Review: Our review
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 09 8, 2013
I reviewed this book at MustReadBooksOrDie with my friend Shelley.Shel: I'm going to start with the setting, unusual maybe?, but it seemed like one of the main characters...so why not? Diane Mannino set this novel in the beautiful city of Santa Barbara. I've never been to Santa Barbara but the descriptions in this novel have me considering it as a future vacation destination. It seemed so lush and balmy and beautiful...and the perfect setting for her characters, Emilia and Logan.Court: I thought too that the setting of California was like a character in that it was part of the essence of their lives if that makes any sense. The descriptions and the ocean and the surfing all painted a picture of who these people are, and it made me also hope for a West Coast vacay in the near future...I love it there!Shel: This story begins at the beginning of Emilia and Logan's senior year in college. They meet when she interviews him for a college TV broadcast and BANG! this romance starts. Emilia is beautiful, and studious, and haunted by her past. She's also notorious for being a hardcore student and her best friend Bryn is using this year to draw her out and get her to have some fun. Court: Bryn does get her out of her self-imposed shell and out to have some fun, but she was a hard girl to like...in the beginning. I will say that she grew on me as things went on and she got more wrapped up in her own relationship and stopped mother-henning Emilia to death so that was so nice!Shel: Logan is heir to a fortune, a professed hedonist, and surprisingly kind and studious as well. After his first meeting with Emilia he in hot pursuit of her time and attention. When she isn't as eager to return his attention, he uses his power of persuasion and clever wit to get her to give him a chance.Shel: As the semester progresses, so does their romance. Neither of them are familiar with the idea of dating and so they have a few hiccups along the way-- a little jealousy, issues with trust, and Emilia often withholds her thoughts in favor of silently over-analyzing or jumping to conclusions. These problems aside, they agree to take their relationship slowly and it is apparent that they are falling in love. He is very tender, patient, and sweet with her and she is very supportive and encouraging of him. Of course we'd be fools to think that all of this lovey dovey sweetness would remain, right?Court: Logan made this book for me. We really don't know a lot about him aside from when he is with Emilia because we are always in her point of view, but it is apparent that he has a lot of internal conflict going on in his poor tortured soul. When I would have a lot of trouble with the dialogue with Emilia and Bryn, a scene with Logan would come up and he would be sweet and encouraging with Emilia and would get me back on track. He really has to struggle to keep this girl from falling through his fingertips because she is genuinely bound and determined to punish him for how he used to be. He really doesn't give her any indication that he isn't fully invested so I needed her to chill out!Shel: As I neared the last 10% and things were going fairly smoothly, I just KNEW two things: 1) something bad was going to happen and 2) we'd be left standing on the cliff waiting for our next book. My predictions were correct. GAH!!!!! Just when I was holding out hope that I was going to get my happily ever after...NOOOO! I haven't seen a release date for book 2 but I know I'm very interested in seeing how these two are going to work this out (please tell me they work it out!)Court: The end! Definite shocker there...and it made me sad....and mad....and just WHY! I was Team Logan the entire way and he has to screw it all up!!! Gah!Court: There were a few issues for me, mostly with the dialogue, but it was a really sweet story. The quotes from whatever literature she happened to be studying at the time were amazing and made Logan all the more likeable. The Surf shop owners who are practically Emilia's surrogate parents away from home were a great addition to the story as well. The secondary characters were mostly enjoyable, aside from Sebastian. I wish we could have gotten a little bit more about why Logan and Sebastian were the way they were and why Sebastian disliked Emilia so dang much!!! Frustrating boys!!!