Chelsea

I decided to review these as a set (#1-4), because they are much better as a set than individually. If you're going to read the first one, you need to at least read to #4. Otherwise the storylines are not even close to resolved. It reads a lot like a TV series if this was one season. Each individual book ends with cliffhangers and nothing really wraps up. You just have “clues” to the overall story.

The overarching plot is interesting, but some of the minor plots seemed too rushed and not fleshed out enough.

I hate most of the characters (not that they are badly written, just not likable). Of the 4 main characters only one is actually a decent person. And somehow, with their 8 parents, the best parent is the adulterer who moves out of the house halfway through. It's a little unbelievable how terrible the parents are (though I guess how terrible they are partially explains how the teenage girls are so ridiculous).

It's nothing ground breaking, but a fun, easy read. I'm in my 30s, so clearly not the target audience. I think it would be a fun and interesting read for someone in their teens as long as they knew it was not at all rooted in reality.

3.5/5 stars

I was very into the book the whole way through, but the ending felt a bit anticlimactic and confusing to me. Still definitely worth the read and the ending matched the tone of the rest of the book, it just left me feeling like I had missed some things along the way.

First and foremost, I did like the storyline and the ending of this book. It was interesting and woven well. There was only one “convenient coincidence” that I found to be a bit of a stretch, but it was minor. Everything else came together and was explained by the end.

I dropped it to 4 stars because there were particular parts that seemed to drag on and almost felt added to lengthen the book. By the end, I saw how they were important and everything was relevant, but while reading those parts just felt unnecessary and made me a bit impatient. Again though, it all makes sense in retrospect and I now see how everything was important.

It's been a long time since I got so caught up in a book I finished it in two days. I didn't expect to get so invested. I had looked at it before and passed it over because the premise didn't seem that great to me and I only read it because of a book club. But this book really got ahold of me. I feel like I can't give a book so compelling that I can't stop reading any less than 4 stars. Especially when the payoff at the end is actually good. So often a compelling book is ruined by a subpar ending, but I feel like this book was equally strong all the way to the last page. I was tempted to give 5 stars, but, even though this was a great read, I don't feel like it was the most original story or a book that really sits above the rest equally to my other 5 star reads.

4.5/5 stars

I have so much to say about this book, but I'll keep it short(ish) and spoiler-free. The best compliment I can give is that I wish one of my friends would read this book so we could discuss it. This leaves so much to dissect. I'll probably read this book again just to see how it was leading to the ending.

There are two main storylines: Victoria Ford and Avery's past. Each one is an interesting story and could probably be fleshed out into a full book, but putting them together makes each one better. My only complaint is that these two storylines meeting feels too coincidental. There's no real reason for them to both happen together and that bothered me a bit.

About 80% through the book I thought I had the ending figured out and wasn't too happy with that ending. Then both stories took an unexpected twist and I love the resolution in both cases.

This year I suddenly discovered Freida McFadden and have been absolutely tearing through her books. I think this is the 6th or 7th. As with most of her books, it was a bit predictable, but in a way that made you doubt yourself the whole way through. Everything makes you rethink what you think is the obvious situation, until you get to the end and realize you were right along but there was some crucial piece you missed that now makes everything fall into place. Like every other book of hers, I've raced through it to find out what happens. While they're not life-changing, I would generally recommend her books for a quick and interesting read.