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courtofbingereading 's review for:
One Small Thing
by Erin Watt
~3.5 stars~
**Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Teen for sending me this ARC in exchange for an honest review**
I've been a huge fan of Erin Watt ever since I read their book, When It's Real. After that book, I was hooked. I adore their writing! They create such relatable and realistic teenage characters. However, this book. while enjoyable, was not my favorite.
This story is about grief, forgiveness, moving on, and denial. Beth's sister was killed 3 years ago in a car accident. Rachel, Beth's sister, ran out in the street without looking and was hit by a car--it was 100% an accident. But, Beth's parents don't see it that way. They have refused to move on and accept Rachel's death. Beth's mom acts as if Rachel will come back someday. She keeps Rachel's room exactly as it was the day she died, and her cubby space in the mud room is not to be touched. If Beth's stuff is remotely in Rachel's cubby, then she has to move her stuff immediately. Beth's father isn't any better. He tracks Beth's phone and her text messages. Both of her parents see their actions as actions of love and protection. But, all they are doing is suffocating Beth.
This leads Beth to rebel. She goes to a party the night before her first day of senior year. At the party she meets Chase, the guy of her dreams. He's super cute and seems really nice, but best of all he is a distraction. They have a great night together. That is until they realize who the other is the next day at school. Chase is horrified when he learns who Beth is, and Beth is utterly confused when she realizes Chase is a part of her sister's accident. She should hate Chase--like everyone else at school. She shouldn't be able to look at him without feeling angry or sad...but she doesn't. She likes him.
This story is about Beth's internal struggle. Beth is struggling with her feelings for Chase because everyone around her loathes him. She's also struggling with Rachel's loss and her relationship with her parents. Beth has never let herself fully grieve Rachel's death. Throw in her parents’ denial and overprotectiveness, her classmates judgement, criticism, and bullying. Beth is dealing with a lot...and there seems to be only one person who can relate and calm her down...only he's part of the cause of this chaos.
For most of this book, I was at a 4-star rating. It wasn't until the last 20-30% of the book that I changed to a 3.5-star rating. The ending of this book felt a tad rushed to me. There were a lot of twists and reveals thrown in towards the end. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for a good twist, but the ending simply felt rushed. There needs to be at least one more chapter in this book where we see the complete fallout of the events after the "reveal/twist" of the book. Instead, Watt chose to gloss over and summarize those events in the last chapter. We get a brief overview of how all of the characters were effected and how they chose to move forward. Other than that, I enjoyed this book. I truly did. The ending was sweet and pretty perfect for this story. I couldn't imagine it another way. I look forward to reading more from Erin Watt!
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**Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Teen for sending me this ARC in exchange for an honest review**
I've been a huge fan of Erin Watt ever since I read their book, When It's Real. After that book, I was hooked. I adore their writing! They create such relatable and realistic teenage characters. However, this book. while enjoyable, was not my favorite.
This story is about grief, forgiveness, moving on, and denial. Beth's sister was killed 3 years ago in a car accident. Rachel, Beth's sister, ran out in the street without looking and was hit by a car--it was 100% an accident. But, Beth's parents don't see it that way. They have refused to move on and accept Rachel's death. Beth's mom acts as if Rachel will come back someday. She keeps Rachel's room exactly as it was the day she died, and her cubby space in the mud room is not to be touched. If Beth's stuff is remotely in Rachel's cubby, then she has to move her stuff immediately. Beth's father isn't any better. He tracks Beth's phone and her text messages. Both of her parents see their actions as actions of love and protection. But, all they are doing is suffocating Beth.
This leads Beth to rebel. She goes to a party the night before her first day of senior year. At the party she meets Chase, the guy of her dreams. He's super cute and seems really nice, but best of all he is a distraction. They have a great night together. That is until they realize who the other is the next day at school. Chase is horrified when he learns who Beth is, and Beth is utterly confused when she realizes Chase is a part of her sister's accident. She should hate Chase--like everyone else at school. She shouldn't be able to look at him without feeling angry or sad...but she doesn't. She likes him.
This story is about Beth's internal struggle. Beth is struggling with her feelings for Chase because everyone around her loathes him. She's also struggling with Rachel's loss and her relationship with her parents. Beth has never let herself fully grieve Rachel's death. Throw in her parents’ denial and overprotectiveness, her classmates judgement, criticism, and bullying. Beth is dealing with a lot...and there seems to be only one person who can relate and calm her down...only he's part of the cause of this chaos.
For most of this book, I was at a 4-star rating. It wasn't until the last 20-30% of the book that I changed to a 3.5-star rating. The ending of this book felt a tad rushed to me. There were a lot of twists and reveals thrown in towards the end. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for a good twist, but the ending simply felt rushed. There needs to be at least one more chapter in this book where we see the complete fallout of the events after the "reveal/twist" of the book. Instead, Watt chose to gloss over and summarize those events in the last chapter. We get a brief overview of how all of the characters were effected and how they chose to move forward. Other than that, I enjoyed this book. I truly did. The ending was sweet and pretty perfect for this story. I couldn't imagine it another way. I look forward to reading more from Erin Watt!
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