean about being a friend to help him get over his ex (even though it was her) was also very sweet and the kind of thing I could buy into. I feel like I could see myself doing that, even if some may say it's ill-advised. 😅 Then again...
I've also gone on a vacation with an ex. We had already booked the trip, and no way was I missing out on my tropical vacation. Personally I think it was fine since we were still on okay terms, but he may have a different take on it.
Overall though, this book was fine but didn't really blow me away. I don't think there was much that I'll carry with me for a long time, or think about this book in the future besides the name that will make me chuckle and think "hey, I've done that too." It's not a bad read, but it's pretty straightforward where I read it, know the story, and moved on with my life.
For a story where you know what's coming and that's part of why you enjoy it, for a character who is afraid of commitment in a way I haven't often seen in main characters especially in young adult novels
Thoughts:
For me, the most compelling aspect of our main character Kaylee is that she is not into commitment and long-term relationships. She works through the story to find a sort of root cause that leads to that, but I think it's fairly unusual to have an MC who is so straight up uninterested and even afraid of that. I can only think of one other book like that: Just Listen by Sarah Dessen, which I loved intensely when I was younger.
Other than that, there's a heavy streak of perfectionism and expectation addressed in here, along with being friends even through arguments and general family-ness. In the family-ness aspect though, one thing that killed me was how inconsiderate the adults seemed in this book of their kids and at times, of each other. They just kind of sucked? And I thought that was an odd and almost cruel inclusion. I was happy when Kaylee confronted her pain with one of them head on though and was able to resolve it, as that's difficult to do at any age and was an admirable representative in the story.
The angle that Kaylee took with Dean about being a friend to help him get over his ex (even though it was her) was also very sweet and the kind of thing I could buy into. I feel like I could see myself doing that, even if some may say it's ill-advised. 😅 Then again...
I've also gone on a vacation with an ex. We had already booked the trip, and no way was I missing out on my tropical vacation. Personally I think it was fine since we were still on okay terms, but he may have a different take on it.
Overall though, this book was fine but didn't really blow me away. I don't think there was much that I'll carry with me for a long time, or think about this book in the future besides the name that will make me chuckle and think "hey, I've done that too." It's not a bad read, but it's pretty straightforward where I read it, know the story, and moved on with my life.