Peyton, Sydney's charismatic older brother, has always been the star of the family, receiving the lion's share of their parents' attention and—lately—concern. When Peyton's increasingly reckless behavior culminates in an accident, a drunk driving conviction, and a jail sentence, Sydney is cast adrift, searching for her place in the family and the world. When everyone else is so worried about Peyton, is she the only one concerned about the victim of the accident?
Enter the Chathams, a warm, chaotic family who run a pizza parlor, play bluegrass on weekends, and pitch in to care for their mother, who has multiple sclerosis. Here Sydney experiences unquestioning acceptance. And here she meets Mac, gentle, watchful, and protective, who makes Sydney feel seen, really seen, for the first time.
The uber-popular Sarah Dessen explores her signature themes of family, self-discovery, and change in her twelfth novel, sure to delight her legions of fans.
★(1 star)
Sydney has been living her life normaly until one day, her older brother has been convicted into various crimes including the recent drunk driving case which led to David Ibarra's paralysis. As her family struggles to cope up with her brother's conviction, she finds herself in the middle of it all.
Then she met the Chathams. Slowly, her dull life was given color and she got what she needed the most, acceptance.
- Layla. She is the only reason I kept going on. Her character is like sunshine under a tree, giving good vibes to the readers despite how annoying the main character is.
- There is too much unnecessary exchange of words. I really hate it when conversations drag and bore the hell out of the entire story. In this case, there are times when a two-page conversation can just be a "we talked" statement or something similar.
- I am too annoyed with the main lead that sympathy is out of question. How do you expect me to endure reading about a character who always pity herself? And worst, she is not the one involved. Sydney is the SISTER of Payton who was involved in a car accident due to drunk driving but acts as if she is the one who crashed the car and left someone paralized. She even cares about the other party more and ignores her brother's calls as if he is the one who should reach out to her. Simply saying, her character is too petty to even bother.
- The unique plot and the not so unique storytelling. Despite the promising synopsis, all relationship cliches are cramped up into one standalone novel. Its such a waste, in my opinion. I guess it is not just the plot that really makes the whole book interesting but also the circumstances you immerse your character into. When the plot is nice, rare even, but you convey it in a bundle of cliches, it becomes more and more predictable. And people don't like predictable. That is one of the reasons why I didn't finish the book.
I am sorry to tell you that I did not finish reading this novel hence I cannot recommend it to anyone. I feel so annoyed from first page to the current page I left it that I don't know what to type. (Sorry about that, really.)
If you have read the book and loved it, you can comment down below and tell me what you think. If you hated it, comment your rantings below. I won't judge. I promise! (Winks)
Till my next review guys!
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