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
My Thoughts
First off, I won a hard copy of this book from a giveaway on I Am a Reader, Not a Writer. It is a really cute blog with cool giveaways. You should check it out. :)
I just received my copy in the mail today and i opened the package on my way into the house and went straight to my bedroom and devoured it. :) so yeah, review time. ding, ding, ding!
Mrs. Keplnger, once again, gives us an in depth look into the world of teenage drinking and partying. I read The Duff a while back and I loved it. (would you be surprised to know the main characters from The Duff make an appearance in this book? I thought that was cool. :D) moving on. This book takes place in the same small town of Harrison. There are similarities and differences to her other work that I found, but they are both SO GOOD. anyways. Whitley has a mom who is too self absorbed to give a crap about her daughter's drinking and partying habits and a father she sees once a year who just doesn't seem to care at all. She just wants her parents to notice her and be PARENTS, for Christs sake.
A chance encounter with a sexy sci- fi nerd, a failed attempt at a hookup, and a short blonde cheerleader wanna-be just may be the family she has never had.
This book was sweet and kind of short to me. I liked most of the characters though. :D most of them.,.
Whitley, herself, is kind of a self proclaimed slut. She is more into the actual getting Drunk part of partying than she is the hangout out part. Tequila makes her feel happy. It just also makes her make out with random people. :) She can count on one hand the number of people she has actually gone all the way with. This last one, however, he is kind of tricky. She cannot stand her mother and yearns for her father to take her away from her mothers moodswings. She does not make friends. In her experience, you cannot count on them. She will stick to her booze, thank you. She is a troubled 18 year old. She has a college picked out..she just has no idea what the hell she is going to study. maybe Russian? haha inside joke. sorry. ;). She wants to hate this new family...but just can't seem to.
Nate is an adorable computer and sci- fi nerd who also happens to be on the basketball team. He is such a cute combination of hot and nerdy. I freaking love hot nerds. anyways.. I won't spoil it too much on the relationship thing Whitley is feeling for her soon to be step brother, but let me tell you. I wish he was my stepbrother. He cares for his little sister and mom alot and is even buddy buddy with old Greg (whitley's dad. the jerk) He is a total sweetheart and is kinda funny.
Harrison? do not even get me started on that. It is just cruel that certain circumstances take him out of the running for a romantic relationship with any of the characters. haha. I know he has his eye on one of them. ;) He is funny and just flamboyantly adorable. nuff said.
Whitley's mom has got to be the most selfish person ever. I mean her kid is an alcoholic who is never home. Get your head out of your ass, quit pining after someone who is definitely not worth it, and be a freaking mother to your daughter. 6 years is way too long for that mess to have been going on.
Whitley's dad is almost as bad as her mom. When he isn't treating her like a drinking buddy instead of a daughter, he is ignoring her. He needs to get a grip and be a father.
Sylvia (Nate and Bailey's mom) is a wonderful mother. She loves her kids and talks to them and she tries to treat Whitley with the same kind of maternal protectiveness. She wants Whitley and her father to resolve their problems. She will make a great step- mom. :)
Bailey is an adorable almost- freshman. She wants to try out for cheer leading in order to get noticed. She wants to make a lot of friends and have a positive experience in high school. She is kind of naive. She is also adorable and endearing which makes it impossible for even rude Whitley to say no to her and her puppy dog eyes. She reminds Whitley of herself before the partying and drinking took a hold of her.
Whitley's brother, Trace is there for her, even when her parents never are. She only ever talks to him by text message or over the phone, but he has a family of his own to care for as well. While he always seems busy, he is a stand up brother and the one good ting in her life before she met her step-family.
Cyber bullying, drugs, drinking, partying, rape, and teenage sex were all mentioned in this book on some level. It may have been small, but it was there nonetheless. While they were mild, I would not suggest this book for the younger crowd.
I would have liked to have seen her relationship with her mother resolved before the end of the story. Her relationship with her father was addressed and discussed, but the mother was just left out. Their relationship was hinted at being addressed later. It did not, however, seem like it was all that important. I think it was. The woman was bipolar or something. lol. Whitley was a funny, if not tough, character. I liked her and I like that she tried to overcome her drinking in order to be someone better for her friends and family. Not even for her real parents, but for the family that she found that did more for her than her mom or dad ever did.
:) It was a good book. I have to read Shut Out now. muahaha, then I will have completed the Keplinger Collection.
(I will admit that I liked The Duff better than this story. I will have to reread it. it has been a while.)
[for some reason, I felt the need to focus on characters more than the story. Don't ask why. I just went where my brain took me... scary. D: ]
Tequila. Whitley's Favorite. :)
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