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lilliangretsinger's review against another edition
3.0
I think it was longer than it needed to be, but overall it was good. I almost wish this was 4 books told from the girls' different perspectives. I didn't feel like I quite got to know all the characters and I wanted more of their stories.
Good summer book about friendship, love and finding yourself.
Good summer book about friendship, love and finding yourself.
liralen's review against another edition
3.0
The setup: four girls with very different personalities (the outgoing drama queen, the nerd, the outcast, the perfect rich girl) opt to spend a month in a cabin in upstate New York over the summer. Each girl is seeking to escape something in her daily life, and none of them really expects to become friends.
The result is sweet but feels more middle grade than YA to me. The girls are all in high school, can drive, are looking ahead to college, etc., and they have a lot more freedom than your average middle or high school student (no curfews or check-ins or anything, and one girl spends the night in a tent with a boy without so much as letting the lone adult around know), but there's a sort of simplicity to their relationships and mini-dramas that feels a lot younger. The things they're trying to escape also tie up very, very, very tidily into morals-of-the-story that they conveniently outline for the reader at a bonfire.
Probably a better fit for a younger reader. Has its moments, but I was hoping for a little more complexity (and maybe for every problem not to be magically and perfectly solved at the end of the book) and a lot more woods and nature.
The result is sweet but feels more middle grade than YA to me. The girls are all in high school, can drive, are looking ahead to college, etc., and they have a lot more freedom than your average middle or high school student (no curfews or check-ins or anything, and one girl spends the night in a tent with a boy without so much as letting the lone adult around know), but there's a sort of simplicity to their relationships and mini-dramas that feels a lot younger. The things they're trying to escape also tie up very, very, very tidily into morals-of-the-story that they conveniently outline for the reader at a bonfire.
Probably a better fit for a younger reader. Has its moments, but I was hoping for a little more complexity (and maybe for every problem not to be magically and perfectly solved at the end of the book) and a lot more woods and nature.
wildflowerz76's review against another edition
3.0
Four girls, two from Miami, one from a small Georgia town, and one from New York, share a cabin in the Adirondacks for a month over the summer. They all have their quirks and issues.
First off, in the end, I really enjoyed this story. It's not groundbreaking, but it was a sweet story. However. I listened to the audio version of this from #librofm. The audio was bad, guys. Kate had a horrible southern accent. She sounded like Carson (Phoebe Cates) from Shag. Britta sounded like Alexa or Siri. Spider just had a kind of annoying voice. Meredith is the only one that sounded fairly normal. And none of them could do male voices well at all. I almost DNFed it because they were so bad, but I persisted. So I'd recommend you read this one, bit don't listen to it. I took off an entire star because of the audio.
First off, in the end, I really enjoyed this story. It's not groundbreaking, but it was a sweet story. However. I listened to the audio version of this from #librofm. The audio was bad, guys. Kate had a horrible southern accent. She sounded like Carson (Phoebe Cates) from Shag. Britta sounded like Alexa or Siri. Spider just had a kind of annoying voice. Meredith is the only one that sounded fairly normal. And none of them could do male voices well at all. I almost DNFed it because they were so bad, but I persisted. So I'd recommend you read this one, bit don't listen to it. I took off an entire star because of the audio.
sarah200619's review against another edition
3.0
so my mom and my sister dragged me up to a cabin this past week in what im pretty sure is literally the middle of nowhere and since i literally hate the wilderness i decided to bring a book and since this one is about four girls sharing a cabin for a couple weeks, it seemed perfect and i thought i would end up reading it within like three days. obviously that did not happen. instead i spent the entire week watching brooklyn nine-nine. (fantastic show, if you haven’t seen it you totally should.) but anyways, this book was eh. it struggled to keep my interest and it feels like the characters are written much younger than they’re supposed to be. also with the exceptions of ruthie & spider, the characters are very stereotypical and unlike with books like “one of us is lying”, i’m pretty sure its not intentional. kate is very melodramatic and all “woe is me”. i didn’t LOVE britta at first, but i grew to like her. spider is my favorite, shes an icon and the one who i relate to the most, meredith i liked as well, mainly because she reminds me of my best friend in real life lmao. i feel like i should mention that i sorta imagined spider as a young katie mcgrath (if you know who this is please message me immediately i need someone to simp over her with :)if that makes sense? i did like meredith and harmon together. stan ruthie. britta and spider were in love and i cannot be convinced otherwise. the story itself was a bit dull ig, it was a little too long and i hated the “ray-ray” plotline (mainly because i hate kids in general lmao) but the book makes up for it with characters and the friendships they have.
fictionaladventures's review against another edition
2.5
This was sweet! Better than I expected since I’m not really into this kind of contemporary anymore. I didn’t LOVE it, but I’d recommend it to people who like contemporaries about girls bonding despite initial judgments who spend a summer coming of age.
1sarai's review against another edition
4.0
A beautiful tale of finding friendship out in the middle of nature with no cell service.
Love this story and winderful cute read
Love this story and winderful cute read
anniesbooknook's review against another edition
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Homophobia
Minor: Drug use
bookbabe16's review against another edition
emotional
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
elysekimberly's review against another edition
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
I have tried to read this book easily eight times in the past. Each time I would give up after a few chapters. This time I didn’t give up.
One thing I found odd about this book was its language. The author put random vocabulary words in, that didn’t sound like a teenager. If she had put these words in Meredith’s it may have added to characterization, but she didn’t. She would put words like erstwhile,then a few pages later she would say things like squooshed. The writing often felt cliche and leaned toward preachy. I did like the similes the author used. The Disney-themed ones I especially liked.
The girls had different characteristics, but it didn’t feel like they had very distinctive voices. Sometimes I had to check to see who I was reading from.
I think the idea of this book was good, but there was too much put in one book. There were so many storylines that it was hard to connect with them.
Meredith- Has an overly emotional, 2 week relationship with a boy. It felt too dramatic for the amount of time they’d known each other. They had cute moments at certain points and witty conversations. But it still took Meredith away from the friendships, which should have been the prioritized relationship.
Kate- She also had a similar issue to Meredith. She spent most of the summer watching a little boy. I understand that she learned things from this, but it also took away from her relationships with the other girls. It felt like the author had too many characters and didn’t want to take care of them.
Britta & Spider seemed to develop a meaningful friendship. Britta’s passions felt more developed, and Spider’s struggles with chronic illness were portrayed honestly. The author tried a bit too hard at first to make Spider quirky and different, but she developed from that. I think if the author made Kate/Meredith more involved with Britta & Spider, the story may have been different.
The Ruthie and Janet storyline was nice at some points, but it felt too convenient to me.
This book tried to do a bit too much, and was too long. It did make me smile though and was wholesome and beautiful at certain points. I’m glad I finally read it.
One thing I found odd about this book was its language. The author put random vocabulary words in, that didn’t sound like a teenager. If she had put these words in Meredith’s it may have added to characterization, but she didn’t. She would put words like erstwhile,then a few pages later she would say things like squooshed. The writing often felt cliche and leaned toward preachy. I did like the similes the author used. The Disney-themed ones I especially liked.
The girls had different characteristics, but it didn’t feel like they had very distinctive voices. Sometimes I had to check to see who I was reading from.
I think the idea of this book was good, but there was too much put in one book. There were so many storylines that it was hard to connect with them.
Meredith- Has an overly emotional, 2 week relationship with a boy. It felt too dramatic for the amount of time they’d known each other. They had cute moments at certain points and witty conversations. But it still took Meredith away from the friendships, which should have been the prioritized relationship.
Kate- She also had a similar issue to Meredith. She spent most of the summer watching a little boy. I understand that she learned things from this, but it also took away from her relationships with the other girls. It felt like the author had too many characters and didn’t want to take care of them.
Britta & Spider seemed to develop a meaningful friendship. Britta’s passions felt more developed, and Spider’s struggles with chronic illness were portrayed honestly. The author tried a bit too hard at first to make Spider quirky and different, but she developed from that. I think if the author made Kate/Meredith more involved with Britta & Spider, the story may have been different.
The Ruthie and Janet storyline was nice at some points, but it felt too convenient to me.
This book tried to do a bit too much, and was too long. It did make me smile though and was wholesome and beautiful at certain points. I’m glad I finally read it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Drug abuse and Blood