Oh I have mixed feelings about this one. I came to love Brandon, he's my little sweetie. Tess, on the other hand, really did not do it for me for most of the book. I found the reasons for Tess' strong dislike of Brandon to be weak as hell. I enjoy an enemies-to-lovers plot, but these two were not enemies because Brandon NEVER or disliked Tess. I did love the tension between the two of them. Romantic tension is one of my favourite plot points in a romance book. I felt very meh the most of the interactions between the two of them though. I wish the characters were a little more aged because I kept forgetting they were in high school.

I enjoyed ALL the side characters. Uncle Russel did infuriate me throughout the book, but that's typical of a Caribbean man. I love love loved Hazel. I enjoyed how the cousins supported each other. I loved that Hazel got her own side plot that was threaded in throughout the main one. David was meh, I wish there was no forgiveness or that he turned out to be a good guy. Sometimes people need no redemption.

The passage of time was funny to me. I thought it moved weird way. It seemed like we were stuck in one month then three months had passed. I enjoyed the Trinidadian culture. I loved that we got to go all over the island. I wish it had been "built" a little better for my mind to conceptualize where different locations were without trying to look them up on an actual map. I loved seeing how carnival costumes are built and the concepts behind them. It was nice seeing what goes on behind the scenes in bands.