Amy Sparling

A perfect road trip romance, with traffic delays, bad weather and napping the car, you will be rooting for these two before you know it. With all the awkwardness of high school crushes and getting to know a childhood neighbour, their banter and interactions will make you giggle and swoon. The nerdy quiet girl and the football star will only have until they arrive at the beach for spring break to see if they are meant to be.
A cute quintessential high school romance that will make you miss being a teen in love.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.… (meer)

I've never read Sparling's work before now, and I'm glad I started with this book. The description is what grabbed me. It sounded like a quick, light beach read of a romance. With summer winding down, the setting is something that definitely caught my eye, but there was more to the story that kept me reading.

I haven't read many books set in that in-between time after high school graduation and before college starts. It's a strange summer in limbo and a lot happens in an adolescence's life. I enjoyed that aspect of this story. Both Josh and Bess grow over the period of time this book takes place. They're done being high schoolers, but not quite adults. There's young love, but maturity between both at times. It's a fresh take on romances for me.

Sparling also touches on bullying, popularity, and self esteem issues in the book. Both are very real for the age group of these characters to deal with. They make the characters who they are, while at the same time the book isn't bogged down by drilling these into the reader's head. It's there, it's important, but the characters slowly overcome issues and I enjoyed how the author did it. And even in the end, like in real life, things don't go away magically. People, and the characters in this book, need time to work through things.

[b:In Plain Sight|30754522|In Plain Sight|Amy Sparling|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1466950076s/30754522.jpg|51303213] is a book that deals with Josh and Bess' friends and if it's anything like In Every Way was, I know I'm going to enjoy it. This book was a great way to end my summer reading. Maybe I can start my fall with more from the author.… (meer)