I don’t have a lot to say. This felt like a pretty standard YA contemporary. It wasn’t bad, but it also wasn’t mind-blowing. The characters felt a little underdeveloped. Part of this was Alison’s lack of development or well-explained development.
The romance was probably the weakest part. I liked Alison having to deal with her past choices-especially avoiding conflict. But the romance didn’t completely fulfill the character development role it was supposed to. Also, I’m not sure I like Charlotte. But now that I’m writing this out maybe it’s a good thing the romance is a smaller part of the story. “Falling in Love” shouldn’t be the be-all-end-all ever, but especially in high school. And this does feel like a relationship for now and not a forever thing. Again, this is a natural thing in high school.
Alison isn’t the most likable person-she’s a perfectionist who has trouble saying no. Personally, I get that. I was a lot like her in school. I particularly liked her relationships with her sister and best friend. They weren’t perfect, but fairly healthy and loving. There were still some development issues.
Overall this was very average and nothing special. But I would check out future books by Dani Jansen-especially if the plot was intriguing. And this cover is great. That’s saying a lot because I’m not a big fan of illustrated covers.
Thanks for reading!
Holly