Series: N/A
Genre: YA - Contemporary
Publication: 07.08.2008 by Wendy Lamb Books
Format: Audiobook
Source: Library
Rating: ★☆☆☆☆
Synopsis: WOULD YOU RATHER know what’s going to happen or not know?
A summer night. A Saturday. For Natalie’s amazing older sister, Claire, this summer is fantastic, because she’s zooming off to college in the fall. For Natalie, it’s a fun summer with her friends; nothing special. When Claire is hit by a car, the world changes in a heartbeat. Over the next four days, moment by moment, Natalie, her parents, and their friends wait to learn if Claire will ever recover.
Thoughts: This was a quick book to get through, but sadly, it turned out to be quite disappointing. The summary gave me the impression that this was going to be an emotional and powerful story, but it turned out to be rather "meh" and not as engaging as I had originally hoped.
First off, Natalie was not a very interesting character. She doesn't do much during the summer except work as a lifeguard at the local pool and hang out with her best friends. Her older sister, Claire, is leaving to college in several months and Natalie is still trying to adjust to the idea that her sister isn't going to be around. Natalie is such a flat character with little personality though, that I had a hard time liking her. The story is really set on her thoughts only, and her inner turmoil is understandable, but I still couldn't connect with her.
Once Claire's accident happens, the story picks up the pace a little, but doesn't make an extraordinary comeback. Natalie learns to deal with things, doesn't seemed too overly sad except for the first scene, and finds herself looking over her parents who are in a zombie-like state of shock. As the story continues while they wait to find out what will happen to Claire, Natalie sort of just goes on with her life, doing her everyday thing and all.
I can't really say much else without revealing the ending, so I will leave you letting you know that while there are a few sad moments to this book, it is not overall anything special. I definitely want to try Jocelyn's writing in the future (I have my eyes set on Folly) and hope I like it better.
2 comments
This doesn't sound like it'd be all that interesting to me either. Thanks for the review. I've been seeing this a lot with the books that I've been reading too. Main characters that just aren't that interesting to me and yet all of these boys want to be with them. Oh, well.
ReplyDeleteOn a totally different topic, I love the way that you do your review list...I'm totally going to copy the way that you do your list. I hope you don't mind! =)
It was disappointing because the story had a lot of potential.
ReplyDeleteGo ahead, I don't mind at all :)