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3.7 AVERAGE
3.7 AVERAGE
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Sunkissed- Kasie West
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
“And sometimes is all I need. And more than I deserved. So I read into every sign. Because sometimes, yes this time, sometimes brought me you. ”
Avery’s best friend recently betrayed her with her (ex) boyfriend and now she’s about to spend the next two months at a family camp with her parents and younger sister - with no cell phone reception and no way to listen to her music.
At the camp, Avery meets a charming musician named Brooks, who immediately catches her attention.. but he’s a staff member and there are strict rules about staff members hanging out with or dating guests.
Avery is determined to discover herself this summer and recruits Brooks for the journey. In return, Avery will help Brooks’ band write music for an upcoming competition.
As time goes on, the two find themselves in what seems to be an impossible situation - where rules will have to be broken and lies will have to be told. Hopefully everything will work out how it should
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
“And sometimes is all I need. And more than I deserved. So I read into every sign. Because sometimes, yes this time, sometimes brought me you. ”
Avery’s best friend recently betrayed her with her (ex) boyfriend and now she’s about to spend the next two months at a family camp with her parents and younger sister - with no cell phone reception and no way to listen to her music.
At the camp, Avery meets a charming musician named Brooks, who immediately catches her attention.. but he’s a staff member and there are strict rules about staff members hanging out with or dating guests.
Avery is determined to discover herself this summer and recruits Brooks for the journey. In return, Avery will help Brooks’ band write music for an upcoming competition.
As time goes on, the two find themselves in what seems to be an impossible situation - where rules will have to be broken and lies will have to be told. Hopefully everything will work out how it should
✨This was quite atrocious✨
I didn’t connect with the story, I didn’t connect with the characters, I didn’t connect with the music, and somehow (?) I didn’t connect with the practical ADULT trying to get with the 15-year-old.
Side note: I get it, I’m 23 and this is YA so I’m not talking about a soul connection but I generally like to be invested in the story, sue me. There was no connection because this was straight up boring.
They made damn sure to mention that Kai was WAY too old for Lauren—like I said practically an adult here!—and then just GLOSSED over Brooks having to tell Kai not to and Kai had the audacity to be ANGRY about it. I’m just SO CONFUSED why this was even added to the book???? I can’t remember how old Kai was exactly (I blacked a lot of this book out) but it was said enough times to make me so uncomfortable with the fact that he WANTED to get with her even though he never did. He should never have had to be TOLD to stay away. And then Avery just IGNORED it.
Avery was also just so wishy washy. Brooks was a little shit with no personality. I cannot believe he even deigned to think Avery shouldn’t be the one to sing that motherfuckin song at that show. Instead of a mic drop she should have just punched him in the face after she was done.
Together, the two had zero chemistry. Avery’s issue with her friend was also wishy washy because she was such a pushover and how it all ended NEGATED her progress CUT
I didn’t connect with the story, I didn’t connect with the characters, I didn’t connect with the music, and somehow (?) I didn’t connect with the practical ADULT trying to get with the 15-year-old.
Side note: I get it, I’m 23 and this is YA so I’m not talking about a soul connection but I generally like to be invested in the story, sue me. There was no connection because this was straight up boring.
They made damn sure to mention that Kai was WAY too old for Lauren—like I said practically an adult here!—and then just GLOSSED over Brooks having to tell Kai not to and Kai had the audacity to be ANGRY about it. I’m just SO CONFUSED why this was even added to the book???? I can’t remember how old Kai was exactly (I blacked a lot of this book out) but it was said enough times to make me so uncomfortable with the fact that he WANTED to get with her even though he never did. He should never have had to be TOLD to stay away. And then Avery just IGNORED it.
Avery was also just so wishy washy. Brooks was a little shit with no personality. I cannot believe he even deigned to think Avery shouldn’t be the one to sing that motherfuckin song at that show. Instead of a mic drop she should have just punched him in the face after she was done.
Together, the two had zero chemistry. Avery’s issue with her friend was also wishy washy because she was such a pushover and how it all ended NEGATED her progress CUT
Kasie West's books have been feeling to me like a much-beloved sweatshirt, growing threadbare at the cuffs. Her premises are on-point, but the execution is a little thin.
Conflict-adverse, predictable Avery is spending the summer at a resort/summer camp with her family. She has an insta-crush on Brooks, resort employee and guitarist of the dinner band who has a bit of a chip on his shoulder about summer guests. There's some mild conflict, but for the most part things go much as you would expect.
A no-fraternizing rule between the guests and the employees is one source of potential conflict, but Avery and her sister spend all their time hanging out with the employees and are not particularly subtle about it, and there is never any consequence or real moment of tension. It felt, like the other potential sources of conflict, that it was thrown out as an idea, but either was quickly resolved or ignored. Likewise, Avery is in a fight with her best friend back home, because after Avery's boyfriend broke up with her, said best friend almost immediately hooked up with him. The resolution to this conflict seemed to come out of nowhere and was seemingly just resolved to tie up a lose thread.
Another part of the book that seemed thin was the absolute lack of interaction with other guests at the resort. There is never any mention of any other teenage guest. The resort seems to be populated exclusively by adults and young children. I think this was just because West didn't want to add more characters, which is fair enough, but it's strange that every employee is a teenager and none of the other guests are. There couldn't even be a brief rival-for-Brooks' affection by a pretty teenage guest? Or another love interest for Avery who is a guest? Or even a friend or acquaintance?
Conflict-adverse, predictable Avery is spending the summer at a resort/summer camp with her family. She has an insta-crush on Brooks, resort employee and guitarist of the dinner band who has a bit of a chip on his shoulder about summer guests. There's some mild conflict, but for the most part things go much as you would expect.
A no-fraternizing rule between the guests and the employees is one source of potential conflict, but Avery and her sister spend all their time hanging out with the employees and are not particularly subtle about it, and there is never any consequence or real moment of tension. It felt, like the other potential sources of conflict, that it was thrown out as an idea, but either was quickly resolved or ignored. Likewise, Avery is in a fight with her best friend back home, because after Avery's boyfriend broke up with her, said best friend almost immediately hooked up with him. The resolution to this conflict seemed to come out of nowhere and was seemingly just resolved to tie up a lose thread.
Another part of the book that seemed thin was the absolute lack of interaction with other guests at the resort. There is never any mention of any other teenage guest. The resort seems to be populated exclusively by adults and young children. I think this was just because West didn't want to add more characters, which is fair enough, but it's strange that every employee is a teenager and none of the other guests are. There couldn't even be a brief rival-for-Brooks' affection by a pretty teenage guest? Or another love interest for Avery who is a guest? Or even a friend or acquaintance?
Thank you to Netgalley and Delacorte Press for a eARC. I really enjoyed reading Sunkissed by Kasie West. The main character Avery loves music. She has an amazing voice but she has stage fright. Her and the rest of her family are spending 2 months at a remote camp. There she meets Brooks. He works at the camp and they have rules that they can't fraternize with the guests. Avery & Brooks bond over their love of music . They start writing music together. When the lead singer of his band can't play a gig at an festival will Avery step forward to sing? you could feel the chemistry between Avery and Brooks come off the page. I'm giving this a 3 out of 5 stars. I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Overall really liked this book however the character development wasn’t very good which made it difficult to sympathize or like them. They felt one dimensional.
I did however really like the plot arc and was somewhat surprised at points. despite on loving the characters, i still felt really emotional at points in this book and even cried once. Also it’s pretty hilarious at points.
I would recommend someone interested in romcoms to read this novel. Super cute summer read
I did however really like the plot arc and was somewhat surprised at points. despite on loving the characters, i still felt really emotional at points in this book and even cried once. Also it’s pretty hilarious at points.
I would recommend someone interested in romcoms to read this novel. Super cute summer read
Following Avery as she spends the summer at a camp with her family, she soon forms a deal with a musician who works at the camp. If she can help him write lyrics to enter a music festival, he’ll help her on her path of self discovery. A cute love story on paper that I did not connect with.
The plot, although interesting didn’t hold my attention and this 300 page book took forever to get through. I didn’t find any of the characters interesting and found most of them quite annoying.
It is a cute, quick, summery read, but It wasn’t the book for me. I had a very hard time getting into it and an even harder time motivating myself to finish it
The plot, although interesting didn’t hold my attention and this 300 page book took forever to get through. I didn’t find any of the characters interesting and found most of them quite annoying.
It is a cute, quick, summery read, but It wasn’t the book for me. I had a very hard time getting into it and an even harder time motivating myself to finish it
This book was soooo cute! This is one of my first ya romances and it made my heart melt. The characters where amazing and even though the end was kind of predictable the romance between brooks and avery was spot. On.
I had a craving for a cute, summery, YA romance and decided to pick this up since the Dirty Dancing similarities appealed to me. This was exactly what I was looking for. It was a quick story with a fun setting and likable characters. The romance part was kind of just... there. I know I'm not the target audience for this book, but really nothing about Brooks appealed to me. I enjoyed Lauren and Avery connecting as sister and Avery finding new friends more than anything involving Brooks.