Review: Nantucket Blue by Leila Howland (ARC)

Nantucket Blue by Leila Howland
Disney Hyperion, 304 Pages
Expected US Release Date: May 7, 2013
Format: ARC
Source: Around the World ARC Tours - thank you!
Challenges: Contemporary Challenge, Stand-Alone Reading Challenge, Debut Author Challenge

For Cricket Thompson, a summer like this one will change everything. A summer spent on Nantucket with her best friend, Jules Clayton, and the indomitable Clayton family. A summer when she’ll make the almost unattainable Jay Logan hers. A summer to surpass all dreams.

Some of this turns out to be true. Some of it doesn’t.

When Jules and her family suffer a devastating tragedy that forces the girls apart, Jules becomes a stranger whom Cricket wonders whether she ever really knew. And instead of lying on the beach working on her caramel-colored tan, Cricket is making beds and cleaning bathrooms to support herself in paradise for the summer.

But it’s the things Cricket hadn’t counted on--most of all, falling hard for someone who should be completely off-limits--that turn her dreams into an exhilarating, bittersweet reality.

A beautiful future is within her grasp, and Cricket must find the grace to embrace it. If she does, her life could be the perfect shade of Nantucket blue.
---------Goodreads summary

Notable Quote

I felt another kick of sadness, right in the stomach. I was realizing that loss has a kind of violence to it.

San Diego had a fantastic bout of weather recently; even though it was early March, the entire week was in the high-70s to mid-80s, and it was absolutely glorious. And it was the perfect time to read Nantucket Blue, because it made me yearn for beachside reads, romps in the ocean and bonfires below a star-speckled sky.

Nantucket Blue follows Cricket as she heads to Nantucket for her summer in order to follow and be there for Jules, her best friend, whose family suffered a devastating tragedy. But Jules turns into someone Cricket barely recognizes, and she's left to make her summer into more than a support system.

I was a little surprised at how sad this entire book is. I mean, I know it starts with a horrible tragedy, and of course I expect that to permeate a lot of the thoughts and actions throughout. But there was a small line of sadness that seemed to snake through all the words, all the thoughts, and it was a little startling that I'd be laughing with Cricket and Zack and still feel a little morose. I'm not saying this is a depressing, ugly cry book, not at all; but there's always something lurking behind the blue ocean.

Can I say how little I liked Cricket and Jules? Jules especially - I just didn't understand her character. yes, I get why she acts the way she is, but I never got the sense she was a great friend anyway. In the memories she was fine, but nothing worthy of how much Cricket is willing to do for her. As for Cricket, she was so slow on the uptake that I was entirely too frustrated with her the entire novel. There were so many different instances I wanted to yell at her to get there quicker, that she was missing vital parts and only seeing such a small version. I know that's often how it is in real life, but some things were unforgivable to me. Perhaps the only element I liked with Cricket was the romance she was struggling with - which is weird, since I wasn't a fan of the boy she was with. He was sweet, but his entire plotline was very formulaic to me. I didn't get the chemistry between the two. Cricket's thoughts and feelings towards him though were the most real part about her, and one I enjoyed seeing on the page.

Something I did love? The Cranberry Inn where Cricket starts to work and everyone that came out of there! I absolutely adored George, Gavin and Liz; enough where they made this entire story worth it for me. They were such fantastically developed, completely unique characters and I wanted nothing more than to check into the Inn and join them. They have such distinct voices and interactions, I wish I knew them in real life.

And not surprisingly after declaring how little I liked the main characters and how much I liked the secondary ones - my favourite part to this entire novel was the secondary storyline! I can't say much about it since it's not in the synopsis, but there's an underlying plot that intertwines a little with the main one, and I love it. It's such a fun story to learn about and read along to, and I liked how we slowly get varying perspectives. Perhaps it's the journalist in me that liked to go deeper into the history and find out the stories behind others; whatever it was, I found myself flipping past Cricket's dramas to get to the work she was doing.

I have to note though, I really liked Leila Howard's writing. I can't quite pinpoint what it is specifically, but I was very attracted to her words and structures. There's something very relatable about her words, and that was a treat.

Nantucket Blue had several misses for me, but completely made up for it with secondary characters and storylines. Though it is a sweet, summery novel about defining yourself without others, I found the background to shine much brighter. And even though that's frustrating sometimes, I am completely content to look at the scenery more than the play.

3.5 Stars

Review: Lovestruck Summer by Melissa C. Walker

Lovestruck Summer by Melissa C. Walker
HarperTeen, 272 Pages
US Release Date: May 5, 2009
Source: Borrowed from Heather @ The Flyleaf Review - thank you SO much, Heather!
(Read her review here!)

A fun, flirty teen romance that makes for the perfect beach read, this sweet summer love story is set in the live-music capital of the world, Austin, Texas.
------------Goodreads summary

Notable Quote

Who cares about Penny's ringtone? If she likes the music, she likes the music. You don't own it. You can't tell people what to like - you can't control who likes the bands you like.

I think this is the PERFECT summer novel, you guys. Music, boys, a main character filled with a quirky fun personality, awesome secondary characters, and a cross-dressing dog. If that's not the best beach read recipe, I don't know what is! It's also part of this newly-established New Adult genre of YA lit: that awkward time between high school and whatever comes next. I know I would have appreciated New Adult lit when I was going through that time!

If you'd like more of a summary, allow me: Quinn (née Priscilla) just graduated high school and is looking to spend her summer more than just working at the mall with her best friend. So when she calls the record label of her favourite band on a whim to inquire about a summer internship, it turns into a wild summer spent living in Austin with her cousin, Party Penny, and interning at the label. An indie music extremist, Quinn spends the summer dodging her cousin's sorority girl lifestyle, hanging out with the annoying ever-present cowboy and ok-i'll-grudgingly-admit-kinda-sorta-super-hot next door neighbor Russ, and listening to the tunes Sebastian the DJ spins at Dirty's every Friday night -- and maybe hooking up with him every now and again, too. He's the boy she always wanted and always thought she'd be with...if only Russ would stop knocking on her door.

If I were forced at gunpoint (dramatic, I know) to say something negative about this book, I'd probably grasp about and finally say it's predictable - because it is. You pretty much know from 20 pages in how things will work out. But really, it didn't even bother me! Sometimes that makes a great book, you know? It goes exactly as planned, and I loved it. And I liked the end; it was quick, but definitely one of those situations where the two are SO close to being together, and for a few tense pages everything gets ripped away.

Quinn is the quirky, unique main character who thinks she's got herself figured out - but of course, things are always much more difficult than they appear. She's a barrel of sarcasm and laughs, and I loved being with her through her summer. Russ is the perfect friend and boy next door - I kind of felt like I was in the story, because he is definitely not my type and I found myself falling hard! I'd get a few pages in, realize how in love I was with him, and then be like "Nah, can't be - I don't do this cowboy thing." But then five pages later, I'd be swooning hard. It's a tough life! And even though I never liked Sebastian the DJ (ugh), he's a great little character too. Not someone you immediately dislike (I thought he was kind of sweet in the beginning!), but a good balance to friendly boyish Russ.

I know I'm gushing about this being a fluffy romance book, but don't be fooled: there are some great lessons buried in the pages, too. As much as this is a book about finding love, it's also about finding yourself and figuring out who are you - as a person and how you are seen. There's a great focus on people being much more than they appear and second chances, on looking deeper and farther than what we've considered. Not just in characters and people, but also within our choices and judgments.

And there's no way I could review this book and not mention the music! It's not like a lot of other YA books that give you real playlists of popular current songs - there are a few songs specifically named, but a lot of it is kept ambiguous too. I absolutely LOVED how Lovestruck Summer handled music. Never once did I feel stupid or judged for what I do listen to, and I was properly chastised right along with Quinn for being closed off to certain genres. It's a fun focal point to the novel and allows a fabulous amount of versatility with the plot and content.

The problem is, I want a boy to make me a mix CD now. Someone point him my way!

4.5 Stars / 5

Review: The Summer My Life Began by Shannon Greenland (eARC)

The Summer My Life Began by Shannon Greenland
Speak, 250 Pages
Expected US Release Date: May 10, 2012
Format: eGalley
Source: NetGalley (thank you Penguin & NetGalley!)

Elizabeth Margaret—better known as Em—has always known what life would contain: an internship at her father’s firm, a degree from Harvard and a career as a lawyer. The only problem is that it’s not what she wants. When she gets the opportunity to get away from it all and spend a month with the aunt she never knew, she jumps at the chance. While there, Em pursues her secret dream of being a chef, and she also learns that her family has kept some significant secrets from her, too. And then there’s Cade, the laid-back local surfer boy who seems to be everything Em isn't. Naturally, she can’t resist him, and as their romance blossoms, Em feels she is living on her own terms for the first time.
----------------------Goodreads summary

Notable Quote

Sooner  or later you're going to  figure out your life is your life. You can't please everybody. Now's the time for you to make a change before you're too far...

This is one of those reviews where I'm going to say some things that are essentially negative, but I don't mean it in a bad way -- which is strange, but true! It's not a bad book at all, and if you want a fun, quick summer read, I highly recommend it. It just didn't work for me.

I think the worst offender about this for me was that it was predictable. 30 pages in, I could give the general outline and fill in a lot of the finer details. Nothing came as a surprise to me, and it started to get to the point where I just wanted to hurry and finish reading so I could make sure I was right. I was a little frustrated that the characters weren't getting to their conclusions faster. There was a little twist about two-thirds of the way in, which was a small little surprise, except I had had suspicions for a lot of the book. The little hints and clues felt very obvious to me, and I had guessed what was going to happen by the middle.

I wasn't very impressed with the main characters, either. Em was typical, Cade was typical, the stark differences between her family and Aunt Tilly were typical. The evolutions of each one were exactly as expected, too. Each one felt like it followed a character profile outline: the introduction, the first impression, the character believing they were something and then realizing that maybe they weren't...slow learning, a huge obstacle, recovery. It was like a class in fiction writing, where it followed every instruction to a T. On one hand, that's good - it is a story, it has the necessary elements. But as a reader, I felt it unoriginal and, frankly, boring.

See, all negative - and I feel bad for that. But the story isn't really that bad! The girl grows and learns and is relatable in some sense. It's like Em is a generalized version of all 18-year-olds - everyone will see some sort of themselves in her, but nothing really connects. While the romance didn't blow me away, it is very solidly sweet, and I can hope to have something like that one day, too.

Something I really did love was the description of the island. I am fortunate to live on the West Coast, a mere 20 minute drive from the ocean - it's a paradise, and I forget that often. The description of the town and summering away are spot on, and it made me ache for vacations and getting away from normal life.

The only part of Em that I related to was her lack of realization that she didn't have to follow what her parents wanted. I grew up with certain thoughts, ideals and rules that were so ingrained into me that they just were. While I thought the novel could have explored the feeling deeper, I definitely understood that feeling of realization Em often goes through.

Obviously, this wasn't a book for me, but I don't deny that it's still a solid story to read laying out on a towel soaking in the sun and surf. Even though I found myself frustrated and impatient for most of the read, I enjoyed some of the finer details.

3. 5 Stars / 5