Review: Good YA Contemporary Romance, with some Inspirational Messages.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 06 25, 2013
(Source: I received a digital copy of this book for free on a read-to-review basis. Thanks to Fiction Addiction and Netgalley.)16-year-old Hannah is going to stay with her aunt for the summer while her mother goes off to vacation in Paris with a friend, and her father is in rehab.Whilst she's there Hannah meets Jude - a guy who's still grieving over his older brother's recent death.Together Hannah and Jude try to show each other that there's more to life than following the rules, and that it's okay to not do what people expect from you at times.This was a good YA contemporary romance, that also had some inspiring messages about doing what you really want to do in life, and not letting other people's thoughts and feelings influence who you are.Hannah was a girl who was trying to work out who she was, and what she wanted to do with her life. She was angry and disappointed with her father who had ended up in rehab, and her mother who didn't seem to care about anything other than upholding a perfect public image.I liked Jude, even though he had problems of his own, and I could totally see why he'd have problems getting over his brother's death.I liked the storyline in this book, and I liked how Jude and Hannah pushed each other to move on with their lives.  I liked how Hannah tried to overcome her mother's strict rules, and how Jude tried to come out of his shell a bit. I thought that the soft romance between the two of them was sweet, but they actually got so much more out of their relationship than romance.I thought the ending was good, and fitting, although I did have worries about the direction Jude had decided on for his future.  Most of all I liked Hannah's new rules though:Rule 1 - be honest, don't complicate things.Rule 2 - do what scares you the mostRule 3 - always do the thing that could get you arrested.Rule 4 - don't be afraid of reality.Overall; a good YA contemporary romance with some inspirational messages.7 out of 10.