Thalia @ Pictures in the Words

I’ve been away from my computer from far too long, as far as reviews are concerned. I’m terribly sorry for that, dear readers, and it’s time to pick the reins back up and finally catch up on all the books I’ve read over the last few months that I’ve been too busy to write about. As a result, unfortunately, my thoughts are not nearly collected on the next few reviews as they usually are, but I will try to summarize and remember as best I can, so I can still stay detailed.

I know I was excited about this book, and although it wasn’t exactly what I thought it would be, I still found it quite enjoyable. The road trip was set up nicely, and I liked most of the characters—except for Rosie. Rosie mostly came across as irritating and unrealistic, especially in how selfish and one-track-minded she was. She constantly did things without thinking of how anyone else would feel about it, or the consequences those actions might have, even when it came to what was legal and illegal. I had a really difficult time connecting with her and trusting her as a main character to take me through the story in an enjoyable way, though it was mostly okay. I guess this ended up being one of those books that was kind of a toss up, both good and not so great sometimes, and then I end up being not really sure how I felt in the end.

A copy of this book was given to me by the author for free—an extra when she gave me a copy for a giveaway. There was no mention of this being an exchange for a review.

What I Liked: Spoilers!

• I was pretty satisfied with the way the story played out, even though it didn’t make sense sometimes. I think it proved to be a fun, entertaining, lighthearted novel about road trip woes and adventures, and that’s exactly what I expected it to be, in a nutshell. The supporting characters were well developed and enjoyable, and the writing wasn’t bad (although I still have issues with present tense), so on the whole, I can’t really complain. It was your average run-of-the-mill road-trip-YA kind of book.

What I Didn’t Like:

• Rosie was honestly irritating as heck. She was so selfish and blinded by her unreasonable feelings that sometimes it was impossible to feel anything for her except irritation. She breaks the rules of her restraining order by lying to her parents and going to her ex-boyfriend’s house to spy on him (what kind of person would get a restraining order and think it’s a good idea to immediately disobey it by doing what it explicitly says not to?). Her parents make her go on this road trip, which she complains and whines about for a long time, resulting in her abandoning her friends and deciding it’s a good idea to catch a train home, lie to her parents for a few weeks, and hide out at her best friend’s house—when the lawyer himself said it was a good idea to not be in the state for a little while. I found myself infuriated at her for putting that on her road trip partners, especially Matty, who was trusted by her family to keep an eye on her. She was completely irresponsible, and I’m not sure if I saw a huge improvement in her character over the course of the novel.

• Did Rosie have to have different degrees of romantic attraction to everyone on that road trip? We knew it was her and Logan pretty much from page one, but wait! Matty is in love with you, too! And wait! You’re going to kiss Spencer just for fun, even though it doesn’t mean anything to either of you! And the whole thing will be awkward and uncomfortable because Rosie is just making her way around the car it seems. Every time an obstacle comes up with one of the guys, she focuses on a different one, and then the cycle continues. Love triangles are tough to pull off in the first place—a love triangle in a little car during a road trip? Even harder to pull off. Especially when you add a third guy in there just for the heck of it.

Overall: This wasn’t really good or bad, it just…was. It had some good points and some not-so-great points, and I guess whether you decide you’d like to read it or not comes down to whether you want something lighthearted or not. This fits the “lighthearted summertime road trip” genre really well, but it’s not anything spectacular or groundbreaking.

(http://thaliasbooks.tumblr.com/post/102725296307/how-my-summer-went-up-in-flames-review)