To be perfectly honest, I remember picking this book up from the YA section at the library, and even opening its pages to read it, but I cannot recall how it goes. I know I liked it, but I cannot decide if it was so insignificant that it didn't leave an impression on my brain or if I just read so many books in middle school that it's impossible to remember them all. Probably the latter, but it still makes me wonder... ( )

This is a phenomenal story of how life happens. It is insightfully written and the characters are very real. Jordan is an intelligent and emotional teenager who is in advanced high school classes. She lives on Parrish Island and her parents have been separated since she was very little. Her mom is a hippy soul who transformed their old house into a bed and breakfast inn. She has a baby boy Max with a husband ten years her junior who is a sculpture artist. Because living with her mom becomes too chaotic and overcrowded for Jordan, she moves to dad’s place. Dad was just a regular guy who loved the history of renaissance art and worked as an optometrist. Jordan always thought that she is more like her father. Her grandparents often came over on weekends to enjoy dinner and the evening together. Everything was normal until Jordan met Mrs. D’Angelo at her part time job, the “True You Health” Centre. She remarked on Mrs. D’Angelo’s strong presence and femininity, the same characteristics which tempt Jordan’s father and steal him into a whirlwind romance. Seeing her father totally changed through a relationship with someone who is married, Jordan tries to warn him, sensing that something bad is going to happen. While she tries her best with family matters, Jordan has typical teenage troubles; having her first sexual experience with the wrong boyfriend and falling for her best girlfriend’s brother who happens to always be at the right place at the right time to help her out.
This is definitely my favorite book so far. ( )

It's about Jordan, an average teenager with divorced parents. She lives with her father, a predictable optometrist because her mother is too eccentric for her tastes. Her summer after her junior year was off to a normal start- a best friend, dumb job, and a new love interest- but then came Gayle D'Angelo. Gayle D'Angelo is her father's new girlfriend.....who happens to be married. But Jordan's father no longer listens to reason as he becomes more and more obsessed with Gayle. Jordan's normal summer ends up having an explosive ending.

I loved the writing. Seriously, it was great. Deb Caletti's writing is so detailed and intricate, she brings tiny details to mind that only contribute to overall story and character development.

The plot was slowish, but you know from page one that something horribly violent will happen. First off, because the narrator tell you, and also because its terribly hinted at and you would have to be stupid not to get it. Still, there was something tense about this book. While it wasn't thrilling, it was gripping. I think the best part of the book was easily the writing.

The main characters, especially Jordan, were well-drawn. It was like they were real people. The minor characters also had the same flair, but had less screen time. The thing about such interesting characters, is that you actually want to see them. But in the story, they just popped in and out, quick as a flash. Like Big Mama. I wanted to see more of her. And Jackson. I would have loved to see that budding romance.

Jordan was a real teenager. She wasn't some saint girl. She wasn't a rebel without a cause. She took notice of the world, and messed up a lot, and was likable. One of her mistakes was Kale. I hated Kale. He is the King of Douches. I wanted to crawl into the book and pop him one. I just didn't understand why Jordan still kept going out with him even though she clearly couldn't tolerate him. It just made me frustrated. I guess that makes the mark of a real character, though.

Overall, I really liked this book. Everytime I read a Deb Caletti book, they just keep getting better and better. ( )

I really liked the other Deb Caletti book that I read - Honey, Baby, Sweetheart and I was excited about reading this book. Unfortunately, it mostly fell flat to me. I had put it on hold because of the subject matter - a girl whose father kills his girlfriend's husband. It sounded sensational. But really this book is full of too many things and too many people, and all of the characters fall a little flat and are mostly unknowable. Even Jordan, the girl in the book, does a lot of things that don't make sense, knowing the little you do about her. She has sex with a guy she really does not like, because she wants to not think about her father. The best thing about the book is the island they live on - Parrish Island, which is fictional, but sounds a lot like a smaller Nantucket. Everything else is too disjointed. ( )

I love her later stuff, and my "official review" for this is fairly easy to find but it just isn't my favorite ( )