Read for my Novelogues YA scratch off poster. 

It's been a minute since I read a YA contemporary romance and man was it good. I didn't know anything about this story except that it was a teen romance. I fully planned to think it was corny. And it was with the classic, "my mother doesn't understand me" and "I'm secretly dating the boy-next-door" tropes. BUT, the twist events that happened after the halfway point had me on the edge of my seat. I was mind blown and totally not expecting anything like that to come into this story. It really added some umph to the story. 

Spoilery content below: 

I absolutely adored Tim and his character development throughout the story. I didn't know he was going to have such an impact on the story but he really became like a main character and after he stopped being such a dick and got his shit together I was rooting for him so hard. That said, I detest his sister Nan. She seemed like a shitty friend from the get-go and she proved herself to be exactly that. When Samantha approaches her about the cheating and she just ends the friendship they've had for most of their lives over it? That just did not sit well with me. I wished they could have had more closure but I also appreciated how this story realistically showed that longterm friendships can just end in a snap. 

Lastly, I commend Huntley Fitzpatrick for her lack of fear in writing a sex scene in a YA book. Samantha and Jase's relationship felt like what a first love really is.