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Sasha and Ray are not related, but they share the same half siblings. In this twisted family tree, the original divorced couple must come together for their oldest daughter's wedding. Soon sparks fly between Sasha and Ray, while destructive fires are ignited in other parts of the family.
This book was confusing at times because it was hard to keep track of the characters, especially at the beginning before the author had a chance to develop the distinct personalities. I felt like this book seemed to be like a last book in a series, but it isn't. It will do better with the new adults and older teens.
This book was confusing at times because it was hard to keep track of the characters, especially at the beginning before the author had a chance to develop the distinct personalities. I felt like this book seemed to be like a last book in a series, but it isn't. It will do better with the new adults and older teens.
This book really takes your emotions and runs with them. At first I found it really difficult to get into because it was told from the perspective of five characters. I sometimes found it confusing to differentiate between who the chapter was focusing on. This story isn’t about Ray and Sasha. It is about two families that were taken apart and put back together. It is exceptionally written and has a captivating twist. I would definitely recommend reading this novel
2.45 stars. There was a lot of potential but I just felt like the things I wanted more of (ie. Mattie and Matt) weren’t there enough. Also, it may have just been because I read it as an ebook but I found the jumping between perspectives of be very hard to follow.
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Lila and Robert had three daughters together, Emma, Quinn and Mattie before their bitter divorce. Years later Lila married Adam and had a son named Ray. Around the same time Robert married Evie and together they had a daughter named Sasha. This book tells the story of a beach house in Wainscott, South Fork of Long Island, split between two families, each refusing to give it up. Ray and Sasha are not related, but share three half sisters, the same room in the beach house and many other things throughout their entire lives, but they have never met.
Ray and Sasha feel a connection to each other, which through the years grows into a bit of an obsession. As children they would share the same toys and books each would leave behind at the beach house. Similar to having an imaginary friend, they filled in the gaps and imagined what the other was like. One night they meet briefly and their curiosity grows.
This contemporary was written by the same author who penned the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series. I personally have never read the series, but I did enjoy the movie. I am not familiar with her writing style so I'm not sure if this book is written in a similar manner as the Sisterhood series, but I did find this style of writing a bit confusing. There were so many characters and view points to keep track of that I found myself flipping back to the chart, the author graciously provides us in the beginning of the book, quite often to remind myself of who was who.
Both families are eventually forced to come together and family secrets are revealed. I enjoyed the story line of Mattie, the youngest of the three sisters the most. I wasn't a big fan of Ray and Sasha's romance and found myself far more interested in the reasons behind the bitterness and hostility of the parents and their backstories instead.
If the premise sounds interesting to you, and you don't mind keeping track of multiple POVs, this would make a good, quick summer beach read.
I received a free ARC of this book at Yallfest.
-Shey
Ray and Sasha feel a connection to each other, which through the years grows into a bit of an obsession. As children they would share the same toys and books each would leave behind at the beach house. Similar to having an imaginary friend, they filled in the gaps and imagined what the other was like. One night they meet briefly and their curiosity grows.
This contemporary was written by the same author who penned the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series. I personally have never read the series, but I did enjoy the movie. I am not familiar with her writing style so I'm not sure if this book is written in a similar manner as the Sisterhood series, but I did find this style of writing a bit confusing. There were so many characters and view points to keep track of that I found myself flipping back to the chart, the author graciously provides us in the beginning of the book, quite often to remind myself of who was who.
Both families are eventually forced to come together and family secrets are revealed. I enjoyed the story line of Mattie, the youngest of the three sisters the most. I wasn't a big fan of Ray and Sasha's romance and found myself far more interested in the reasons behind the bitterness and hostility of the parents and their backstories instead.
If the premise sounds interesting to you, and you don't mind keeping track of multiple POVs, this would make a good, quick summer beach read.
I received a free ARC of this book at Yallfest.
-Shey
This book was confusing, to say the least. Not in the way that the writing was bad, just that the whole storyline was just, well, confusing.
Was it a bad book? No.
Was it a good book? No.
It was just an okay sort of book. A kind of book that afterwords you said to yourself, "I'm glad I read this but I don't want to read it again and I can't believe I spent two hours of my life reading it."
----SPOILERS AHEAD----
Issue #1)
My first issue with this book, one of the main issues, was that the theme and overall vibe changes in the last 50 pages. It starts off as a cute romance. (Which is a problem in of itself), and then right before we're nearing the end, Quinn dies. Leaving us with a ton of questions. Why? Why? Why? And most importantly, why?
It could have been a cute book to read at the beach and instead it was, whatever this was. The entire theme changes, we only have twenty pages left, and so far everything is just melancholy and weird. Why would you change it so dramatically and so quickly? Why, why, why, why, why?
Issue #2)
The second issue is one that bothered me the most. The romance. The book is considered a teen romance book. Therefore I understood that romance would occur. But the romance in this book is weird. Just plain weird.
Even though they make a big deal about how they are NOT related in any way, shape, or form, it is still super weird. They share the same brothers, sisters, and sort of kind of parents! It doesn't matter if by blood your not related! It's like saying, oh I'm going to date my stepbrother but it's okay because we're not technically related.
Plus, they only met in person, once. Just once. They then stalk each other, email about fifteen times, and then all of a sudden they're soulmates. I really didn't know what to make of it. It was just weird. Just weird.
For example, Ray makes a big deal about how they share a bed and they've never met but he "MEMORIZES HER SMELL" and how "EVERYTHING SMELLS LIKE HER". Like I'm sorry but that is weird. Not hot. Weird.
SPOILERS END HERE-----------
Issue #3)
The plot was confusing. It changes throughout an abundance of different sisters, brothers, uncles, cousins, you get the picture. Everyone gets at least a chapter where they talk about how "qUiRkY" they are and tell their sob story.
I became invested in two of the stories. One of the stories, Ray and Sasha, because it was so weird. And then the second love story between Mattie and Matt. It was hard to connect with all the characters because the POV switched around so much.
In my personal opinion, this book was cute, but not beautiful, and overall underwhelming. Read it if you like being disappointed.
Was it a bad book? No.
Was it a good book? No.
It was just an okay sort of book. A kind of book that afterwords you said to yourself, "I'm glad I read this but I don't want to read it again and I can't believe I spent two hours of my life reading it."
----SPOILERS AHEAD----
Issue #1)
My first issue with this book, one of the main issues, was that the theme and overall vibe changes in the last 50 pages. It starts off as a cute romance. (Which is a problem in of itself), and then right before we're nearing the end, Quinn dies. Leaving us with a ton of questions. Why? Why? Why? And most importantly, why?
It could have been a cute book to read at the beach and instead it was, whatever this was. The entire theme changes, we only have twenty pages left, and so far everything is just melancholy and weird. Why would you change it so dramatically and so quickly? Why, why, why, why, why?
Issue #2)
The second issue is one that bothered me the most. The romance. The book is considered a teen romance book. Therefore I understood that romance would occur. But the romance in this book is weird. Just plain weird.
Even though they make a big deal about how they are NOT related in any way, shape, or form, it is still super weird. They share the same brothers, sisters, and sort of kind of parents! It doesn't matter if by blood your not related! It's like saying, oh I'm going to date my stepbrother but it's okay because we're not technically related.
Plus, they only met in person, once. Just once. They then stalk each other, email about fifteen times, and then all of a sudden they're soulmates. I really didn't know what to make of it. It was just weird. Just weird.
For example, Ray makes a big deal about how they share a bed and they've never met but he "MEMORIZES HER SMELL" and how "EVERYTHING SMELLS LIKE HER". Like I'm sorry but that is weird. Not hot. Weird.
SPOILERS END HERE-----------
Issue #3)
The plot was confusing. It changes throughout an abundance of different sisters, brothers, uncles, cousins, you get the picture. Everyone gets at least a chapter where they talk about how "qUiRkY" they are and tell their sob story.
I became invested in two of the stories. One of the stories, Ray and Sasha, because it was so weird. And then the second love story between Mattie and Matt. It was hard to connect with all the characters because the POV switched around so much.
In my personal opinion, this book was cute, but not beautiful, and overall underwhelming. Read it if you like being disappointed.
This book wasn't what I expected. The inside flap made it sound like it was a story of teens who shared a bedroom at a beach house on opposite weeks, but it was actually a story of the children living in a dysfunctional family. I was thrown at first and didn't like it because it wasn't what I thought it should have been. Once I accepted it for what it was it was better. But true writing was patchy and things were mentioned than hadn't been before. It was somewhat disjointed.
I am a huge fan of Ann Brashere's Sisterhood series and was excited to see that she had a new YA novel being published. After seeing the less than stellar reviews, I was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed The Whole Thing Together. It took a few chapters to work through my confusions between the siblings and their parents, but once I got further into it found that I didn't want to put this story down. Each sibling tells the story of the this messed up broken family from their own perspective and how it has affected his/her own life. The story reminds me of some of my favorite adult beach reads that take place on the east coast - a little bit of love, friendships, family drama, etc. A perfect book to start my summer vacation.
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
There were too many random characters and all were related in some way. For such a short book, it got confusing due to never really getting introduced to them for me than snippets which made the end, for me at least, not have any impact. I felt no emotional connection to anyone in the book and it got confusing on whose story I was reading about as multiple times emails between characters would be inserted into someone elses part of the story.