A review by arisbookcorner
Footfree & Fancyloose by Sarah Fain, Elizabeth Craft
4.0
This cover is a joke. It's about four best friends. Sure one of them is in Africa so technically she doesn't need to be on the cover, even though they are all four separated....but guess who isn't on the cover? The biracial character, Sophie. LAME does not even begin to describe how I feel about this cover. I asked my mom and sister to "pick out the African American girl on the cover" and they both said that there were no Black people on the cover. I even flipped to the back cover to see if she was there (horrifying still but not as awful as not having her on the cover AT ALL) but no, Sophie is simply not represented on the cover. Yet another case of whitewashing. I don't blog much anymore but hopefully I will be able to write about this more in-depth in a few weeks, its ridiculous. Aside from the atrocious cover (that Sophie herself would be outraged over for not including her fabulousness) I adored this book.
IQ: Judd 'If I say something will you promise not to get mad?'
'I promise I won't hit you.' It was the best she [Harper] could do. Getting mad was an involuntary reaction." pg. 222
I was greatly saddened by one character's ambiguous romantic future. We spend basically two whole books rooting for these two characters to get together and then they spend ONE NIGHT together and we are left to wonder if one of the characters still moves away from the love interest. Gahhh. The ending of Harper's story was a bit hokey but hey, she deserved it. Especially since her romance life didn't turn out so hot either. Becca's character was frustrating. I liked the peak at college athletics, especially since skiing is not one of the big-televised sports. But ugh she was the most frustrating character for sure. And yet I understood her problems even if I bemoaned her reactions to these problems.
Becca, Harper, Kate and Sophie are still great characters. They make mistakes that you don't always see coming (i.e. I could see myself making similar mistakes) and engage in intense trial-and-error experimentations. In this book I think my favorite character was Kate. Harper was still immensely funny but I felt that Kate's character not only grew a lot but the authors also really delved into Kate's life. Her relationship with not just her parents but also her sister, Habiba. Furthermore I liked how the "abroad/overseas/traveling romance" aspect was handled, realistic but still sweet. And I loved that Kate was on a humanitarian trip. And I love Kate's other love interest, of course
"Kate let him get the last word. If this kept up, she was starting to think she might grab the gun and club him in the teeth with it, or dump him out of the car and let the rebel/militia have their way with him." pg. 159-160
Or this bit about classic Kate-Darby exchange: "When she was done there was a long silence. Then finally Darby nodded slowly 'he sounds like a pussy to me'
Kate clenched her fists. She really was going to kill him. And she wouldn't need a gun. Her bare hands would do just fine."
Sophie grew the most and while she is not 100% likable for much of the two books (she's rather selfish), I loved her determination and grit and the fact that she really was an optimist.
"She didn't want Sam to leave. But she didn't want to hold him back either. She knew what it was like to be living in the wrong place, doing the wrong thing. It was stifling and frustrating and generally horrible all around. She'd be okay on her own. Hell she'd be better than okay. She'd be great" (pg. 108), atta girl!
Still one of my favorite books about the Young Adult age. And I presume its one of the best books about gap years too.
IQ: Judd 'If I say something will you promise not to get mad?'
'I promise I won't hit you.' It was the best she [Harper] could do. Getting mad was an involuntary reaction." pg. 222
I was greatly saddened by one character's ambiguous romantic future. We spend basically two whole books rooting for these two characters to get together and then they spend ONE NIGHT together and we are left to wonder if one of the characters still moves away from the love interest. Gahhh. The ending of Harper's story was a bit hokey but hey, she deserved it. Especially since her romance life didn't turn out so hot either. Becca's character was frustrating. I liked the peak at college athletics, especially since skiing is not one of the big-televised sports. But ugh she was the most frustrating character for sure. And yet I understood her problems even if I bemoaned her reactions to these problems.
Becca, Harper, Kate and Sophie are still great characters. They make mistakes that you don't always see coming (i.e. I could see myself making similar mistakes) and engage in intense trial-and-error experimentations. In this book I think my favorite character was Kate. Harper was still immensely funny but I felt that Kate's character not only grew a lot but the authors also really delved into Kate's life. Her relationship with not just her parents but also her sister, Habiba. Furthermore I liked how the "abroad/overseas/traveling romance" aspect was handled, realistic but still sweet. And I loved that Kate was on a humanitarian trip. And I love Kate's other love interest, of course
"Kate let him get the last word. If this kept up, she was starting to think she might grab the gun and club him in the teeth with it, or dump him out of the car and let the rebel/militia have their way with him." pg. 159-160
Or this bit about classic Kate-Darby exchange: "When she was done there was a long silence. Then finally Darby nodded slowly 'he sounds like a pussy to me'
Kate clenched her fists. She really was going to kill him. And she wouldn't need a gun. Her bare hands would do just fine."
Sophie grew the most and while she is not 100% likable for much of the two books (she's rather selfish), I loved her determination and grit and the fact that she really was an optimist.
"She didn't want Sam to leave. But she didn't want to hold him back either. She knew what it was like to be living in the wrong place, doing the wrong thing. It was stifling and frustrating and generally horrible all around. She'd be okay on her own. Hell she'd be better than okay. She'd be great" (pg. 108), atta girl!
Still one of my favorite books about the Young Adult age. And I presume its one of the best books about gap years too.