Because three friends and a life-changing summer is every girl's dream.
Song Vibe Check:
"Dance the Night" By: Dua Lipa
"Dolls" By: Bella Poarch
"Iris" By: Jada Facer
NOTE: Thanks to Netgalley for the eARC!
So, I like pretty covers. Lots of people do. After all, that's one of the factors that many readers consider before picking this up. I also found out this was supposed to have Sisterhood of the travelling pants vibes and although I don't remember the films, it probably does have this vibe. That's about where it ends.
Now, onto the usual madness.
Short Summary: Three best friends end up separated over the course of a life-changing summer.
Long Summary: New York City has always been the perfect home for Ariel, Everett and Jia. Best friends since they were little, the three have been inseparable as they go through school, the family drama and boys among other things.
Until now. Because now, Ariel is going to start university a year early in San Francisco and will participate in a pre-college program even if she's not fully recovered from her sister Bea's mysterious death. And Everett is going to live her dream in Ohio at an exclusive theater summer camp program that isn't all that it seems.
And Jia? She's stuck helping her family's business until she meets Akil. Sweet, shy new boy in NYC out to get to know her better. But her future is supposed to be set in stone. The family restaurant, her Nai Nai with parkinson's and her parents relying on her is all that awaits her.
But perhaps Jia wants more. And maybe, their summer plans might change them as people too.
I really wanted to like this one. But my problems with this book were many.
It wasn't just the racism scattered throughout Everett's arc but also the pacing. All three of them are cookie cutter characters that stick exactly to the cliche. Everett, the girl who has it all who just realized that her bubble could be popped and that the real world is a LOT more cruel than she thought. Ariel, the prodigy who is just unhappy with everything and has a bad relationship with her parents. And Jia, the dutiful old daughter who is always good, always reliable, always dreaming for what she can't have and then do one bad thing to earn the wrath of her parents.
Out of all the characters, Jia was the one I could relate to but even there, her arc was pretty simple: get the guy who will change her life. But their romance builds up quickly and it becomes dramatic for no reason and it becomes a relationship without much substance.
All in all, while the story "flows" well for the friends to be together, then get separated and then come together again seems predictable but the pace oftentimes felt rushed and the transitions were abrupt. For example: we get a very emotionally heavy scene that actually moved me to tears and then BOOM next page reveals a lighthearted moment.
As if we did not just cry about a family mourning. As if the big reveal of what happened to Bea was just something to gloss over. As if a fractured family coming together at last gets replaced with something so drastically different, it causes whiplash.
Sure, it had a satisfying ending but that was about it.
Overall: 2/5 stars
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