e-ARC, 256 pagesRelease Date: June 9, 2015Published by: Simon PulseStand-aloneSource: Edelweiss (This book was given to me by the publishers and the Edelweiss. This in no way shaped my opinion on the book. A huge thank you to both the publisher and Edelweiss.)For fans of: Contemporary Romance, Realistic Fiction, Sparkly Covers, Summer Lovin, YA
Before:
Kelsey and David became best friends the summer before freshman year and were inseparable ever after. Until the night a misunderstanding turned Kelsey into the school joke, and everything around her crumbled—including her friendship with David. So when Kelsey's parents decided to move away, she couldn't wait to start over and leave the past behind. Except, David wasn't ready to let her go...
After:
Now it's senior year and Kelsey has a new group of friends, genuine popularity, and a hot boyfriend. Her life is perfect. That is, until David's family moves to town and he shakes up everything. Soon old feelings bubble to the surface and threaten to destroy Kelsey's second chance at happiness. The more time she spends with David, the more she realizes she never truly let him go. And maybe she never wants to.
Told in alternating sections, LAST YEAR'S MISTAKE is a charming and romantic debut about loving, leaving, and letting go.
*MY THOUGHTS*
The thing that grabbed me most was how Kelsey was "turned into the school joke." And then seeing the gorgeous cover was just a plus. After these two things, I quickly added them to my TBR. And rightly so, because I really enjoyed this book.
In the "Before," Kelsey and David are BFF's. They have so much fun together. But then something happens and they don't seem to be as close as they thought. And then Kelsey's parents decide they want to move. She takes the first out she can and doesn't turn back. In the "After," Kelsey has the perfect life and thinks everything is perfect. That is, until David shows up and starts stirring up the past. And stirring up the past brings up a lot more emotions than they thought.
One of my only issues with this book was the characters. There were so many things that I wanted to smack both David and Kelsey for through out this entire story. At times I felt like I was reading about middle school kids and not high school kids because they were acting so childish. One was being a selfish, stubborn brat, and the other was being a straight pushover. As a character driven reader, I was really pissed at both of them for putting themselves in that situation. So much could have been accomplished if they both had asked questions and stopped assuming everything. I could tell that I was invested in this story by the amount of updates on Goodreads and Twitter I had and the amount of notes I took on the story. If I showed the notebook I took notes in lol you'd see how I capitalized notes and screamed at them through out my reading of the book.
What I did appreciate, was the way the Before and After chapters gelled together. There were certain details from the After that could be found in the Before and it made it that much better. I really liked that there were so many things that put them together. I loved being able to see the smaller details turn up in each chapter and the different ways Kelsey and David had changed to fix them.
Lastly, I was seriously impressed with Ciocca's writing style. For this to be a debut, it was so easy to keep me captivated. Since the misunderstanding on what happened between David and Kelsey is not fully explained until towards the end, I was kept guessing about what had happened between them. I had a few guesses, but I never got the full extent of the situation. And for that I was happy.
From the synopsis, this sounded like something I would definitely enjoy. And it was so right. Aside from a few character issues, I loved diving into this novel and finding the root cause of everything that happened. For this to be a debut, it shocked me into how good it was written and how well it gelled together. Now I cannot wait to read whatever else that Ciocca writes!
In the "Before," Kelsey and David are BFF's. They have so much fun together. But then something happens and they don't seem to be as close as they thought. And then Kelsey's parents decide they want to move. She takes the first out she can and doesn't turn back. In the "After," Kelsey has the perfect life and thinks everything is perfect. That is, until David shows up and starts stirring up the past. And stirring up the past brings up a lot more emotions than they thought.
One of my only issues with this book was the characters. There were so many things that I wanted to smack both David and Kelsey for through out this entire story. At times I felt like I was reading about middle school kids and not high school kids because they were acting so childish. One was being a selfish, stubborn brat, and the other was being a straight pushover. As a character driven reader, I was really pissed at both of them for putting themselves in that situation. So much could have been accomplished if they both had asked questions and stopped assuming everything. I could tell that I was invested in this story by the amount of updates on Goodreads and Twitter I had and the amount of notes I took on the story. If I showed the notebook I took notes in lol you'd see how I capitalized notes and screamed at them through out my reading of the book.
What I did appreciate, was the way the Before and After chapters gelled together. There were certain details from the After that could be found in the Before and it made it that much better. I really liked that there were so many things that put them together. I loved being able to see the smaller details turn up in each chapter and the different ways Kelsey and David had changed to fix them.
Lastly, I was seriously impressed with Ciocca's writing style. For this to be a debut, it was so easy to keep me captivated. Since the misunderstanding on what happened between David and Kelsey is not fully explained until towards the end, I was kept guessing about what had happened between them. I had a few guesses, but I never got the full extent of the situation. And for that I was happy.
From the synopsis, this sounded like something I would definitely enjoy. And it was so right. Aside from a few character issues, I loved diving into this novel and finding the root cause of everything that happened. For this to be a debut, it shocked me into how good it was written and how well it gelled together. Now I cannot wait to read whatever else that Ciocca writes!
Overall, I give this
