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Tag: summer
We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
SYNOPSIS (from Goodreads):
A beautiful and distinguished family.
A private island.
A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy.
A group of four friends—the Liars—whose friendship turns destructive.
A revolution. An accident. A secret.
Lies upon lies.
True love.
The truth.
REVIEW:
We Were Liars has so many mixed reviews. “It’s the best book ever!” “It’s the worst book ever!” In truth, it just comes down to what you like. E. Lockhart has an unusual writing style, including random paragraph breaks for emphasis and extended metaphors (that are not always obviously metaphors). I thought that these elements added to the somewhat disturbing atmosphere of the book, but if you don’t like them, you won’t like We Were Liars.
Additionally, I’ve seen reviews complain about the plot and characters. The characters are not good people, but I don’t think they’re supposed to be. Yes, they focus on “rich people problems” and are childish in the way they handle them, but that’s a main theme of the book. And yes, the plot is more atmospheric than concrete, so I recommend reading it in a few sittings rather than spreading it out as to not get lost or bored.
While I don’t see myself reading We Were Liars again or purchasing it for my shelf, I have to say that it is cutting, atmospheric, and utterly original.
One Great Lie by Deb Caletti
SYNOPSIS (from Goodreads):
When Charlotte wins a scholarship to a writing workshop in Venice with the charismatic and brilliant Luca Bruni, it’s a dream come true. Writing is her passion, she loves Bruni’s books, and going to that romantic and magical sinking city gives her the chance to solve a long-time family mystery about a Venetian poet deep in their lineage, Isabella Di Angelo, who just might be the real author of a very famous poem.
Bruni’s villa on the eerie island of La Calamita is extravagant—lush beyond belief, and the other students are both inspiring and intimidating. Venice itself is beautiful, charming, and seductive, but so is Luca Bruni. As his behavior becomes increasingly unnerving, and as Charlotte begins to unearth the long-lost work of Isabella with the help of sweet, smart Italian Dante, other things begin to rise, too—secrets about the past, and secrets about the present.
As the events of the summer build to a shattering climax, Charlotte will be forced to confront some dark truths about the history of powerful men—and about the determination of creative girls—in this stunning new novel from award-winning author Deb Caletti.
REVIEW (TW for sexual abuse):
This book was heartbreaking and beautiful and so, so real. It was heavy, but it was so worth it.
“One Great Lie” focuses on power imbalances and abuse of power when it comes to the sexes, and Caletti interweaves many stories of abuse of power, mainly one happening in the present and the story of main character Charlotte’s 16th-century ancestor, Isabella. Both stories were hard to read, mainly because of the truth to them. So many women have had the same experience, whether it was the 16th century or 2021, and something has to change.
Oftentimes, it was difficult for me to read this book because of Caletti’s incredible storytelling. I was fully immersed in the story; I was deeply disturbed. I felt the “uh-oh feeling” for the first two-thirds of the novel, knowing something bad was going to happen. Caletti completely drew me into the story.
Despite the distressing subject matter (please check trigger warnings before reading), there were moments of light. The relationship between Charlotte and Dante was a breath of fresh air, and the beautiful scenery and adventure were so fun.
Additionally, I loved Caletti’s writing style. She almost uses a tell-don’t-show style, which sounds strange, but ends up feeling very conversational, which I love. I really felt like I was inside of Charlotte’s head and able to understand her passions, her family, and her struggles.
Caletti was also able to show the realistic complexities of power imbalances in a way I have never seen before. (Spoilers start here) The way Charlotte talks about Luca Bruni is so nuanced and so real. Before he assaults her, she sees red flags and excuses them. She goes through phases of trusting her gut, followed by phases of guilt for avoiding him and lots of love for him and his talent. After the assault, she goes through so many emotions, often directly following each other. She loves him, she hates him for what she did, she feels guilty and embarrassed, he’s in the right, no he’s not, it was wrong, she hates him, but wow, he’s so great. This thought pattern is really what survivors go through, and the way she described it was perfect. (Spoilers end here) It isn’t clear-cut hatred. It’s complicated.
In “One Great Lie,” Caletti tells a powerful and, sadly, nearly universal story that everyone should read today.
Love & Luck by Jenna Evans Welch
Bookstagram saw it first!
Love & Gelato by Jenna Evans Welch
Here is the mini review I posted to my Bookstagram!
Instructions For Dancing by Nicola Yoon
SUMMARY (from GoodReads)
Evie Thomas doesn’t believe in love anymore. Especially after the strangest thing occurs one otherwise ordinary afternoon: She witnesses a couple kiss and is overcome with a vision of how their romance began . . . and how it will end. After all, even the greatest love stories end with a broken heart, eventually.
As Evie tries to understand why this is happening, she finds herself at La Brea Dance studio, learning to waltz, fox-trot, and tango with a boy named X. X is everything that Evie is not: adventurous, passionate, daring. His philosophy is to say yes to everything–including entering a ballroom dance competition with a girl he’s only just met.
Falling for X is definitely not what Evie had in mind. If her visions of heartbreak have taught her anything, it’s that no one escapes love unscathed. But as she and X dance around and toward each other, Evie is forced to question all she thought she knew about life and love. In the end, is love worth the risk?
REVIEW:
This one hurt. A lot. While it definitely had those sweet, absolutely swoonworthy moments Nicola Yoon is known for, it also held a lot of heartbreak. Instructions for Dancing is about learning to love even though love ends, which is painful and beautiful at the same time. This book was the definition of bittersweet, and while I tend to prefer a happy-ever-after, I think the ending of this book only added to its message and importance.
Even with this novel’s deep message, it didn’t feel overly heavy. The romance between Evie and X was incredible, and as someone who was obsessed with Dancing With the Stars as a kid, I loved the ballroom dancing element so much. It made me want to sign up for lessons at the local ballroom dance studio, only to find the love of my life there… I guess that’s unlikely.
While I didn’t like the “seeing the future” element of the plot at first, in retrospect I see its importance to the plot. Instructions for Dancing definitely lived up to the hype, even if it broke my heart in two. I love you, Nicola Yoon, even if you did make me cry with this book!
The Box in the Woods (Truly Devious, #4) by Maureen Johnson
SUMMARY:
1978. Camp Wonder Falls. Four teens are murdered and organized in a grotesque display in a box in the woods, the lid painted with the word “surprise!” When the police of the small town fail to solve the murders, they become one of the most popular cold cases of all time. And Stevie Bell is going to solve it (or try to, at least).
After solving several murders at her elite boarding school, Ellingham Academy, along with the cold case murders of the Ellingham family, Stevie is dreading a summer away from her new friends. That is, until an offer comes along for her to work at the same summer camp that the Box in the Woods Murders were committed. With her Ellingham friends, Stevie is in for a summer of mystery solving and camp fun (and lots of danger).
REVIEW:
The Box in the Woods!! I was SO excited for this one. Being a huge fan of the Truly Devious series, I wondered if this would live up to the original books. While I don’t think it was as good as the Truly Devious trilogy, I still enjoyed it a ton, making it one of my favorite releases of 2021.
What I found when I finished The Box in the Woods is that my heart said it deserved 5 stars, while my head said it deserved 4 stars. I loved the way the novel made me feel, but I also recognized a few things that made me lower my rating. One of these things was the slow start. I’m not going to go as far to say that the beginning was boring, but it felt uneventful. I have heard others complain about the same thing when it comes to the Truly Devious trilogy, and I always excused that because I felt that although the mystery was slower in the beginning, the book was still eventful and engaging. We were learning more about the characters, building relationships, and getting to see the Ellingham campus. Unfortunately, in The Box in the Woods, I couldn’t excuse the slow start. It didn’t seem like I was learning more about the characters; instead, their personality traits were rehashed. New relationships weren’t building, and the mystery was slow.
However, the ending was fast and super exciting (I devoured the last third in one sitting), redeeming the slow start for me. Stevie got to have her classic Detective Confrontation Moment™, we got a chase scene and a surprise… it was everything.
Another thing that was everything? The relationship between Stevie and David. Since the book takes place several months after the third Truly Devious novel, readers get to see how they have settled into their relationship, and it is so cute. I know a lot of readers hate the relationship between Stevie and David (what?????), so if you aren’t a fan of that, you probably won’t like this, but I loved it.
Because of Maureen Johnson’s trademark creepy setting, fun characters and relationships, and complex mystery, I gave The Box in the Woods 4.5 stars (5 in my heart and 4 in my head) and really, really hope that this isn’t the end for Stevie Bell.
Where The Rhythm Takes You by Sarah Dass
Here is the mini review I posted on my Bookstagram. Make sure to follow me at @miasbooksblog!
“Kisses and Croissants” by Anne-Sophie Jouhanneau
SUMMARY:
Seventeen-year-old Mia has wanted to be a ballerina ever since she could remember. Ballet is in her genes — or so her relatives say. It is rumored that her great-great-grandmother was painted by the famous Edgar Degas when she was a talented ballerina.
When Mia is admitted to an elite summer ballet program in Paris, she is elated, not only because of her chance to dance but also because of the chance to find the long-lost Degas painting of her ancestor. With the help of Louis, a charming French boy, Mia may find something more than a painting — she might find love.
REVIEW:
When I started “Kisses and Croissants,” I was afraid it was going to follow the typical “girl gives up her passions for a guy” trope, which I hate (Rachel from “Friends”? Joey from “Dawson’s Creek” in Season 1? Too many others to count?). Luckily, that was not what happened at all. Instead of deciding that she has to give up her passions for a guy, Mia learns how to balance ballet and her love life.
Mia was a great main character — passionate, relatable, and fun — and Louis was a great match for her. He challenged her but knew when to stop and listen. Louis always respected Mia’s boundaries, something that is unusual (but very welcome!) for a romance novel. Too often, writers think “pushing boundaries” is a romantic behavior: following her when she says to stop, asking her out repeatedly even after she says “no,” you get the idea. Louis was extremely respectful and didn’t push Mia, which I loved. He also never made Mia choose between him and ballet. Instead, he encouraged her in and helped her with her passions, even when he had nothing to gain from it.
While searching for the long-lost portrait of Mia’s ancestor, readers get to see so many spots in Paris. This underlying adventure was so fun, and it left me feeling like I had been on vacation! The ratio of travel to romance to ballet was perfect. Seriously. All of the other travel romances I have read have left me feeling unbalanced — there was too much romance and not enough travel or vice/versa. But not this one. I knew the characters well, I knew the scenery well, and I could feel the romantic connection. The one thing I wished for was to see a few more moments with Mia’s new friends, Anouk and the girl from Manchester (I can’t believe I forgot her name! I guess that goes to show that she was not mentioned often enough). It was said that they became good friends, but readers wouldn’t have known that otherwise because it seemed like Mia was always practicing ballet with Audrey, her frenemy, instead of hanging out with them.
Because of the perfect romance-to-travel ratio and great characters, I was going to give this book 4.5 stars. Then, the plot twist came in.
The plot twist felt, in a word, unnecessary. Sure, otherwise the ending would have been predictable. But it’s a romance novel! Readers want the ending to be predictable. I loved that this book had been mainly positive, and I hated this plot twist so much that if I read the book again I would skip the last few chapters and head straight to the epilogue. I would tape the pages together, I’m not even kidding. I do feel like the epilogue offered some redemption to the book, but that plot twist really left a bad taste in my mouth, leading to my spoiler-filled GoodReads review that I wrote in the heat of the moment after finishing the book:
**Skip past the italics if you don’t want spoilers**
WHY WOULD YOU HAVE THEM GET HIT BY A CAR????? EVERYTHING WAS SO PERFECT. I DIDN’T NEED A TWIST. I JUST WANTED THEM TO BE HAPPY. I have a lot of emotions right now.
**Spoilers end here**
While the plot twist did cause me to knock half of a star off of my rating, I still loved this book. It was such a fun, cute, and quick read that is perfect for summer. I will 100% be looking out for any future books written in English by Anne-Sophie Jouhanneau, and until then, I will probably read this one again.
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