30 Books in 30 Days, Vol. 2
Book 6/30
Reading this right after Perfect on Paper was probably a mistake, because I couldn’t help comparing the two of them, to this book’s detriment. But I don’t think this would have been a full four-star book for me, anyway. Parts of it I really liked, even loved, but then too much would happen all at once, and things got messy, and then were wrapped up very neatly. It just wasn’t as satisfying as it could have been. But I did like it!
What drew me to this one was the premise: Abby takes a DNA test with her friends to win a bet on who has more Irish DNA, and ends up finding out she has a secret full-blooded sister named Savannah, who is an Instagram influencer, a pretty big one. Neither girl tells their parents about meeting up, and in what I’m 100% positive is a reference to The Parent Trap, end up deciding to go to camp together to a) Figure out what happened eighteen years before, and b) Get to know one another.
That central getting to know you storyline and their sisterly bonding (or non-bonding as the case may be) is the strongest part of the book by far. The weakest part, I thought, was Abby’s relationship with her best friend, Leo, who she is in love with, and with whom she bad a BEI (Big Embarrassing Incident) last Thanksgiving that they still haven’t recovered from. I just felt like we never really knew who Leo was as a character, and that because he was taking such a backseat to her sister Savvy (rightfully!) in the narrative, their whole thing just felt very unimportant to me. I kind of wish that whole plot line was not there, and the rest of the book beefed up instead. Would have helped with the ending as well, I think, would have made it not feel so easy and unearned.
All in all, not mad I read this, but will be bringing it in for trade credit to my local used bookstore instead of keeping it.
[3.5 stars, rounded up]
