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greisreads's review
2.0
My thing with this book is that it wasn't bad, it just didn't need to exist. To be honest, this was 244 pages of pretty much nothing happening. It's pretty much an entire book on just character growth and it was pretty unnecessary.
Gemma and co get stuck in Bruce's house because of a hurricane and she finds out her dad and Karen are getting married. And because the entirety of the second book didn't happen apparently since no one seems to have learned anything from it, she and Hallie go back to do everything they did in book 2 except it's to their parents.
And literally everyone was telling them to take their heads out of their ass and just let their parents be happy and Gemma essentially went, I hear you and I kind of agree but I'm gonna do it anyways. Like the entire time she was scheming, she knew she was doing the wrong thing, she didn't even want to do it, but she just kept going. And the way her and Hallie made it sound, you'd think capers would ensue but literally only two things happened and the second event was the only dealbreaker one for their parents relationship.
Like the entire Reverse Parent Trap plot didn't really go anywhere, to be honest, their parents weren't even in the house with them most of the time, and the rest of the time they were too busy making sure things went smoothly because of the hurricane.
The Ford plotline was dragged out for way too long, for suspense purposes and nothing else obviously, to the point where it was just annoying. Like the dumb pining and stuff would've been cut down significantly. Like the scene at the end where the two of them do get together was cute and all but it could've happened at literally any other time.
The rest of the characters were pretty uninteresting like nothing happened with them, they were mostly there because they had to be. Gwenyth was home the entire time to literally no one's surprise, it was fairly obvious.
I guess the only thing that we really got out of this book was that Hallie and Gemma finally got over their problems and grew closer since they were gonna be related and all. But all in all, anything worth keeping around in this book is so small that it could've been added onto book 2 with like an extra hundred pages or so and it would've been a nice wrap-up. So, like I said, there wasn't really any need for this book. It wasn't bad, it just didn't serve a purpose.
Gemma and co get stuck in Bruce's house because of a hurricane and she finds out her dad and Karen are getting married. And because the entirety of the second book didn't happen apparently since no one seems to have learned anything from it, she and Hallie go back to do everything they did in book 2 except it's to their parents.
And literally everyone was telling them to take their heads out of their ass and just let their parents be happy and Gemma essentially went, I hear you and I kind of agree but I'm gonna do it anyways. Like the entire time she was scheming, she knew she was doing the wrong thing, she didn't even want to do it, but she just kept going. And the way her and Hallie made it sound, you'd think capers would ensue but literally only two things happened and the second event was the only dealbreaker one for their parents relationship.
Like the entire Reverse Parent Trap plot didn't really go anywhere, to be honest, their parents weren't even in the house with them most of the time, and the rest of the time they were too busy making sure things went smoothly because of the hurricane.
The Ford plotline was dragged out for way too long, for suspense purposes and nothing else obviously, to the point where it was just annoying. Like the dumb pining and stuff would've been cut down significantly. Like the scene at the end where the two of them do get together was cute and all but it could've happened at literally any other time.
The rest of the characters were pretty uninteresting like nothing happened with them, they were mostly there because they had to be. Gwenyth was home the entire time to literally no one's surprise, it was fairly obvious.
I guess the only thing that we really got out of this book was that Hallie and Gemma finally got over their problems and grew closer since they were gonna be related and all. But all in all, anything worth keeping around in this book is so small that it could've been added onto book 2 with like an extra hundred pages or so and it would've been a nice wrap-up. So, like I said, there wasn't really any need for this book. It wasn't bad, it just didn't serve a purpose.
burstnwithbooks's review
3.0
As I said in my review for the second book, there was an awful lot of recap (especially in this book), which was rather unfortunate, seeing as how this book was only 250 pages, so a 50 page recap meant that a fifth of the book was spent doing virtually nothing.
The plot for this book was my least favorite; it mainly relied on Gemma's stupidity (which became a little unbelievable during the storm) and inability to listen to anyone else in her life. Still, I thought it was a fun series overall (essentially reality TV in a book) and I would recommend it if you find the concept interesting. I won't be checking out any more books written under Katie Finn, but I'm excited to see what Morgan Matson releases next!
The plot for this book was my least favorite; it mainly relied on Gemma's stupidity (which became a little unbelievable during the storm) and inability to listen to anyone else in her life. Still, I thought it was a fun series overall (essentially reality TV in a book) and I would recommend it if you find the concept interesting. I won't be checking out any more books written under Katie Finn, but I'm excited to see what Morgan Matson releases next!
justkeyreads's review against another edition
4.0
This was so enjoyable and such a summer read. I loved this more, because this was more of the girls working together than all of the drama that happened even it was super entertaining to read.
pehab's review
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
reader_fictions's review
3.0
If you’ve enjoyed the rest of the series, you’ll like Hearts, Fingers, and Other Things to Cross. It’s just as much completely silly fun as the prior two books.
There’s a reason Morgan Matson writes these under her Katie Finn pseudonym. I’m not going to lie to you and say this series is brilliant, because it’s not. It IS fun, though. This book is basically The Parent Trap as done by the CW. The whole series is high drama, full of cat fights, and people making incredibly stupid decisions. The reason that works for me is because it’s all so very obviously not taking itself seriously, so it ends up being funny rather than eye-roll inducing.
Gemma remains TSTL in Hearts, Fingers, forgetting to do things she’s been asked to do, making more terrible plans, and developing at slug speed. This makes me struggle with why Ford would be into her, but whatever; he must be the most tolerant and forgiving guy ever, so maybe they’ll work out. I also had trouble with the fact that one of her “I’ve grown as a result of all of this” good deeds was hooking Hallie and Teddy back up, like they’re a great couple. Yeah, okay. That said, this is all par for the course and pretty much what I expected to get.
The one thing that actually really annoyed me was the epilogue. For some reason, it’s from Hallie’s POV. The voice is indistinct from Gemma’s and there’s no point to the switch, other than to confuse the reader as to why Gemma can now see herself. Hallie doesn’t make any crucial observations or see anything Gemma could not have. There was no call for a new POV.
I realize this review came out pretty negative, but seriously I read this cover to cover in a couple hours and I enjoyed myself a lot.
There’s a reason Morgan Matson writes these under her Katie Finn pseudonym. I’m not going to lie to you and say this series is brilliant, because it’s not. It IS fun, though. This book is basically The Parent Trap as done by the CW. The whole series is high drama, full of cat fights, and people making incredibly stupid decisions. The reason that works for me is because it’s all so very obviously not taking itself seriously, so it ends up being funny rather than eye-roll inducing.
Gemma remains TSTL in Hearts, Fingers, forgetting to do things she’s been asked to do, making more terrible plans, and developing at slug speed. This makes me struggle with why Ford would be into her, but whatever; he must be the most tolerant and forgiving guy ever, so maybe they’ll work out. I also had trouble with the fact that one of her “I’ve grown as a result of all of this” good deeds was hooking Hallie and Teddy back up, like they’re a great couple. Yeah, okay. That said, this is all par for the course and pretty much what I expected to get.
The one thing that actually really annoyed me was the epilogue. For some reason, it’s from Hallie’s POV. The voice is indistinct from Gemma’s and there’s no point to the switch, other than to confuse the reader as to why Gemma can now see herself. Hallie doesn’t make any crucial observations or see anything Gemma could not have. There was no call for a new POV.
I realize this review came out pretty negative, but seriously I read this cover to cover in a couple hours and I enjoyed myself a lot.
lucero's review
4.0
I thought this book wrapped up this series quite nicely! But I had to give it 4-stars because there was a lot of repetitiveness from the first two books- it could've done without that, in my opinion. Other than that, I'm sad to have this series come to an end. :( But I'm glad that Gemma and Hallie's story ended on a good note! I cannot wait to read what Katie Finn comes out with next! :)
kellyhager's review
I was so in love with this series, and seriously could not wait for this final installment. With everything that happened in the first two books, I had no idea how they could be topped in this one. Turns out that the only thing Gemma and Hallie are better at than scheming against each other is scheming against other people. In this case, they want to "reverse Parent trap" their folks and get them to split up again. (Shouldn't be too hard; Gemma, especially, has excellent experience at this.)
As you probably know, Katie Finn is the pen name for Morgan Matson* and while this series is not as emotionally intense as her other YA novels, it is incredibly fun and juicy. (Absolutely ideal for summer and the beach.)
I'm not sure if Katie Finn has any more books coming, but I certainly hope so. They're absolutely delightful and don't give me crying hangovers. (I'm still going to need more Morgan Matson, though.)
* = who actually blurbed this book
As you probably know, Katie Finn is the pen name for Morgan Matson* and while this series is not as emotionally intense as her other YA novels, it is incredibly fun and juicy. (Absolutely ideal for summer and the beach.)
I'm not sure if Katie Finn has any more books coming, but I certainly hope so. They're absolutely delightful and don't give me crying hangovers. (I'm still going to need more Morgan Matson, though.)
* = who actually blurbed this book
ketie's review
3.0
(3.5 stars)
I’m the biggest slut for longtime friends turned to lovers and I WILL NEVER STOP!!! So obviously my shipper heart aaadoooreess Ford and the midnight surf scene <3 Other than that I would have liked more interaction between the whole group like with the game night. All in all it was a sweet way to end it so I still liked it. Overall the series was just a bit childish, over the top and cheesy but hey I am all those things as well so I don’t care.
I’m the biggest slut for longtime friends turned to lovers and I WILL NEVER STOP!!! So obviously my shipper heart aaadoooreess Ford and the midnight surf scene <3 Other than that I would have liked more interaction between the whole group like with the game night. All in all it was a sweet way to end it so I still liked it. Overall the series was just a bit childish, over the top and cheesy but hey I am all those things as well so I don’t care.
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