For as long as Jade can remember, she’s been on the road. That’s what happens when your mom’s in one of the most popular bands in the world. For once, Jade wants to experience a normal, teenage, American summer. That’s how she ended up staying with her super uptight Aunt Julie, her frequently absent Uncle Paul, and their overly scheduled 8-year-old twin daughters. As Jade tries to get used to life in Suburbia, she meets Quentin Ford, her hot (and he knows it) lifeguard coworker who also happens to live just down the street. She soon realizes that there are two sides to him, the outrageous flirt and the strangely responsible older brother. But as Jade starts to fall for him, she can’t help but feel like there’s something he’s not telling her–something big.
TL;DR – Cute summer romance, but the love interest seems overly mature and there’s some things that don’t really make sense regarding the secondary characters. Still a fun read though.
Right off the bat I really liked Jade. There’s just something about her that’s inherently likable. I thought it was refreshing how she recognized that she had a lot of freedom with her mom but that her Aunt Julie would operate by a different set of rules. Jade really seems to have her head on straight and I felt like she was very sensitive and patient with her aunt. Quentin is also a likable character–I don’t know how the author managed to make him so dang charming, but he really is. My only issue with him (and with a plethora of other love interests throughout YA) is that he seems too mature. After finishing the book it makes a little more sense why he’s so mature, but I still have a hard time finding that level of maturity believable in a teenage boy regardless of the circumstances–but maybe that’s just me. I also wonder if, all things considered, he would really be as flirtatious as he is? It just seems questionable to me that he would even be open to being in a relationship at this point.
The plot was fine. It’s your typical summer romance so there isn’t so much of a plot per se, but there are a couple of events that the reader knows is coming later in the book. Quentin has one big secret and the reader can anticipate that coming out and how Jade might react. I’m not sure if the reader is supposed to guess the secret so early in the book though? I was able to tell what it was after about a third of the way through. How Jade didn’t see it coming is beyond me.
Secondary characters were fine. Aunt Julie seems a little bit over-exaggerated, but hey, I’ve never been in her situation so maybe she’s pretty normal all things considered. Zoey was a pretty cool character and I wish that we had gotten more time with her and Jade. Something that Sarah Dessen does great is she gives her protagonists these great female friendships and then spends almost as much time developing that relationship as she does with the romantic relationship. I wish there had been more of that in this book.
One thing that really bothered me about the book though, was with the girls from Quentin’s old school. First of all, Quentin said he used to live a couple hours away, so how is Zoey friends with them? Why would they be at a bonfire by where Quentin lives now? And why do they go to the pool where Quentin works? There must be a closer pool that they could go to. So yeah, none of that really made sense. And then, if Zoey’s friends with them, how does she not know Quentin’s secret? And lastly, why the heck is Ashlyn so mean to Jade? It seemed like she was mean for no reason, to be honest. I think the author tries to make it seem like Ashlyn likes Quentin and so she’s jealous of Jade but at the same time it doesn’t really make sense that she would like him for multiple reasons.
Overall, I liked this book quite a bit. I feel like Williams always surprises me with how much I like her books. She’s not quite at Sarah Dessen or Morgan Matson’s level yet, but I could see her getting there. I’m a fan.
Overall Rating: 4
Language: Moderate
Violence: Mild
Smoking/Drinking: Mild
Sexual Content: Mild. Some innuendo.
Note: I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
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