Source: ARC via publisher
Published by: Feiwel and Friends
Summer, boys, and friendships gone sour. This new series has everything that perfect beach reads are made of!
Gemma just got dumped and is devastated. She finds herself back in the Hamptons for the summer—which puts her at risk of bumping into Hallie, her former best friend that she wronged five years earlier. Do people hold grudges that long?
When a small case of mistaken identity causes everyone, including Hallie and her dreamy brother Josh, to think she’s someone else, Gemma decides to go along with it.
Gemma's plan is working (she's finding it hard to resist Josh), but she's finding herself in embarrassing situations (how could a bathing suit fall apart like that!?). Is it coincidence or is someone trying to expose her true identity? And how will Josh react if he finds out who she is?
Katie Finn hits all the right notes in this perfect beginning to a new summer series: A Broken Hearts & Revenge novel.
This reminds me of a mix of Massie (and the privileged Hamptons outlook) and a prolonged fight between Blair and Serena from Gossip Girl (from the t.v. show, as I have not yet read the books). As Massie played with passive-aggressive privileged white girls and social satire, so did this book in the varying forms of petty schemes dealt by these girls and the karma that comes back to haunt them along with the urge for revenge.
I liked that this book was very upfront and matched with what you're told about it. If you were a fan of the series I mentioned above, you may well be a fan of this book. It tells you what Gemma did from the very beginning so that you'll understand the context behind how she and Hallie interact rather than keeping that secret for prolonged tension. The fun comes from the various schemes and trying to predict what each girl would do next. How one would get out of a situation and the other would plan it. Some of these plans? Man. These girls are thorough. Caught in the middle of the passive aggressive sort-of-fight is Hallie's brother Josh and the adorable romance that forms between Gemma and him. I'm rooting for you, Josh. You're probably the most morally guided one of the lot and maybe the least fun except for your dorky jock-ness, but hey, you're adorable and I'm wondering what role you'll play in the next books...
This is a contemporary series and I can't help but admire the way Katie Finn has set up the series. There were a lot of hints in this novel of things to come and I'm interested in seeing how the consequences play out. I like how the titles match and give you a clue of what to expect from Gemma. I'm glad she fought back in her own way in this novel, at least trying somewhat to make things right after doing something horrible, and I'm curious to see what she'll be like when she's no longer eleven-year-old Gemma but a much older version, more elaborate in her revenge. You definitely get to see the good, the bad, and the ugly in these characters. Definitely different from most YA contemporary out now and a fun beach read.
this sounds very fun and original! Thanks for sharing :)
ReplyDeleteThis book sounds like it has an interesting premise, and hopefully I'll be able to read it soon!
ReplyDeleteThis sounds really cute, but what is up with all of these series…even in contemporaries? Does it actually resolve the story? And I'm so glad that we're told what Gemma did in the beginning…that really bothered me about What I Thought Was True. ~Pam
ReplyDeleteWell I think series have always been there, even in contemporaries. Lots of romance novels are still series because characters from previous books still appear. In this series, I suppose the story arc could have been condensed into one book, but I think that some of the tension might have been lost without that prolonged ooh-what-will-they-do-next feeling.
Delete#1, I think the title of this book is way to long, I've started calling it Broken Hearts. What I like about it, is that it's a light and fluffy book for the summer.
ReplyDeleteMost of the time I enjoyed the Gossip Girl tv series, so that comparison has me interested, and I like when an author doesn't shy away from showing the potentially unlikeable aspects of her characters.
ReplyDeleteI am most interested in the secret identity sort of thing. It isn't anything dramatic like spying on people, but it sounds cute and a little like Revenge on ABc.
ReplyDeleteI really like a variety of books. I love the Syrena Legacy and Monument 14 series.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a fun, summer book : )
ReplyDeleteIt looks light, fun and summery - I love the idea of mistaken identity and looking for a second chance after screwing up.
ReplyDeleteI didn't even realise that Morgan Matson had written this until the other day, I definitely need more of her books in my life! Thanks for the giveaway!
ReplyDeleteWell I think series have always been there, even in contemporaries. Lots of romance novels are still series because characters from previous books still appear. In this series, I suppose the story arc could have been condensed into one book, but I think that some of the tension might have been lost without that prolonged ooh-what-will-they-do-next feeling.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a really fun read!
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