Review: Heartfelt
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 12 6, 2013
Before this review turns into a long-winded fangirling ramble, I have to say that other than Second Chance Summer, I’ve never read an Emma Hart book before. I had heard a lot about the author and liked the sound of her other books but none of the plots drew me in as much as Second Chance Summer did.I don’t know yet what other readers have thought about this book, and I don’t know how it compares to other books by the same author. But as soon as I started reading Second Chance Summer, I knew my reaction to this book would be different to other readers/reviewers/bloggers because it felt like I was reading a story written about my summer of a few years ago.Luckily for me, unlike Kia, my mum’s not an alcoholic and my dad is still around. Yet the relationship between her and Reese, the kind of relationship between her best friend and Reese’s best friend and even down to the mention of (one of my favourite songs ever) Stay by Black Stone Cherry was just so relatable to me. Only, I really loved how Emma Hart told it.The writing really drew me in. Straight away, we’re thrown into the story but to keep us up to speed, we have perfectly placed flashbacks of what had happened the summer where so much went right and wrong for Kia.As for Reese, yep I swooned. The whole way through. And even when it was finished and the book was over and I was just counting down the days till Spring 2014 when the next instalment is released.But aside from Kia and Reese, there were just so many other characters and their stories which were developed well enough to make me care. Kia’s parents, Luce, Adam, Patty, Eric, Jay and even Luce’s crazy brothers were all characters I was interested in learning about. Adam and Luce could have had a book on their own (and maybe they will).I think it’s pretty clear to say I loved this book. It was heartfelt and had sweet moments, moments to make you laugh and cry and a few things to tie up in a story I just didn’t want to end.There was also some, ahem, slightly hot scenes which made me swoon even more but just like the flashbacks, they didn’t feel thrown in just to add to the word count. They fit really well with the story and enhanced it too.Maybe other people will cover some negative things about this book. After all, we all have different opinions and even I wasn’t expecting to become such a fangirl after reading this. However, I did and for me, Second Chance Summer was the perfect book.*I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.