16 Things I Thought Were TrueAuthor: Janet Gurtler
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire, 283 pages
Publication Date: March 4, 2014
From Goodreads:
Heart attacks happen to other people #thingsIthoughtweretrue
When Morgan's mom gets sick, it's hard not to panic. Without her mother, she would have no one—until she finds out the dad who walked out on her as a baby isn't as far away as she thought...
Adam is a stuck-up, uptight jerk #thingsIthoughtweretrue
Now that they have a summer job together, Morgan's getting to know the real Adam, and he's actually pretty sweet...in a nerdy-hot kind of way. He even offers to go with her to find her dad. Road trip, anyone?
5000 Twitter followers are all the friends I need #thingsIthoughtweretrue
With Adam in the back seat, a hyper chatterbox named Amy behind the wheel, and plenty of Cheetos to fuel their trip, Morgan feels ready for anything. She's not expecting a flat tire, a missed ferry, a fake girlfriend...and that these two people she barely knew before the summer started will become the people she can't imagine living without.
Review:
I was disappointed in this book. I was expecting a road trip book, and there was one, but it was very short. I was expecting light and funny, with some romance, and while it had its moments, it was so issue heavy. The author tried to tackle too many things and ended up skimming the surface rather than going in-depth.
I did like Morgan's obsession with the number of Twitter followers and the fact that she was always on her phone. That felt real. She didn't do a complete 180 on it, but she did start to appreciate "real" friends.
"Real life doesn't always need to be posted online. I can remember the moment without a photo."
I liked Amy, who was a breath of fresh air. She had no filter, said whatever came to mind, didn't care what people thought, and was just an amazing friend.
"She's brave enough to be who she is. She embraces her inner weird and flies her freak flag with all she's got."
I liked Adam, who was a cute nerd who wanted to be a doctor. Definitely some sweet moments between them. I sort of wondered what he saw in Morgan, to be perfectly honest. She's basically a mess for the entire book and he's there for her, but why?
And then the ending…completely unnecessary. I didn't like what happened AT ALL, but mainly there was just no purpose to it.
*sigh* I haven't had the best luck with contemporary YA lately.
Posted by: Pam
I was surprised by this one because it wasn't what I was expecting at all. I thought it was going to be a light, easy, road trip book but it wasn't. I actually really liked that about it though but wish it had gone more in depth on some of them.
ReplyDeleteAmy was my favourite, I loved that she had absolutely no filter. Her character really had me giggling.
THAT ENDING?!? Gah, it really upset me too and I was not impressed. I went with it in the end and enjoyed the whole shock aspect of it. But I do completely agree with you, it was completely unnecessary.
I'm sad you didn't enjoy this one that much, hopefully you'll do better on the next one :)
Yeah, I just didn't see the point for the ending and I just felt like the author did it for shock value. The epiphany had already happened, what happened didn't move the story forward at all, which is why it really bothered me. ~Pam
DeleteThat's sad. I read the synopsis and thought it sounded really good. Cute roadtrip book. Bummer. Sorry you didn't like it. I don't like when a book has serious issues but they are only skimmed over so I'll probably be skipping this one.
ReplyDeleteThat's what I was thinking and that definitely affected my feelings toward the book. The author just tried to tackle too many things. ~Pam
DeleteExactly my thoughts as well. Sorry about you having bad luck with the genre lately. I just finished The Geography of You and Me. Review will be up tomorrow. It was so good! At least I loved it!! :)
ReplyDeleteOh good, I can't wait to read that one! I don't read that many contemporary but that one is definitely on my TBR list. So glad you loved it! ~Pam
DeleteSounds like there is some cuteness - Amy and Adam particularly - but not enough to outweigh the reasons why I probably wouldn't want to read this - Morgan is a red flag for me.!
ReplyDeleteI pre-ordered What I Thought Was True - it comes out on Tuesday and I have high hopes for that one. Maybe that can get your YA contemporary reading back on track. Have you read My Life Next Door - Huntley Fitzpatrick's other YA book? (I can't remember) It's one of my favorites.
Yes, I really liked My Life Next Door so I have high hopes for What I Thought Was True. And then there's The Geography of You and Me that also comes out on Tuesday that I've read some good reviews for. So hopefully my contemporary YA reading slump will be over! ~Pam
DeleteI just saw another negative review of this one! So I will be skipping it for sure. I've been in a major slump lately so I know how you feel :(. But I have to be especially careful about what contemporaries I pick up.
ReplyDeleteI have loved some contemporaries I've read but I still prefer fantasy, dystopian, and paranormal. ~Pam
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