REVIEW: The Girl's Guide to Summer

THE GIRL'S GUIDE TO SUMMER

by Sarah Mlynowski

Pages: 352

Publisher: Orchard Books

Publication Date: June 15th 2017

Received From: Orchard Books

Sydney Aarons is leaving her Manhattan townhouse for a summer backpacking around Europe with her best friend, Leela. They're visiting London, France, Italy, Switzerland and everywhere in between - it's going to be the trip of a lifetime.
BUT... The trip gets off to a bad start when Leela's ex-boyfriend shows up on their flight out of JFK. When they touch down in London, Leela Instagrams their every move in the hope Matt will come and find them... Which he does, along with the most gorgeous guy Sydney has ever seen.
Will Sydney's summer fling last the distance? And what will happen when they all head home? 

The Girls Guide To Summer is the story of Sydney, a college student who has always put her family first and herself second. However, this summer that is all about to change when her best friend Leela insists Sydney join her on the European adventure they have always dreamed of. For the first time in a long time Sydney isn't thinking about her family, she's off backpacking around Europe and nothing will get in her way... well other than Leela's ex boyfriend Matt that is. Throughout the course of the book the two best friends are pushed too their limits as they try to juggle romance, loyalties and eight new countries. It will be a summer they'll never forget, but will it be for the right reasons? Only one way to find out!

Okay so confession time. When I received this book from the lovely people at Orchard Books I was more than a little sceptical because I have read a book by Sarah Mlynowski before and if i'm honest it was not my cup of tea. HOWEVER, the story line for The Girl's Guide to Summer did sound interesting so I thought I would give it a go and I have to say I was not disappointed! Okay, it still had the same niggling annoyance of the other book, which was certain characters *cough* Leela *cough* do come across as annoyingly self-centered at times. However, the overall story had me hooked and I fell in love with this book almost instantly.

As a character Sydney is so easy to connect with as she has strong family morals, girl code ethics and just a really endearing personality. She is one of those characters that you want to have as your best friend and I don't think anyone who has read the book can disagree with me on that. The story is sweet and honest and probably one of the most captivating summer romances I've read in a long time... after all who doesn't love a bad boy gone good? The plot tests Sydney's strength as she learns to take control of her own life and live for herself and no one else. However, with twists and turns around every corner The Girl Guide to Summer will leave you begging for more.

Overall this book was completely my cup of tea - despite previous reservations. It is a story that will have you mentally packing your backpacks and dreaming of European cities long after the last word has been read. It is a testament to the author at just how fast I fell for Sydney's story as Sarah Mlynowski found a way to combine the magic of Europe with the realities of teenage relationships. It is challenging, heartwarming, honest, endearing and engaging from the very first page and if you haven't read this book yet then I hope you do soon! The perfect book to keep summer alive as we enter into the autumn months.

**I received this book as an ARC from Orchard Books to read & review. This is a 100% honest review.**

Don't Even Think About It

Don't Even Think About It by Sarah Mlynowski

Rating: 2.5 out of 5

About the Book

Title: Don't Even Think About It

Author: Sarah Mlynowski

Publishing Date: May 1st 2014

Publisher: Orchard Books

ISBN: 9781408331569

Provided by: Hachette Children's Books & Netgalley

Summary (via Netgalley)

Imagine if EVERYONE could here your thoughts: your best friend, your worst enemy, your secret crush...

This is the story of how we became freaks. It's how a group of I's became a we. 

When Class 10B got their flu shots, they expected some side effects. Maybe a sore arm. Maybe a headache. They definitely didn't expect to get telepathy. But suddenly they could hear what everyone was thinking. Their friend. Their teachers. Their parents. Now they all know that Tess has a crush on her best friend, Teddy. That Mackenzie cheated on Cooper. That Nurse Carmichael used to be a stripper. Some of them will thrive. Some of them will break. Non of them will ever be the same. 

Review
Don't Even Think About It... I'm trying really hard not to! I wanted so much to like this book but the further I got into it the less sense it made. I don't know about the espies having a headache but I sure as hell do!

By all means write a fantasy/sci-fi/paranormal novel, seriously go wild! But remember it's one of the hardest to get right! This is because you can go wild... you can create anything you want. For instance you can give people superpowers, but you also have to have at least some smidgen of realism in there otherwise we - the readers - aren't going to be able to connect with the characters. And that was the problem here.

The story had no real structure, nothing much of anything happened and what did didn't seem to connect. There were several serious plot flaws to this books and the main on being I can sum up what happened in 10 worlds... They got a flue shot. They got telepathy. They argued... see 10 worlds, the end.

That's not too say it was all bad... if it was, I would have marked it a lot lower. It has these odd moments where you can see that the author is genuinely funny. BJ and Tess for example... or even the incident with Mackenzie's parents. There were also a couple of character's that I began to feel something resembling empathy for, but there were just too many voices to connect with any single one.

Which of course leads me to the voices! I know, I know, it's the point of the whole book. How Is became a We, and all that but it was so confusing! And not in a good way. There were more than a couple of moments when I wanted to put this book down, but my stubbornness kept me going.

The end was... well, it was an end I guess. She's left it open for another book and I just hope that it has more of a plot line too it! I hope something actually happens! Because all in all the writing was good, it was easy to read and as I said, there were funny moments. The problem with this book was the plot.

I don't think I can recommend this... I was going to recommend it for younger YA readers but the language - especially towards the end - isn't appropriate. I don't know. This book wasn't for me, which is a shame because I really did want to like it.

These are a few notes I made while reading Tease. All notes where made on my GoodReads page.

**I received this book as an ARC from Netgalley to read & review. This is a 100% honest review.**