Hello
happy readers! So this weekend has been
semi-productive so score on adulting there.
First I have some news for you and that is to announce the winner of the
giveaway for a signed copy of The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi and
that winner is: Wendy S. Congrats! I plan to have another giveaway running
soon so stay tuned for that but in the
mean time I have the chance to review, The Last Time We Were Us by Leah Konen
for No BS Book Reviews and my original review can be found here.
Rating: 4
Stars
I
went into this book having read the summary and wanting a nice
contemporary. Something to kind of bring
me back to reality post lots of fantasy reads and this one sounded like a solid
choice. I enjoyed the read and surprised
myself a little even. It was a quick
read for me and something I can see easily enjoyed on a relaxing summer
day.
Liz
is pretty relatable if a bit image obsessed at times. She has some morals and beliefs she doesn’t
want to give up but at the same time she is willing to give up a lot to be
“popular” in the dream summer she’s planned out. This includes becoming the girlfriend of the
most popular guy in school, Innis Taylor, and she is already well on her way to
making it happen. Then her childhood and
ex-best friend, Jason Sullivan, shows back up in town released early from
juvie. The guy her hopeful boyfriend
hates. The whole town hates really.
Innis,
I wasn’t sure what to make of him at first.
He came off a bit conceited and like a stereotypical rich guy jerk with
anger issues. He did grow on me at some
parts but he is quick to temper and doesn’t have the best control and
personally that doesn’t appeal to me. He
was a bit predictable at times but he also surprised me as well so it kind of
evened off.
Now
Jason I wasn’t sure if I’d like his character going in. He is angsty for sure and cryptic about the
truth. They hadn’t been friends when it
happened, he’d dumped her for the “cool kids” well before he ended up in juvie
and at first he seemed to want to be her friend again like old times because he
had no one else willing to give him a chance.
It seemed at first to me like a fall back option and I’m never a fan of
being a second pick or back up. Here
again Liz shined for me because she called him out of just that. She calls him out on a lot actually which
might be why I liked her as much as I did.
There
is plenty of drama though, not just with the forbidden friendship and love
triangle type vibe but small town drama.
Southern small town drama to be more precise and as someone who was
raised in a small town in the south where people had their mind made up about
you prior to having met you I could see it all perfectly. Once a reputation is tanked it’s hard to
regain in. And when it’s a “someone” in
the town, you know the ones who own or have their name on everything, it blows
up supernova style. The truth isn’t
always important only the most popular opinion of the facts that makes the
rounds matters. Perception is all that
matters.
Konen
also manages to tie in the very real aspect of parents trying to live their
child’s life for them. There is a fine
line between helping your child succeed and trying to force them down a path
they want no part of for your own gain.
Face it parents aren’t free of peer pressure. I know, peer pressure led to a very awkward
and out of the blue conversation between my mother and I on ‘what boys want’
that never needed to happen at that time; though that memory is still a
hilarious thing I look back on. The
story also displays sex and ones first time, in different lights, in a
realistic yet not graphic way that I don’t see much when reading so kudos for
that.
Overall
the characters were fun for me, all flawed-seriously everyone was, but the
pacing and writing style worked nicely to blend the characters and the plot
along while including some genuine moments for the reader to relate to. I enjoyed this and would recommend it for any
contemporary lover looking for a quick read.
