Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Nantucket Blue by Lelia Howland

Nantucket Blue
By Leila Howland
ISBN: 9781423160519
Published: May 7, 2013
Reviewed from: a copy from my library

 

My Rating: 5 stars :)



GoodReads Summary: 

For Cricket Thompson, a summer like this one will change everything. A summer spent on Nantucket with her best friend, Jules Clayton, and the indomitable Clayton family. A summer when she’ll make the almost unattainable Jay Logan hers. A summer to surpass all dreams.

Some of this turns out to be true. Some of it doesn’t.

When Jules and her family suffer a devastating tragedy that forces the girls apart, Jules becomes a stranger whom Cricket wonders whether she ever really knew. And instead of lying on the beach working on her caramel-colored tan, Cricket is making beds and cleaning bathrooms to support herself in paradise for the summer.

But it’s the things Cricket hadn’t counted on--most of all, falling hard for someone who should be completely off-limits--that turn her dreams into an exhilarating, bittersweet reality.

A beautiful future is within her grasp, and Cricket must find the grace to embrace it. If she does, her life could be the perfect shade of Nantucket blue.


My Thoughts:

Cricket is flying high at the end of her junior year. Her best friend’s family invited her to come to Nantucket with them for the summer but then tragedy strikes the family in pieces. Feeling as if she needs to be there for her best friend, Cricket travels to Nantucket to only get rejected by Jules. Not being able to stay with her nor did she have the nanny job she thought she would be doing this summer, Cricket ends up working and living in one of the historic inns as a chambermaid and eventually an intern. Life is not going as she planned but something else begins to happen when Zach stops being just Jules younger brother.

Zach is rocked to the core when his mother passes away. Jules and his father are coping in their own way—meaning not being able to breathe a word about their beloved Nina. Cricket is the only one who is willing to talk about her. The sparks fly between the two of them but they know their relationship cannot be out in the open—right?

Cricket is a wonderful protagonist and is instantly relatable and likable. She is battling her own parents divorce plus her dad's new family, the death of her pseudo-mom and her crush on Jay, the popular boy from her school’s rival. Feeling that she would be best to support her friend in Nantucket, she is shocked and disheartened when she learns that her friend lied to her.

Zach is a great love interest. Despite being two grades younger than Cricket, he does not come off as the younger guy. Their bond over Zach’s mother and then the spark that happens between them on Fourth of July will forever change their relationship. He does not come off as a “typical” teenage guy—he is more in touch with his emotions and feelings but I liked that characteristic as it makes for a good fit with Cricket.

It is intriguing that he is the younger of the two—not too many books have the guy being younger, especially a sophomore to a senior. I like that Cricket is able to grow, learn and stand up for herself at the end of the summer/book. Jules made me mad, frustrated and sad because she is so utterly completely lost that I cannot help but wonder if she will be alright in the end. Nantucket Blue is a perfect book to read just in time for summer—this book is a delightful and touching book about overcoming trials, standing up for yourself and getting what you want in the end. I highly recommend this contemporary fiction for its touching moments and sweet romance. It is a perfect summer read or for anytime when you want to cling to summer or the moments of first love.



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