From the acclaimed author of My Life Next Door comes a swoony summertime romance full of expectation and regret, humor and hard questions.
Gwen Castle has never so badly wanted to say good-bye to her island home till now: the summer her Biggest Mistake Ever, Cassidy Somers, takes a job there as the local yard boy. He's a rich kid from across the bridge in Stony Bay, and she hails from a family of fishermen and housecleaners who keep the island's summer people happy. Gwen worries a life of cleaning houses will be her fate too, but just when it looks like she'll never escape her past—or the island—Gwen's dad gives her some shocking advice. Sparks fly and secret histories unspool as Gwen spends a gorgeous, restless summer struggling to resolve what she thought was true—about the place she lives, the people she loves, and even herself—with what really is.
A magnetic, push-you-pull-me romance with depth, this is for fans of Sarah Dessen, Jenny Han, and Deb Caletti.
If you liked My Life Next Door I highly recommend this book to you. So without further ado let's go into the spoiler-y section!
SPOILERS FOR WHAT I THOUGHT WAS TRUE BELOW
So from the beginning I wanted to know what happened between Gwen and Cass, I had my suspicions- which turned out to be right, kinda. I didn't take a lot of notes on this book, TBH because I didn't have that much to say, not because it isn't good, nothing just popped up at me to write down, I mean of course I have a few notes but not many so excuse me if this review is shorter than usual.
I didn't like how her dad was encouraging Gwen to steal, but what I didn't like even more was Henry telling her that everything was itemized, like he thought Gwen was going to steal his stuff. I just thought that was an arse-ish thing to do.
Look, we all knew before Gwen realized this that Cass obviously most definitely liked her. The main character is usually pretty naive to people liking them but Gwen was sticking quite firmly to her 'I hate him' idea for quite a while.
Like I said before I love Nic. And I love his and Gwen's relationship, it's a very brotherly sisterly relationship and it's cute. Like when Gwen was so scared for Nic and when she found him and they went out and talked by the creek? That was just such a cute moment and I think it might have been my favorite part in the book. I did enjoy Nic threatening to kill Cass if he hurt Gwen, though.
I could guess that Nic and Vee weren't going to make it through the book together, from the moment that Vee was talking to Gwen about it, I just knew that they were going to break up. What I wasn't expecting was Vee and Spence starting a relationship. I felt so bad for Nic when he punched Spence and Vee ran to Spence, just that would be so world shattering for the person who you thought you were in love with, cheating on you with someone you despise.
The first tutoring session was hilarious, because Em wanted Cass to read to him while Nic is over in the corner doing weights and stuff, glowering at Cass across the room. It was just a funny situation.
It was so cute (Huntley's books, one word to describe them? Cute.), okay not fully cute, like cute mixed with touching when Gwen and Cass talk about that night and explain their actions to the other.
Like I said, short review, but I highly recommend this book if you read through the spoilers and you haven't read this book, so you really should read both of Huntley's books, especially if you like contemporary romance reads.