2.5 stars

This author is new to me, and though it seems she does have an internet following, it looks like she’s new to the published author’s game. So, I’ll do my best to explain how reading this story went for me. Because it was a roller coaster.

Parts of this book were amazing. I absolutely adore Trice and, for the most part, Nandy’s family. Nandy…not so much. I just couldn’t seem to connect with her character, her personality seemed all over the place. I understand putting up a front, being what others expect you to be and act how others expect you to act, especially as a teenager and young adult. Those weren’t the things that confused me about Nandy. It had more to do with her inner thoughts and feelings. Part of me wondered if the author did this on purpose because of how angst-ridden teenagers can be. Let’s face it, that’s a confusing time and we don’t even understand ourselves when going through that stage in life. Yet, for how smart and well-liked Nandy was in her community, she was just so blind to certain things…especially her boyfriend, Chad.

The cast of characters, more specifically the other teens in Pacific Hills, were a lot of fun. I could see the teen rom-com come to life in my mind’s eye. (Take note: there are some gritty things that happen in this story, hence my R rating. It’s not all light summer fun.) There were your quiet nerds, your super friendly geeks, the rich douche bags, the misunderstood rich girls, etc., etc. For the most part, these characters were fleshed out enough that they didn’t seem to be caricatures, they were true players in the story.

When it comes to Trice’s “before” life, the life he left behind Lindenwood, the author did a wonderful job of painting the picture. The inflections and speech patterns, her description of the houses and families. Beautiful poetry. Of course, I hated when Trice went there. I would get a hollow pit in my stomach waiting for the other shoe to drop. That just means the author did her job in her writing.

All that being said, there were a lot of things that were repetitive in this story. I would find myself falling into the story just to be yanked out and finding myself skimming out of boredom due to the characters going over and over the same issues. On top of that, a lot of their thoughts and actions were contradictory to what had come before. So, there would be sections of this story that I was all in, and sections that I was just waiting to get to something interesting again.

I can definitely see this author’s potential. With some experience and time, I predict she will write amazing stories. She has a voice I haven’t read often, and I mean that as a great compliment. While I’m not giving this one a super high rating, I am looking forward to seeing more from her in the future.

**I received an ARC of this book courtesy of Net Galley and the publisher. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and given freely**

2.5 stars

There were some good topics in here, but I just didn't really like the execution. I'm glad that I've listened to this book otherwise it would've been very hard for me to get through. Furthermore, I strongly disliked Nandy's behavior and my opinion of her sadly enough didn't change throughout the story. The chapters told from Tryson's POV were way more likeable, but overall I didn't really enjoy listening to this book.

DNF. I can’t read anymore of this. It’s 2020, can we please have books about black teens where the characters aren’t stereotypical.