Written by: Hannah Moskowitz
Released: April 19, 2011 by Simon Pulse
Summary: Noah’s happier than I’ve seen him in months. So I’d be an awful brother to get in the way of that. It’s not like I have some relationship with Melinda. It was just a kiss. Am I going to ruin Noah’s happiness because of a kiss?
Across four sun-kissed, drama-drenched summers at his family’s beach house, Chase is falling in love, falling in lust, and trying to keep his life from falling apart. But some girls are addictive....
Not your typical beach read.
I disliked this novel. But I also couldn’t take my eyes off the page (computer screen). See, it’s like this; this novel was like a really gruesome train wreck. As horrible a thing it was, you couldn’t stop yourself from stopping and starring until the entire mess was cleaned up. This is just a testament to how well Moskowitz can write.
Don’t let the cover of this book fool you because it’s not what you’re going to get when you read it. I was thinking that the main character would be female and the story would only span one summer. No, instead the main character is male and his story spans four summers. The only thing that the cover implies that you will get is sex. A fair bit of it, actually. The cover is rather pretty, though, isn't it?
Thinking back on this novel – which I finished reading a few days before writing this review – I can’t pinpoint one specific thing that really irked me about this story; instead it was the culmination of just about everything that made me dislike it from the characters to the plot lines. I hated how whiney Chase was and how irresponsible Noah was. I really, really hated Meredith but I also really pitied her though that didn’t make me like her any more. Hell, the only character I liked was Gideon, Chase’s youngest brother.
And don’t get me started on the incredibly effed up love triangle that happens. All I can say is that technically it was statutory rape since one character was legally older than the other. Plus, the reasoning behind it was just plain wrong. Then there was a scene with the younger sister at 12 years old or so making out with a wait-staff person in a restaurant who was at least 19. Messed up.
There were things that I did like about this novel.
Aside from the writing (or because of it) the male perspective was interesting to read. It was remarkable just how into the head of Chase Moskowitz was able to go and make it believable. However, half the time I also thought of him as a female, but I’m pretty sure that was just because he was so incredibly whiney and overly sensitive. Seriously, aside from the whole sex thing, Chase could have been written as a girl and not much would have changed.
Moskowitz also has a way of writing emotion that really makes you believe that the characters could be real. As much as I disliked them, this was one thing that had me in awe the entire novel. In fact, at the end I was literally in tears.
No matter how amazing the writing was, I just did not enjoy reading this novel. I was expecting something a little different – and that might have added to my dislike – but really what it all boils down to is that it just wasn’t for me. I know that many are going to enjoy this novel, and I hope that they do. For now, I’ll just wait and see what else Moskowitz produces and hope that I enjoy it more than this. I’m giving this a 3.5/10.
My thanks to Simon and Schuster for allowing me a copy of this eARC for review.
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