4.25 AVERAGE

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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kaseyh's review

4.5
emotional lighthearted tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
lahren's profile picture

lahren's review

4.0

I must confess that this did manage to make me emotional over a game of tennis.
But also this book has me convinced that TJR has never spoken to a bilingual person in her entire life.

abbacannedy's review

4.0

4.5!!
lizhuertaa10's profile picture

lizhuertaa10's review

5.0

UMMM no way it just ended like that.... but holy sh** I felt like this book tore my heart out and stomped on it. TJR ALWAYS has that effect on me. Sigh.

eleani's review

5.0

Amazing story

"And I wonder for a moment why I have spent all my time worried about losing things, when there is so much here."

This book surprised me. Pleasantly. I've seen a lot of negative reviews so I didn't have high expectations going in, but I should have known better than to doubt Taylor Jenkins Reid - which, incidentally, is exactly what I thought after finishing 'Malibu Rising', too.

I'm not exactly sure yet where this book ranks in my ratings of TJR books, but what I will say is this: this is maybe the most fun I've had reading one of her books. 'Malibu Rising' touched my heart, 'Evelyn Hugo' really resonated with me, 'Daisy Jones' was riveting, but this was fun. I didn't always like Carrie but I was always behind her. And, after how underwhelmed and unexcited I was when I found out she was going to be the protagonist of TJR's next book, that is a real accomplishment.

I'm not sure this book has as much depth to it as TJR's other books, so I can understand the criticism on that front. But the themes of family and loss and failure and love were all wonderfully well done. In some ways, I think this book's strength is that it doesn't grapple with as much as TJR's other books (that I've read, at least). It's always easy to follow and easy to immerse yourself back into, and always, always fun. I was surprised by how much of a page turner this was!

Overall, I don't have many negative things to say about this. I had fun. I was pleasantly surprised. Carrie was a very strong, although not always likeable, protagonist, her father was sunshine personified, and I adored Bowe, too, both in spite of how difficult he could be and because of it. So, while this isn't as special as 'Malibu Rising' for me, it is still a very well-written, fun book. TJR just doesn't miss.
mangosmoothie's profile picture

mangosmoothie's review

4.5

Loved Carrie, she reminded me of myself a lot. The ending was beautiful. As a challengers fan i loved it
inspiring reflective medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

moconnor5's review

3.0
inspiring medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes