A review by sidneydanielle
Best Vacation Ever by Jessica Cunsolo

4.0

there’s nothing like reading a jessica cunsolo book. her characters have so much personality & the story is just so much fun. reading her books is a always great time

i feel like i grew with these characters, lori especially. every time i feel anxiety, i think of her facing her fears & doing things anyway, learning the language of self-love, kicking ass (sometimes literally) unapologetically. it's stayed with me even after finishing it & completing another book after.

this is the kind of story i needed growing up. the antithesis of romanticizing toxicity, growing with or without those around you, standing up for yourself and learning to say sorry. playing up your strengths, people who naturally compliment them, men who respect women point blank period, making mistakes & learning to come back from them. i loved the celebration of women in the juxtaposition of lori & faye’s opposing character traits as they grow & accept themselves. this was such a refreshing read & so fun and entertaining and sweet while packing these little punches with life lessons in the fist lol.

& the female friendship and empowerment!!! i loved the cave scene where everyone was dancing and hyping each other up & naomi being a fast friend for lori. i also think naomi, anaya, kiara, and priyasha are just really cool names 

jess really came through with the emotional arcs & the journey of each character, and it was lighthearted & authentic while also having a great underlying theme reflected in each character in their own way but still cohesively. the complicated emotions and relationships/dynamics the book explored were really well done

faye having this brokenness inside her over adam not liking her, lori learning how to be "selfish" and prioritize herself, the difference between boundaries and comfort zone, seeing someone you care about in a different light & grieving the image you had of them before, growing with the people alongside you, the importance of accountability in friendship, how perspective impacts situations, making mistakes when you're young & learning how to come back from them

--it's just a great book. it was so fun and entertaining and sweet while packing these little punches with life lessons in the fist lol.

i loved

lori kicking ass with men who disrespect her. faye's vulnerability with the reader about how deeply she wants her brother to like her. dylan's friendship, and how he supported faye & then lori, & wouldn't tell faye what lori said because it was lori's to tell her, how he told faye yes, you are being a little selfish and then helped her start to grow as a person, how he was there for lori when she had no one else even though they didn't really know each other. dean supporting lori even when he was upset with her & always reminding her she gets to choose how she lives/can say yes and no. kellan protecting faye even when they were fighting. lori ripping adam a new one even after he apologized, still saying you had no right to say that to me and standing her ground, acknowledging that an apology doesn't nullify or invalidate the wrongdoing.

 

and finally, my two favorite quotes that also happen to represent the book's message really well:

“it’s like he wants me to stay sweet, boring, and predictable instead of trying new things and having new experiences, and he’s doing it all under the guise of caring,” (209)

"'everyone makes mistakes. you're seventeen, faye. you're going to make a shit-ton more before you figure it out, and that's okay. it's life. what matters now if how you fix it.'" (261)