Book Review: Broken Hearts, Fences and Other Things to Mend

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This review is based an advanced reader’s copy given to me by Macteen Books as part of the Fierce Reads Street Team in exchange for an honest review and promotion. This in no way had any influence on my review.  

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GoodReads Summary:

Summer, here boys, price and friendships gone sour. This new series has everything that perfect beach reads are made of!


Gemma just got dumped and is devastated. She finds herself back in the Hamptons for the summer—which puts her at risk of bumping into Hallie, site her former best friend that she wronged five years earlier. Do people hold grudges that long? 

When a small case of mistaken identity causes everyone, including Hallie and her dreamy brother Josh, to think she’s someone else, Gemma decides to go along with it.

Gemma’s plan is working (she’s finding it hard to resist Josh), but she’s finding herself in embarrassing situations (how could a bathing suit fall apart like that!?). Is it coincidence or is someone trying to expose her true identity? And how will Josh react if he finds out who she is? 

Katie Finn hits all the right notes in this perfect beginning to a new summer series: A Broken Hearts & Revenge novel.

My Review:

I had no idea Katie Finn was Morgan Matson when I first got this book. I was SO excited, and am still VERY excited to be a part of the Fierce Reads Tour. Fierce Reads has a ton of amazing authors like Jessica Brody and Leigh Bardugo and Ava Dellaira and all kinds of authors. Being a part of their team has been awesome so far, and I was glad to be a part of it. When I became part of Katie Finn’s team, I was like, okay, I don’t know her, but that’s okay because I’m always up for learning about new authors.

I felt sort of silly when I went to go download my review copy and realized that she was Morgan Matson, one of my favorite authors ever. I urged my computer to download faster, and then cuddled up with my Nook to read this book.

I read it in about 2 hours. I sped through it so fast, because it was so much fun! It was really awesome to see a different writing side to Morgan. As Morgan, she writes sort of serious, dramatic YA, and as Katie Finn, it was a lot of fun, laughs, sort of unbelievable hijinks and I really truly enjoyed it. Whenever summer hits, I’m always looking for some good contemporary books to read, something involving road trips or trips to the beach and Broken Hearts is absolutely perfect in that.

Gemma is a real relatable character. She makes a mistake when she is younger, and she’s constantly feeling guilty about it. When she arrives to spend the summer with her father, and runs into the best friend she had so many years ago, the one she wronged, she genuinely wants to make things better. Of course, she goes about the wrong way, but she really is a genuine person and I think she’s hurt by her ex-boyfriend and just kind of making the mistakes that people make sometimes when they don’t quite know what to do with themselves. Plus, she makes some silly mistakes along the way too, and it makes me laugh. She gets herself into some of the craziest situations and I found myself laughing out loud at many of the parts.

I also love Josh. Josh is the brother of the girl Hallie that Gemma had wronged so many years before, and she has a vague memory of him, but when she returns, of course he’s totally cute and totally sweet, and crush-worthy. I totally developed a crush on him. Despite the train wreck of silliness that Gemma can sometimes be, he obviously cares a lot about her, and they are very cute together. Its a fun, summer romance and I love being along for that ride.

Getting down to it, without spoiling the book…its just fun. Its a really fun book. This is a perfect summer time read because its got the pool parties and the ice cream and the summer dates and all of that, the summer fun and, of course, the summer drama. I wanted to be a part of that world, and it reminded me of the summers I used to have before having jobs and responsibilities. It was juicy and racy and just straight up fun. I found myself laughing over and over and over again.

I will say this too, I wasn’t aware that it was a trilogy at first, because normally with contemporary, there is very little times, a sequel. So when the book ended, I was like “WHAT!” I never knew a contemporary book could leave me with such a delicious and infuriating cliffhanger. I wanted to throw the book across the room because I HAD to know what happened next. I turned the page and saw that there would be more books and felt a slight sense of relief that I would eventually find out what happened next, but I’m not a patient girl and I’m already ready for it!

All in all, fun book, full of everything you’d want in a perfect summer book…or even a book that you’re reading in winter, while dreaming of summer. It has the friendship and romance and pool parties and delicious treats and the rule breaking and all of that. Its a feel good, fun book and its one that I so HIGHLY recommend.

Rating:

5 out of 5 Stars