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rinsem's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
eokamoto's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
relaxing
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
3x
dim_light's review against another edition
5.0
AHHHHHHHH
THIS BOOK WAS SO GOOD I CAN'T BELIEVE I FINISHED IT IN 4 DAYS :(
Whatever. This book was great.
Des, the character we start off with is the 'responsible' of the 4 sisters. It's so wholesome how she tries to be her best for her family, even after that horrible incident they all went through. I love the way she loves her Gram. So good. I've never met MY gram, so I'd love to get to know them. And her teen phase which came late is hilarious. Personally, I'd never get a tattoo, or dye my hair. Not blue anyways. Purple is my favorite color. Anyways, I love that she establishes a friendship that causes her to come out of her shell. I can't say I'm really proud of her choice though. Weed, breaking into church, uh no, stay away from me please and thank you. I always thought Paige was a bit sketchy. Foreshadowing is an amazing thing. But Des's character on how she takes care of people around her, and feels like the responsible one. That's admirable.
Bea is the one I have to say is my least favorite of the sisters, but the most relatable. She feels constantly stressed and disorganized, which I feel sometimes. I didn't like that she cheated on Erik. Sure she broke up with him, but AFTER she had already kissed the other dude. Not okay. But I understand people have their up's and down's sometimes, but she had sorta pushed it. The fact she bottled up her emotions was pretty sad. I do like her coping strategy, its pretty cool. I'd love to have those baking skills, and be able to taste the baked goods XD. She is overall an amazing character, but she reminds me of me, disheveled and stressed. I don't like that about myself.
But now lets talk about my favorite, Kat. I love her sassy attitude, and her ability to be a great actor. A thing I don't like about her is her jealousy. Like why would you want a dick to be your boyfriend if he cheated on you already? Looks aren't everything. But I do love her sense of fashion and who she gets with at the end. Beautiful. I also love how she throws cola on her ex near the end. Perfect revenge if you ask me. What I'm wondering is how the play went. Sequel please?
Now for the youngest bean, Viola (Known as Vi). The precious lesbian of the entire group. If you're homophobic, I'm asking you nicely, to leave instead of leaving hate. LGBTQ+ is amazing, and I love how open Vi is about it. The fact she gets with her crush at the end is great. Gave me butterflies with all honesty. ^w^ I also really like that she's a 'lil bookworm. I'm a bit of one myself, and people like that are admirable.
Another character I adored was Cece. As a Latina, I can confirm how things can get in out homes. And the strong religious beliefs QwQ. As she said in the book, you don't see lots of books about LGBTQ+ Latina's and Latino's. It's kinda sad. But this book does. AND I LOVE IT :D
This book was so good, and I love how we get to see perspective from each of the sisters. The only bad thing about this book is Kat's asshole of a ex, and Bea's mortal enemy. The satisfaction when Bea put her in her place was DELICIOUS. For talking crap about all of the sisters. Karma >:)
Unforgettable.
bookmarklit's review against another edition
4.0
4.5 stars, most likely. I really loved this! Each sister was going through their own thing and trying to find themselves over the course of the summer, but it wasn't repetitive reading from each point of view. All girls were super different and growing. I was a liiiittle nervous I wouldn't be able to tell them apart, since there were 4 points of view, but it was so well-done. I can definitely see the early comparisons to Stars Hollow/Gilmore Girls; I loooove small town stories and this one actually had diversity haha. There were many ~topical~ references about current authors, shows, trends, etc. that I'm afraid will feel super outdated in a few years, but it made for a really fun and current read right now in 2018. I would absolutely read companion books about other characters in this town!! PLEASE?
kelbs42's review against another edition
4.0
I thought only us in the Midwest did the sitting-in-the-back-of-a-pickup-truck-around-a-bonfire thing. Didn’t realize small town Maryland stole it from us.
hannfarmer21's review against another edition
4.0
This was cute! I love how realistic and relatable it was and how different each character was
letsgolesbians's review against another edition
4.0
I love girl squads. I read a lot of girl gang books when I was growing up, and I reread the Sisterhood books every few years to get my fill of strong and important female friendships. I loved this book, even though it was, as other reviewers have said, a little predictable. But I love books that follow multiple people, wherein their relationships with each other are the foundation, and where sisterhood (either biologically or via found families) is shown to be as important, if not more important, than romance.
There were a lot of pop culture references in this, and that's where I knocked off a full star. Not because the references were there, as I don't think it's a huge deal to have characters in contemporary fiction talk about shows and books and podcasts. But Vi was a lesbian, and The 100 was only condemned at the end of the book, with the rest of the references acting like the show didn't fuck over its queer female audience. And Des read as acearo to me, so it annoyed me a whole lot that Erasuredale was constantly praised. Sorry, but if you have a lesbian character and a possible acearo (or ace and allo or allo and aro, all things possible since Des didn't specifically identify as any of these), I think it's really inappropriate to include praise for a show that erased the identity of one of (if not the only) mainstream acearo characters in existence and allowed one of its stars to say that a f/f relationship between the two major female characters would only ever be fic. There are SO many Erasuredale references in here, and as an ace lesbian, it got to be really grating to me after a while. Aces and aros are treated like garbage by the rest of the queer community, and the discourse surrounding Riverdale has made it obvious that y'all only care about the allo folx.
Without all the Erasuredale noise, I would have given this 5 stars, easily.
There were a lot of pop culture references in this, and that's where I knocked off a full star. Not because the references were there, as I don't think it's a huge deal to have characters in contemporary fiction talk about shows and books and podcasts. But Vi was a lesbian, and The 100 was only condemned at the end of the book, with the rest of the references acting like the show didn't fuck over its queer female audience. And Des read as acearo to me, so it annoyed me a whole lot that Erasuredale was constantly praised. Sorry, but if you have a lesbian character and a possible acearo (or ace and allo or allo and aro, all things possible since Des didn't specifically identify as any of these), I think it's really inappropriate to include praise for a show that erased the identity of one of (if not the only) mainstream acearo characters in existence and allowed one of its stars to say that a f/f relationship between the two major female characters would only ever be fic. There are SO many Erasuredale references in here, and as an ace lesbian, it got to be really grating to me after a while. Aces and aros are treated like garbage by the rest of the queer community, and the discourse surrounding Riverdale has made it obvious that y'all only care about the allo folx.
Without all the Erasuredale noise, I would have given this 5 stars, easily.
amyward00's review against another edition
3.0
this book reminds me of the penderwicks series but contemporary and i appreciated that
caledonia's review against another edition
3.0
I really enjoyed myself reading the book but I am a little upset about the ending because I feel like I don't just want to know more i need to know more about the girls and the aftermath of the summer.
Update: changed the rating from 4 to 3 because I was thinking about Bea arc and I got more and more upset
Update: changed the rating from 4 to 3 because I was thinking about Bea arc and I got more and more upset
heykellyjensen's review against another edition
All the heart eyes for this one!
A lovely story about four sisters in the summer before everything in their life in a small coastal town changes for them. The four girls are very distinct, with great character arcs. The writing is evocative, and the world-building and character development is very Sarah Dessen like.
There are tons of cats, dogs, and BOOK REFERENCES GALORE because one of the settings is a bookstore. There are all kinds of pop culture references, a fan fiction writer, an actress, and a badass grandma character.
Just delightful.
A lovely story about four sisters in the summer before everything in their life in a small coastal town changes for them. The four girls are very distinct, with great character arcs. The writing is evocative, and the world-building and character development is very Sarah Dessen like.
There are tons of cats, dogs, and BOOK REFERENCES GALORE because one of the settings is a bookstore. There are all kinds of pop culture references, a fan fiction writer, an actress, and a badass grandma character.
Just delightful.