iamliterate's review against another edition
4.0
Katie's wiring is phenomenal. I had trouble putting this book down. It was a frustrating read for me in parts. The two main characters were frustrating a lot of the time, but I found myself rooting for them in the end. Everyone has problems and shit to deal with, these two were no exception. What made this book really great was the side characters. It had a rich cast of family members and friends the reader can't help but love.
I cannot wait to see more from this author.
I cannot wait to see more from this author.
inwonderland49's review against another edition
4.0
Review first on In Wonderland
This was breathtakingly beautiful. I loved this story. It was raw and real and reminded me so much of some of my friends back in high school. Katie took a really tough subject and made a beautiful masterpiece out of it. I wish this book was popular back when I was in high school. It may have helped some of the girls from my high school notice what consequences could arise from unprotected sex. Don't get me wrong I love all of my friends' kids. And I am there for them 100% no matter what. And I would be in their shoes if I weren't such a stickler about multiple forms of protection (condoms and the pill). Katie took teenage pregnancy and intertwined it with falling in love and it was staggeringly gorgeous.
Reena, the main character, deals with so much after getting pregnant at 16. She deals with the consequences and I think she does really well with everything. Her parents don't help her situation (they don't shun her but you find out exactly how her relationship with her father did not go all rainbows and butterflies after the pregnancy).
Sawyer (the baby daddy and the boy she fell in love with) didn't know about the pregnancy. His parents did and they basically shunned Reena out. They had nothing to do with Reena or the baby (Hannah) until Sawyer came back into town. Reena and Sawyer go through a lot of turbulence within this book and it was so great seeing the before and the after. I loved the side characters like Shelby and Allie. I loved seeing the before one chapter and the next chapter was about the after.
Katie Cotugno wrote a beautiful story and I will definitely be checking out her future books. If you're in the mood for a contemporary with realistic issues, check this one out. It's a great summery read and you're just bound to fall in love with Reena's story.
This was breathtakingly beautiful. I loved this story. It was raw and real and reminded me so much of some of my friends back in high school. Katie took a really tough subject and made a beautiful masterpiece out of it. I wish this book was popular back when I was in high school. It may have helped some of the girls from my high school notice what consequences could arise from unprotected sex. Don't get me wrong I love all of my friends' kids. And I am there for them 100% no matter what. And I would be in their shoes if I weren't such a stickler about multiple forms of protection (condoms and the pill). Katie took teenage pregnancy and intertwined it with falling in love and it was staggeringly gorgeous.
Reena, the main character, deals with so much after getting pregnant at 16. She deals with the consequences and I think she does really well with everything. Her parents don't help her situation (they don't shun her but you find out exactly how her relationship with her father did not go all rainbows and butterflies after the pregnancy).
Sawyer (the baby daddy and the boy she fell in love with) didn't know about the pregnancy. His parents did and they basically shunned Reena out. They had nothing to do with Reena or the baby (Hannah) until Sawyer came back into town. Reena and Sawyer go through a lot of turbulence within this book and it was so great seeing the before and the after. I loved the side characters like Shelby and Allie. I loved seeing the before one chapter and the next chapter was about the after.
Katie Cotugno wrote a beautiful story and I will definitely be checking out her future books. If you're in the mood for a contemporary with realistic issues, check this one out. It's a great summery read and you're just bound to fall in love with Reena's story.
agrutle's review against another edition
5.0
This review can also be seen on www.chillreviews.blogspot.com
I honestly couldn't read this book fast enough and it made me angry that I couldn't sit down and read non-stop. Damn my family for needing food and clean clothes!
Reena, was the perfect daughter. Straight A student and does everything her dad and step-mom want her to. She works at the families restaurant where she can kinda ogle Sawyer anytime she wants!
Sawyer is the typical older boy, that is fascinating to every girl. He's in a band, works at the same restaurant as Reena, his parents are co-owners of. He likes Reena and she likes him, but things are complicated. Love is always complicated.
I seriously can not say how much I loved this book. The way the chapters bounced between the past and the future, the swoony way that is Sawyer. I just loved every second of it! I think you will too!!
I honestly couldn't read this book fast enough and it made me angry that I couldn't sit down and read non-stop. Damn my family for needing food and clean clothes!
Reena, was the perfect daughter. Straight A student and does everything her dad and step-mom want her to. She works at the families restaurant where she can kinda ogle Sawyer anytime she wants!
Sawyer is the typical older boy, that is fascinating to every girl. He's in a band, works at the same restaurant as Reena, his parents are co-owners of. He likes Reena and she likes him, but things are complicated. Love is always complicated.
I seriously can not say how much I loved this book. The way the chapters bounced between the past and the future, the swoony way that is Sawyer. I just loved every second of it! I think you will too!!
sariah13's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
khairun_atika's review against another edition
3.0
Refreshingly raw and honest, this book is filled to the brim with passion and raw emotions. It is a story of two souls who have strong feelings for each other, yet find themselves restrained by circumstances - their own uncertainties. Serena and Sawyer are both deeply in love, but they also have issues that drove them apart. Sawyer battles with an addiction while Serena is determined to leave Florida, and to work as a travel writer. Their relationship flounders as they struggle to open up to each other about their true feelings, leading a brokenhearted Sawyer to leave Serena, who was carrying his baby. Sawyer comes across as obnoxious yet charming, vulnerable yet manipulative as he beckons the naive Serena. There are times where he seemed to be detached and emotionally unstable, making him a brilliant character to explore, and one cannot help but be as confused yet charmed as Serena. This was an eye-opener, an enjoyable read.
blakehalsey's review against another edition
5.0
Gah, this was so good. I teared up so many times I lost count. Emotional and real.
roniquereads's review against another edition
4.0
I picked this up thinking it was just contemporary or women's fiction. I skimmed the synopsis and picked out the words love and pregnant and figured it would be worth reading. The book is a great read don't get me wrong, but it was not what I expected, which is the case with most of the books I'm reading lately. This story is about Reena. At first glance, a reader would think the book is about both Sawyer and Reena and coming to terms with the events that happen around them as a couple, and on some level that would be right, however from my perspective this book was entirely about Reena and her journey in growing up over the short course of three years. Reena is a girl after my heart. I recognized a lot of myself in her at the same age. Reena is an introvert. She is the type of person that only needs one best friend, who will watch favorite television shows and play board games with her. She is uncomfortable at parties or around large groups of people and is generally socially awkward and not in a funny goofball kind of way. All of these qualities describe me, when I was a teenager and to this day. Except I am a goofball or some variation of it. Aside from her being a wallflower, she is also stuck with being the perpetual good girl as her father is extremely Catholic and while I wouldn't say he was strict, he is very let's say parental.
We enter Reena's life as she is entering her second year of high school and things change pretty dramatically for her. She loses her best friend over the summer both because of her lack of social skills and because her super awesome best friend decides to date Reena's longtime crush, Sawyer. Total bummer. So what do you do when you end up friendless, crush-less, and generally socially awkward in High School? There's only one option and that is to get out as swiftly and quietly as you can. Reena has both the talent, tenacity and the want to get out of dodge and start living the life she knows is for her. Everything falls into place and her future seems bright until: Sawyer. Sawyer and Reena have this tangled and complicated relationship that is somehow perfect for each of them and somehow destroys each of them in a way as well.
The way this story unfolds is both in the present and in the past, which was a really interesting way to read this story. It felt like I was reading two storylines that tied together into an overall picture. During this back and forth you get a good understanding of what Reena is feeling when she discovers Sawyer has returned to town after leaving her and their families behind to deal with a surprise pregnancy. I know what you're thinking because I thought the same thing at first, but it is not what you are thinking. Like I said, Sawyer and Reena's relationship is complex and I think that is the entire scope of this story. Life does not happen the way you think it will, even when you plan it and neither does love. That is what I took from this story. I am not sure how this book will is categorized, but it is not what I consider typical Teen Fiction. This is a story about a teenager who is dealing with making adult decisions and learning about the lessons of life.
We enter Reena's life as she is entering her second year of high school and things change pretty dramatically for her. She loses her best friend over the summer both because of her lack of social skills and because her super awesome best friend decides to date Reena's longtime crush, Sawyer. Total bummer. So what do you do when you end up friendless, crush-less, and generally socially awkward in High School? There's only one option and that is to get out as swiftly and quietly as you can. Reena has both the talent, tenacity and the want to get out of dodge and start living the life she knows is for her. Everything falls into place and her future seems bright until: Sawyer. Sawyer and Reena have this tangled and complicated relationship that is somehow perfect for each of them and somehow destroys each of them in a way as well.
The way this story unfolds is both in the present and in the past, which was a really interesting way to read this story. It felt like I was reading two storylines that tied together into an overall picture. During this back and forth you get a good understanding of what Reena is feeling when she discovers Sawyer has returned to town after leaving her and their families behind to deal with a surprise pregnancy. I know what you're thinking because I thought the same thing at first, but it is not what you are thinking. Like I said, Sawyer and Reena's relationship is complex and I think that is the entire scope of this story. Life does not happen the way you think it will, even when you plan it and neither does love. That is what I took from this story. I am not sure how this book will is categorized, but it is not what I consider typical Teen Fiction. This is a story about a teenager who is dealing with making adult decisions and learning about the lessons of life.
donttakemybooks's review against another edition
3.0
Hmm. I liked this, I think, but had some definite bones to pick with the plot and characters. It was well-written and well-constructed... I liked that the story was told in flashbacks and there was some definite emotional depth to the story. What really bothered me is that the baby in this story is more like a prop than a person. Reena's gonna road trip from Florida to Seattle with a 14-month old? And how is it that Reena has a babysitter like 90% of the time and the other 10% of the time the baby is going down for a nap easily? And then, the ending of this book just kind of came out of nowhere. Sawyer was a drug addict when Reena and he were together in high school and she is just ok with leaving a baby with him? And then getting back together with him, even though they haven't taken the time to really reconnect with one another? Had there been a little more time spent on the relationship in the present storyline, then maybe I could have bought the ending. As it is, this book is just an almost for me.