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icygrl7's review against another edition
3.0
I am glad this wasn’t my first book by this author. I liked it but I didn’t love it. It was just ok for me. There were some interesting characters and just enough of the story to keep me reading. I found some of it hard to believe and other parts close to reality (things that could of happened or did happen in my life etc). I would still recommend this author but this book was definitely not my favorite by her.
jwala34's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
andreanourse's review
5.0
I loved this book. The mother-daughter relationship between Ginny & Avery, and Ginny and her mother. Ginny’s friendship with Kirsten. The backstory. All of it.
debi_g's review
Full disclosure: I am a dedicated, admiring, and loyal reader of all Marisa de los Santos' novels. Her quiet, linguistically delicious writing soothes me, her plucky characters buoy me, her dialogue delights me, and her plots invite me to bask.
One defining feature of de los Santos' books is the inclusion of an observant, precocious, thoughtful, do-right child who is at ease with adults. Since I'm the parent of a child that fits that exact description, it doesn't bother me a bit.
Whole-hearted, delighfully codependent love is another characteristic of her stories. Since I've reveled in a devoted, mutually adoring, and interdependent relationship for 30 years, this doesn't bother me a bit.
This book's type of layered, tangled conflicts do differ from the author's expected tropes in a couple of ways, which also does not bother me a bit.
The complete lack of financial concern bothers me a little bit, but it does make for a pleasant escape.
As ever, I eagerly await more from Marisa de los Santos.
"What if grief isn't only missing people and being sad? What if it's just--reckoning with their being gone and with knowing they're never coming back?" (102).
"Did you stop being your old selves? Did they fall away? Were you always only the self you were in the present? Or were you, every second of your life, all the selves you'd ever been?" (150).
One defining feature of de los Santos' books is the inclusion of an observant, precocious, thoughtful, do-right child who is at ease with adults. Since I'm the parent of a child that fits that exact description, it doesn't bother me a bit.
Whole-hearted, delighfully codependent love is another characteristic of her stories. Since I've reveled in a devoted, mutually adoring, and interdependent relationship for 30 years, this doesn't bother me a bit.
This book's type of layered, tangled conflicts do differ from the author's expected tropes in a couple of ways, which also does not bother me a bit.
The complete lack of financial concern bothers me a little bit, but it does make for a pleasant escape.
As ever, I eagerly await more from Marisa de los Santos.
"What if grief isn't only missing people and being sad? What if it's just--reckoning with their being gone and with knowing they're never coming back?" (102).
"Did you stop being your old selves? Did they fall away? Were you always only the self you were in the present? Or were you, every second of your life, all the selves you'd ever been?" (150).
suvata's review against another edition
4.0
ModernMrsDarcy.com 2020 Summer Reading Guide
• 5 high school friends
• 1 star quarterback with a secret
• 1 tragic fire
• 20 years of resentment and guilt
• 1 truth that brings clarity to all
Wow! Marisa de los Santos can write a heart-wrenching tale that sucks you in on page 1.
• 5 high school friends
• 1 star quarterback with a secret
• 1 tragic fire
• 20 years of resentment and guilt
• 1 truth that brings clarity to all
Wow! Marisa de los Santos can write a heart-wrenching tale that sucks you in on page 1.
echo_finished_cake's review
3.0
I am so grateful to have finally get my hands on a copy of this book as I have been waiting quite awhile in great anticipation for reading it. The synopsis is quite intriguing and powerful to convince you to get a copy immediately and start reading.
I had high hopes for this novel. I was anxious to read it for awhile.
I want to trying to be an objective book reviewer, so here I go.
I normally do not make comments on this when I write book reviews, but I want to start with the aesthetics of the book cover. I think the placement and text size of the author's name is awkward. When you first glance at it, you think the title is "Marisa de los Santos", which of course it is not. I really think they should have switched the title and the authors name on the cover. That makes more sense to me. I do like the colors of the sundown and the silhouette of the two bodies jumping off the clip. It is quite eye catching! While the jumping was relevant to the story, I think I would have chosen something different to represent the whole story, like a school building or a group of friends in a colorful, nostalgic kind of way. But that's just me. Overall, the cover is not bad, just needs some minor changes in my opinion.
Second, I want to say how absolutely appropriate the title is for the story it tells. Well done, truly!
Third, I have to give this book a demerit for the first like 110 pages of it. This first part was slow in developing the plot and even when it did so, the rising events were not real emotionally intriguing like I had hoped. Actually, I was so bored with the first part of the book, I actually considered not finishing it, but I had been too excited for too long not to finish it. So if you're reading this review before reading, you have been forewarned.
But about page 109, it got real interesting. A revelation from one of the characters redeemed the story and it really took off from there until the very end. Overall, I liked the story, thought it was eventually able to capture the emotions of the reader.
I thought all the characters were well written in terms of their roles in the plot. Harris is awful, but I liked how he was written. Avery is not great, but I like how her character became a serious part of the plot. Gray was a fantastic character, an admirable one with lots of courage. Who doesn't love a character like that? He was surely my favorite character, though the story was told 100% by Ginny and Avery.
Something else I did not really care for in the novel was the many subtle shifts of points of view from Ginny to Avery. One is from the first person point of view and the other is a third person. Honestly, I thought it was awkward. If Ms. de los Santos had a purposeful, artful intention behind doing this, it was lost on me.
What surprised me about this novel is based on the synopsis, I expected there to be a lead up to the school fire, and there was, but not in the way I had imagined. The whole story leading up to the school fire and the resolution of it twenty years later focused more on relationships between the characters more than the actual events itself. Of course, the events were addressed among the characters and we do find out who set the fire, but I was certainly not expecting this story to be so focused on relationships. I am sure all who read this will probably agree with me to some degree.
Overall, a good story. Would I recommend it? Meh.........
It gets 3.5 stars from me.
Thank you, Ms. de los Santos for your storytelling!
I had high hopes for this novel. I was anxious to read it for awhile.
I want to trying to be an objective book reviewer, so here I go.
I normally do not make comments on this when I write book reviews, but I want to start with the aesthetics of the book cover. I think the placement and text size of the author's name is awkward. When you first glance at it, you think the title is "Marisa de los Santos", which of course it is not. I really think they should have switched the title and the authors name on the cover. That makes more sense to me. I do like the colors of the sundown and the silhouette of the two bodies jumping off the clip. It is quite eye catching! While the jumping was relevant to the story, I think I would have chosen something different to represent the whole story, like a school building or a group of friends in a colorful, nostalgic kind of way. But that's just me. Overall, the cover is not bad, just needs some minor changes in my opinion.
Second, I want to say how absolutely appropriate the title is for the story it tells. Well done, truly!
Third, I have to give this book a demerit for the first like 110 pages of it. This first part was slow in developing the plot and even when it did so, the rising events were not real emotionally intriguing like I had hoped. Actually, I was so bored with the first part of the book, I actually considered not finishing it, but I had been too excited for too long not to finish it. So if you're reading this review before reading, you have been forewarned.
But about page 109, it got real interesting. A revelation from one of the characters redeemed the story and it really took off from there until the very end. Overall, I liked the story, thought it was eventually able to capture the emotions of the reader.
I thought all the characters were well written in terms of their roles in the plot. Harris is awful, but I liked how he was written. Avery is not great, but I like how her character became a serious part of the plot. Gray was a fantastic character, an admirable one with lots of courage. Who doesn't love a character like that? He was surely my favorite character, though the story was told 100% by Ginny and Avery.
Something else I did not really care for in the novel was the many subtle shifts of points of view from Ginny to Avery. One is from the first person point of view and the other is a third person. Honestly, I thought it was awkward. If Ms. de los Santos had a purposeful, artful intention behind doing this, it was lost on me.
What surprised me about this novel is based on the synopsis, I expected there to be a lead up to the school fire, and there was, but not in the way I had imagined. The whole story leading up to the school fire and the resolution of it twenty years later focused more on relationships between the characters more than the actual events itself. Of course, the events were addressed among the characters and we do find out who set the fire, but I was certainly not expecting this story to be so focused on relationships. I am sure all who read this will probably agree with me to some degree.
Overall, a good story. Would I recommend it? Meh.........
It gets 3.5 stars from me.
Thank you, Ms. de los Santos for your storytelling!
kittykornerlibrarian's review against another edition
4.0
I had a hard time with the diary entries at the beginning. They're written by Zinny, a high school student, and her style in these comes across as though she is straining way too hard to sound sophisticated. But I loved the story once I got into it. I always enjoy this author's characters and their quirks. Anyway, Ginny belongs to this close group of four friends in high school and the group breaks apart due to some Very Big Happenings their senior year. Most of them seem to stay around in the same town where they grew up, and while I don't really get this as a life choice, whatever, that's what the author chose to do. There's a lot of domestic drama in Zinny's life as an adult, and there are flashbacks to high school. I just really enjoyed this in a light reading kind of way.
kbranfield's review against another edition
4.0
4.5 stars.
I'd Give Anything by Marisa de los Santos is a surprisingly light-hearted novel of healing, friendship and love.
Ginny Beale McCue's life is turned upside down when her husband, Harris, loses his job amid a scandal. Determined to protect their fifteen year old daughter, Avery, from negative gossip, Ginny asks her terminally ill mother to spin the situation in their favor. She also avoids revealing the more salacious details but Avery knows something is definitely wrong since her father has moved out of the family home.
In the midst of the current crisis, Ginny's best friend Kirsten makes a request she cannot turn down even though it means facing the best friends she walked away from twenty years earlier. She also hopes to repair her broken relationship with her brother Trevor who left during the same time dark time period during her senior year of high school. As she is looking back on her past mistakes, Ginny unexpectedly finds the man who could possibly be part of her future. But will she trust her instincts enough to give their unexpected romance the chance to flourish?
Ginny is content with her marriage and their life with Avery. Things are a little boring with Harris, so she is utterly shocked to learn about the circumstances surrounding the loss of his job. Very concerned about their daughter, Ginny hopes to protect her from inevitable gossip about her father. Kirsten encourages Ginny to look toward the future, but is she ready to begin dating?
Avery is stronger than her mother thinks but that convincing her of that is going to be an uphill battle. She is curious and also uneasy about what happened with her father and his job, but she is uncomfortable spending time with him. After a stunning revelation about her mother's past, Avery seeks out more information about the circumstances surrounding the loss of his job. But is she truly ready for what she is about to discover?
I'd Give Anything is a heartwarming novel that is also quite entertaining. The cast of characters is appealing and easy to like. The storyline is interesting and alternates between Avery's teenage diary entries and events in the present. Marisa de los Santos deftly balances serious subject matter with humor and the resulting story is heartfelt and thought-provoking. A delightful addition to the Love Walked In series that readers of the genre will enjoy.
I'd Give Anything by Marisa de los Santos is a surprisingly light-hearted novel of healing, friendship and love.
Ginny Beale McCue's life is turned upside down when her husband, Harris, loses his job amid a scandal. Determined to protect their fifteen year old daughter, Avery, from negative gossip, Ginny asks her terminally ill mother to spin the situation in their favor. She also avoids revealing the more salacious details but Avery knows something is definitely wrong since her father has moved out of the family home.
In the midst of the current crisis, Ginny's best friend Kirsten makes a request she cannot turn down even though it means facing the best friends she walked away from twenty years earlier. She also hopes to repair her broken relationship with her brother Trevor who left during the same time dark time period during her senior year of high school. As she is looking back on her past mistakes, Ginny unexpectedly finds the man who could possibly be part of her future. But will she trust her instincts enough to give their unexpected romance the chance to flourish?
Ginny is content with her marriage and their life with Avery. Things are a little boring with Harris, so she is utterly shocked to learn about the circumstances surrounding the loss of his job. Very concerned about their daughter, Ginny hopes to protect her from inevitable gossip about her father. Kirsten encourages Ginny to look toward the future, but is she ready to begin dating?
Avery is stronger than her mother thinks but that convincing her of that is going to be an uphill battle. She is curious and also uneasy about what happened with her father and his job, but she is uncomfortable spending time with him. After a stunning revelation about her mother's past, Avery seeks out more information about the circumstances surrounding the loss of his job. But is she truly ready for what she is about to discover?
I'd Give Anything is a heartwarming novel that is also quite entertaining. The cast of characters is appealing and easy to like. The storyline is interesting and alternates between Avery's teenage diary entries and events in the present. Marisa de los Santos deftly balances serious subject matter with humor and the resulting story is heartfelt and thought-provoking. A delightful addition to the Love Walked In series that readers of the genre will enjoy.
kshea1's review against another edition
3.0
3 stars
This was an easy read and it kept my attention. For more than half of the book, I couldn't figure out where it was going or even the point of the story. It does wrap itself up nicely by the end
This was an easy read and it kept my attention. For more than half of the book, I couldn't figure out where it was going or even the point of the story. It does wrap itself up nicely by the end