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lindaunconventionalbookworms's review against another edition
2.0
*I received a free ARC of Broken Hearts, Fences and Other Things to Mend from Netgalley in exchange of an honest review*
Yeah, this was not at all my kind of story. Gemma was acting so clueless, when she should have caught on to Hallie's shenanigans from the very start, and the way she tried to justify her actions all the time did not sit well with me.
Full review to come soon.
This and all my other reviews are originally posted on my blog (un)Conventional Bookviews
Yeah, this was not at all my kind of story. Gemma was acting so clueless, when she should have caught on to Hallie's shenanigans from the very start, and the way she tried to justify her actions all the time did not sit well with me.
Full review to come soon.
This and all my other reviews are originally posted on my blog (un)Conventional Bookviews
jessicatamm92's review against another edition
5.0
So far all 3 of Morgan Matson's books I've read have been 5/5 stars. She is definitely one of my new favorite ya contemporary authors! I highly recommend her books! This book made me SO ready for summertime! I NEED book two though.. Ugh. I was so anxious while reading this book. I did guess a few things going on in this book.. But was definitely still thrown by that ending. I'm so dang invested in these characters and I can't wait to see what happens!
burstnwithbooks's review against another edition
4.0
Apparently it's been almost exactly four years since I read this book... which is wild. I remembered a lot of plot points from my first read (including one from the second book, which is weird considering how I've never read that book), but it was still quite enjoyable. It felt like a reality TV show as far as quality and enjoyment level... which is to say, not super high quality, but somewhat stupidly entertaining and rather addicting. I got through these books in a day each, and just had a really fun time. If you're looking for a fun summer read (mind you, broken hearts and revenge is the series title), I definitely recommend picking this up! Otherwise, it doesn't have too much substance... so maybe pass on this one. :-) I still love Morgan Matson and I'm excited to see what her next book is, but this series is not really all that similar to her other books in its writing style, so I'm not sure I would recommend this one as part of her collection.
Final note to say - the "cliffhanger" on this book was kind of ridiculous. I wasn't a fan, and I would recommend having the entire trilogy on hand to get through all at once if you plan on reading this series.
Final note to say - the "cliffhanger" on this book was kind of ridiculous. I wasn't a fan, and I would recommend having the entire trilogy on hand to get through all at once if you plan on reading this series.
gummybear5t's review against another edition
I did not enjoy reading this book that much. Most of the ending was predictable when I was only a quarter of the way done. There were part of this book when I just wanted to quit this book for many reasons. In the end I understood why those embarrassing events occurred to Gemma but I did not like them one bit and the relationships in this book was not the best. The good thing is that the book has some good moments.
cupcakegirly's review against another edition
3.0
The cover and color scheme for this book are super cute and a great fit for the overall theme of the story which is well written with entertaining characters. Gemma is going through a rough patch when we meet her, but when she finds herself with an opportunity to fix things with her ex-BFF, Hallie, she takes it. What begins as a much needed "do-over" quickly turns into a disaster, leaving Gemma to wonder if her efforts were really worth it at all.
I didn't like all the choices that these characters made - the ones that resulted in *innocent* people ending up hurt, but I did like that they were made to face the consequences of their actions both past and present.
I'm always hesitant to read revenge books because having dealt with plenty of girl drama in high school myself, it's not a topic I like to revisit often. However, I thought Finn did a good job of infusing humor into this story and it will be interesting to see where she takes these characters.
This is an entertaining start to a new series and because it's fairly fast-paced, I read it in one sitting, it also makes for a great pool or beach read.
I didn't like all the choices that these characters made - the ones that resulted in *innocent* people ending up hurt, but I did like that they were made to face the consequences of their actions both past and present.
I'm always hesitant to read revenge books because having dealt with plenty of girl drama in high school myself, it's not a topic I like to revisit often. However, I thought Finn did a good job of infusing humor into this story and it will be interesting to see where she takes these characters.
This is an entertaining start to a new series and because it's fairly fast-paced, I read it in one sitting, it also makes for a great pool or beach read.
capesandcovers's review against another edition
2.0
dnfing at page 175 (almost 52% in). this book wasn't what i thought it was going to be and while i adore revenge stories, this one just felt shallow and easily predictable. i literally went to go read the blurbs from books 2 and 3 and could guess what it was going to be beforehand. tweens might have fun with this one, but honestly i'm kind of surprised to see the number of people who gave it high ratings. i could've finished reading it if i really wanted to, but i don't so
merlin_reads's review against another edition
3.0
I don't know if this book was supposed to be as predictable as it was, but...
I called everything. Even the "big twist" at the end. Now, this doesn't mean that I disliked the book because I didn't. It just means that either I have super sleuth powers when it comes to unearthing plots or the author wasn't as sly as she thought she was.
Gemma Hart is...well, she's kind of a horrible person and kind of dumb. When she was eleven, she was convinced that her parents separation was a passing thing and that by the end of summer they would be back to being one big happy family. Realizing this wasn't going to happen, she plots to to remove the one thing standing in her way: her fathers new girlfriend and her daughter. Now, five years later, Gemma is returning to the Hamptons to spend the summer with her father. She figures there's no way she'll run into Hallie (the daughter she hurt) and things even start looking up when she meets a cute boy on the train. But as fate would have it, the cute boy aka Josh is Hallie's older brother and she suddenly finds herself face to face with the friend she hurt. So what does she do? She lies. She pretends to be someone else. She figures that she'll get Hallie to like her again and then apologize, thus revealing who she really is.
I honestly don't understand how a girl this old doesn't get how wrong this is. You're going to lie to someone to get them to like you only to reveal your lie and hope for the best? Nope. That's not how life works. On top of that, what she did to Hallie's mom in the past was something that even an eleven year old would know was wrong. And how she didn't get caught, I'll never know.
Now, I know that it seems like I didn't like the book. And I did. It wasn't amazing, but it kept me reading - even if it was just to find out if I was correct about my suspicions. But honestly, I was interested in what would happen with Josh. Gemma didn't really have any interactions with him back in the day but I was sure that he knew everything that happened and once he found out who she was, shit was going to hit the fan. I felt for Josh. He was dealing with a break up and was having trust issues, and along comes Gemma who he clicks with instantly but she's lying to him and it's a pretty big lie. I spent the whole book just waiting for this to blow up in her face. And there were a lot of near misses, let me tell you.
Aside from the my issues with the story, I really enjoyed Finn's writing. It felt like I was watching a high school drama series and I just couldn't look away. The book definitely ends on a cliff hanger that sets up the next installment and color me curious, I want to know what happens. And I believe T Swift said it best:
I called everything. Even the "big twist" at the end. Now, this doesn't mean that I disliked the book because I didn't. It just means that either I have super sleuth powers when it comes to unearthing plots or the author wasn't as sly as she thought she was.
Gemma Hart is...well, she's kind of a horrible person and kind of dumb. When she was eleven, she was convinced that her parents separation was a passing thing and that by the end of summer they would be back to being one big happy family. Realizing this wasn't going to happen, she plots to to remove the one thing standing in her way: her fathers new girlfriend and her daughter. Now, five years later, Gemma is returning to the Hamptons to spend the summer with her father. She figures there's no way she'll run into Hallie (the daughter she hurt) and things even start looking up when she meets a cute boy on the train. But as fate would have it, the cute boy aka Josh is Hallie's older brother and she suddenly finds herself face to face with the friend she hurt. So what does she do? She lies. She pretends to be someone else. She figures that she'll get Hallie to like her again and then apologize, thus revealing who she really is.
I honestly don't understand how a girl this old doesn't get how wrong this is. You're going to lie to someone to get them to like you only to reveal your lie and hope for the best? Nope. That's not how life works. On top of that, what she did to Hallie's mom in the past was something that even an eleven year old would know was wrong. And how she didn't get caught, I'll never know.
Now, I know that it seems like I didn't like the book. And I did. It wasn't amazing, but it kept me reading - even if it was just to find out if I was correct about my suspicions. But honestly, I was interested in what would happen with Josh. Gemma didn't really have any interactions with him back in the day but I was sure that he knew everything that happened and once he found out who she was, shit was going to hit the fan. I felt for Josh. He was dealing with a break up and was having trust issues, and along comes Gemma who he clicks with instantly but she's lying to him and it's a pretty big lie. I spent the whole book just waiting for this to blow up in her face. And there were a lot of near misses, let me tell you.
Aside from the my issues with the story, I really enjoyed Finn's writing. It felt like I was watching a high school drama series and I just couldn't look away. The book definitely ends on a cliff hanger that sets up the next installment and color me curious, I want to know what happens. And I believe T Swift said it best:
jherrick_'s review against another edition
3.0
2.5 stars. I never thought I'd give a Morgan Matson book a rating so low, but I really didn't like this book. SUPER predictable, and I honestly don't know how it's going to make two more books. literally skimmed the last couple chapters, because I knew exactly what was going to happen - and it did. definitely won't be reading any more of these.