Showing posts with label Gina Ciocca. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gina Ciocca. Show all posts

Monday, 18 May 2015

Review: Last Year’s Mistake by Gina Ciocca

Last Year's MistakeLast Year’s Mistake

Author: Gina Ciocca
Series: -
Pages: 256
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Release date: 9th June 2015

Synopsis: (Goodreads)

Before:
Kelsey and David became best friends the summer before freshman year and were inseparable ever after. Until the night a misunderstanding turned Kelsey into the school joke, and everything around her crumbled—including her friendship with David. So when Kelsey's parents decided to move away, she couldn't wait to start over and leave the past behind. Except, David wasn't ready to let her go...

After:
Now it's senior year and Kelsey has a new group of friends, genuine popularity, and a hot boyfriend. Her life is perfect. That is, until David's family moves to town and he shakes up everything. Soon old feelings bubble to the surface and threaten to destroy Kelsey's second chance at happiness. The more time she spends with David, the more she realizes she never truly let him go. And maybe she never wants to.

Told in alternating sections, LAST YEAR'S MISTAKE is a charming and romantic debut about loving, leaving, and letting go.

Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars

I have been eager to read Last Year’s Mistake since I first glimpsed the cover and read the synopsis, I usually enjoy these types of books but this one has left me conflicted.

Kelsey couldn’t wait to get out of her home-town despite having to leave her best friend David, the opportunity to start afresh away from drama, a misunderstanding and people she no longer considered friends made the move a relatively easy decision. I liked Kelsey but I did have a difficult time understanding her actions. David on the other hand I thought was wonderful and ‘real’ he was popular, loved baseball and the girls adored him.

The characters were at war with one another for the majority of the book, they were supposedly the best of friends and inseparable at one stage but they treated each other terribly; there was a lot of jealousy, angst and unnecessary drama as well as one thing I can’t really handle in books – cheating, I had many issues with a few things that took place, maybe a teen could relate more but I was left shaking my head. I think this book would have appealed to me a lot more if they weren’t in relationships with other characters for a majority of the book, I couldn’t feel or appreciate their attraction or the bond they shared.

The secondary characters weren’t memorable, Kelsey’s boyfriend Ryan was an ass and Violet, David’s girlfriend came across as demanding and high maintenance. The only characters I didn’t mind were the parents and Kelsey’s new best friend – Candy, she was a great support.


Last Year’s Mistake is told from Kelsey’s POV, it would have been the perfect book to have dual POV’s, getting to know David’s thoughts would have helped to understand his actions a lot more. I couldn’t fault Gina Ciocca’s writing which was entertaining but unfortunately, at this time this book wasn’t for me.

Wednesday, 1 October 2014

Waiting on Wednesday - Last Year’s Mistake by Gina Ciocca and The Fill-in Boyfriend by Kasie West.

Hi everyone!! thank-you so much for stopping by today.

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly meme, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine which spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

My WoW’s for this week are Last Year’s Mistake by Gina Ciocca and The Fill-in Boyfriend by Kasie West.

Last Year's Mistake

Author: Gina Ciocca
Series: -
Genre: Young adult
Amazon pre-order
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Release date: 2015


Synopsis. (Goodreads)

Before:
Kelsey and David became best friends the summer before freshman year and were inseparable ever after. Until the night a misunderstanding turned Kelsey into the school joke, and everything around her crumbled—including her friendship with David. So when Kelsey's parents decided to move away, she couldn't wait to start over and leave the past behind. Except, David wasn't ready to let her go...

After:
Now it's senior year and Kelsey has a new group of friends, genuine popularity, and a hot boyfriend. Her life is perfect. That is, until David's family moves to town and he shakes up everything. Soon old feelings bubble to the surface and threaten to destroy Kelsey's second chance at happiness. The more time she spends with David, the more she realizes she never truly let him go. And maybe she never wants to.

Told in alternating sections, LAST YEAR'S MISTAKE is a charming and romantic debut about loving, leaving, and letting go.

The Fill-In Boyfriend

Author: Kasie West
Series: -
Genre: Young adult
Amazon pre-order
Publisher: HarperTeen
Release date: 5th May 2015


Synopsis. (Goodreads)

When Gia Montgomery's boyfriend, Bradley, dumps her in the parking lot of her high school prom, she has to think fast. After all, she'd been telling her friends about him for months now. This was supposed to be the night she proved he existed. So when she sees a cute guy waiting to pick up his sister, she enlists his help. The task is simple: be her fill-in boyfriend— two hours, zero commitment, a few white lies. After that, she can win back the real Bradley.

The problem is that days after prom, it's not the real Bradley she's thinking about, but the stand-in. The one whose name she doesn't even know. But tracking him down doesn't mean they're done faking a relationship. Gia owes him a favor and his sister intends to see that he collects: his ex-girlfriend's graduation party — three hours, zero commitment, a few white lies.

Just when Gia begins to wonder if she could turn her fake boyfriend into a real one, Bradley comes waltzing back into her life, exposing her lie, and threatening to destroy her friendships and her new-found relationship.

What are most anticipating this week?


PS. If you are interested in children’s book reviews (3-12 years), I have started a new review blog Here – Little Ones Read