Review: Awesome YA Contemporary that keeps you flipping pages!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 09 23, 2013
Bentley is going through a rough time, to say the least. She went from upper class to rock bottom in the blink of an eye. From a pleasant private school to a school that requires a security check before entering. On her very first day, before she even makes it into the building, her Coach purse gets stolen out from under her nose. Bee (Bentley) sees nothing good in her immediate future. She worries that her friends St. Christopher's will stop calling and hanging out with her, but she definitely wasn't prepared for what really goes down.Life, Love & Lemons is the perfect title for this book because that is exactly what this story is about. Bentley knows when to turn lemons into lemonade and when to say "screw the lemons." I could feel her pain as she transitioned from upper class girl to lowly burger joint employee. There was a part when she was at work and her "friends" came in. She was embarrassed to go out in the dining room to sweep in front of them. I don't know what it is about the teenage psyche that is so delicate, but I vividly remember being in her exact situation. When I was younger I worked at Taco Bell. I was humiliated whenever a group of peers would come in and see me doing menial labor. It was hugely shameful for reasons I may never understand. The author really has a way of portraying the meaning of being young. The characters are realistic and believable, which made it so easy to slip into their shoes. The emotions invoked during this story were vast. I was bummed for Bentley, then angry enough to beat down some of the characters, but my overall expression was a big ol' smile on my face, which is always a good thing. There were even a few snickers here and there. No, I wasn't eating candy bars, although that would have been really awesome.This story is a sweet one, even starting out dismal as poor Bentley had to learn to deal with such major changes in her life. It was a joy to witness the budding relationship between Bentley and Kai. He starts out as just they annoying new neighbor that she wishes would leave her alone and becomes a boy that means something totally different to her. It's not all roses and rainbows, of course. As we all know, life doesn't go from craptastic to fantabulous without a few bumps and bruises. This wasn't a perfect book, as there were things about the writing that I thought were somewhat simplistic, but it is a book I have been dying to read and I consider this a win for me. All fans of YA Contemporary will enjoy this one!