Meanwhile, Emma’s AP English class is reading Wuthering Heights, and she’s been assigned to mimic Bronte’s style in an epistolary format. With no one to confide in, she’s got a lot to write about. Emma and Dylan try to constrain their romance to the page–for fear of threatening Dylan’s chances of being adopted into another home. But the strength of first love is all-consuming, and they soon get enveloped in a passionate, secretive relationship with a very uncertain outcome.
Published on July 17, 2018 by Henry Holt & Co
Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
My Thoughts:
Emma's family has decided to foster a child, and Emma is worried about this child filling the space she created in her family once she leaves for college. But then, her parents bring home Dylan, an attractive teenagers who now has the title of her foster brother.
Emma and Dylan have an interesting attraction to each other, and it was odd that it was never truly explained. There was never awkwardness from Dylan, and he always played the suave, cool guy trope which rubbed me the wrong way. Emma was the one who was always awkward and trying to impress Dylan, and it was just off balanced to me.
I think overall, Dylan just rubbed me the wrong way. He was not a good person to Emma, and he had a history to back up his motives. His father was a terrible person, so it rubbed off onto him. That's great and all to have a flawed character, but with the ending that Dylan had, I don't really get it. There was so many loose strings that were left hanging loose that should have been tied up.
SPOILERS & RANT - Don't read if you don't want to know, but I can't hold this part in.
Dylan was mentally abusive to Emma, and I'm not okay with it. The things that he did to her were okay to happen in the book, but then in the end when he gets in the car accident because he's an idiot and mixed up his adderall with ambien is NOT OKAY. She was by his bedside the moment it happened, and she was forgiving him and telling him she loved him, and I did not appreciate it. I was so happy when Emma left the summer before college to live her life, but then she CAME BACK TO HIM? And then he got officially adopted which made everything so weird. I feel like something should have happened to he couldn't get adopted by them so then Emma and Dylan could at least try and have a semi-normal relationship as a couple. Not a couple & sibling relationship.
END SPOILERS & RANT
Anyways, the story did keep me holding on for a while. I was really interested to see how everything was going to play out. It wasn't so much the romance aspects (I tried to rush through those), but instead it was the family relationships. Tiffany Brownlee should write a contemporary with family issues because she played them out perfectly. Like the scenes with Emma and her father at the end had me really worked up. PLEASE TIFFANY WRITE ANOTHER BOOK.
So as you can see, there were parts that I really didn't like of this book (plot wise). There were other parts that I absolutely loved, and I definitely will continue to read books that Tiffany Brownlee publishes! This one is just such a heated topic (much like Wuthering Heights), so it makes sense that there's discussion about this.
Stars: 3 out of 5 stars
What I Liked: Emma was a very likable and relatable character
What I Disliked: Emma & Dylan's relationship
Oh yes! I read this book midway and I really liked how Tiffany handled family and personal issues, but the romance made it hard for me to continue. So sad about the ending tho! Was kinda hoping for her to fall for the other friend instead.
ReplyDeleteGreat review!!!