Wow. That ending? So not cool. “TBC” following possibly the most cliched plot twist possible reads like the author ran up against a deadline and/or writer’s block and had to publish the book before it was ready. And the plot was really just a series of tropes; I could probably predict exactly how everything plays out in the next book. It sucks to be left out and drift apart from your BFs (best friend and boyfriend), but the way it was written just felt juvenile and melodramatic.

Look, I loved these books when I was younger, which surprised me because I wouldn’t have picked them out myself — I got the first one for Christmas from family friends (we love them, but they don’t always “get” our tastes) and found the next two in the elementary school library. I’m not sure what reminded me to see if there were more, but here we are. And I am so disappointed.

In a nutshell, despite Willa’s YA-typical age, these still read like middle grade novels. Her “voice” (aside: using quotation marks in your comments on something so mundane as a writer’s “voice” or use of “first person” feels incredibly pretentious, but Willa does it. so. much) reads exactly the same as her middle school days, which is far too young for a rising high school sophomore, particularly an alleged sophisticated thinker. She wears her heart on her sleeve (“I found that dog. He’s mine. Not getting to adopt him makes me sad”), tells rather than shows; the good/bad (rich/not-rich, environmentally conscious/oblivious) binary is off-putting in its borderline preachy obviousness.

Maybe I’ll give the first few books another try and/or skip to the last book? I don’t know yet.