Why I Wanted to Read This: While I enjoyed The DUFF, Shut Out by this same author was one of my favorite contemporary teen romances last year. While this synopsis didn't really appeal to me, I will read anything Kody writes! Here's the synopsis from GoodReads:
I Kept Reading Because: I wanted to see Whitley change and care about someone other than herself.
Whitley Johnson's dream summer with her divorcé dad has turned into a nightmare. She's just met his new fiancée and her kids. The fiancée's son? Whitley's one-night stand from graduation night. Just freakin' great.
Worse, she totally doesn't fit in with her dad's perfect new country-club family. So Whitley acts out. She parties. Hard. So hard she doesn't even notice the good things right under her nose: a sweet little future stepsister who is just about the only person she's ever liked, a best friend (even though Whitley swears she doesn't "do" friends), and a smoking-hot guy who isn't her stepbrother...at least, not yet. It will take all three of them to help Whitley get through her anger and begin to put the pieces of her family together.
Filled with authenticity and raw emotion, Whitley is Kody Keplinger's most compelling character to date: a cynical Holden Caulfield-esque girl you will wholly care about.
Romance?: Yes.
What I Liked:
One thing I will give Kody Keplinger, she knows how to write her boys! I adored Nathan almost as much as I loved Cash from Shut Out. She writes very attractive, crush-worthy, wonderful young men.However, Whitley was just rotten. I am not sure why anyone would bother to try and help her, but Nathan, Bailey, Harrison and even Nathan's mom all reach out with caring to help her out. They are so much more her family by the end of the book than either her own mom or dad. Her parents are horrible! Both of them! Whitley has basically had to raise herself and she hasn't done that great of a job. She numbs herself with hook ups and alcohol. I almost stopped reading because I disliked her in the beginning so much! But I wanted to see how she would change and accept the love and friendship everyone was offering her.
I also liked how although sex was talked about and Nathan and Whitley did hook up, most of the rumors about Whitley turned out to be false. And Whitley does redeem herself in my eyes and I was glad I finished this book!
To Sum Up: Once again, I enjoyed a book by Kody Keplinger. I think she is becoming one of my favorite teen romance authors!
eGalley from Little Brown. Thanks so much!
i think this will be a nice read.=)
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