4.5/5

- now i know why most romances follow both points of view bc this did not work
- the writing was.....not good
- nikki was such a hypocrite oh my god mild spoilers but her mom withheld medical information from her and nikki was PISSED and couldn't believe that her mom would hide life-threatening information from her while keeping her relationship hidden which could also cost them their business and no one ever called her out on it
- very weird how for a book set in hawaii there is not a single native hawaiian mentioned. both mc's have come to maui within the last two years and every other side character is white (with the exception of literally one person). also i feel like there should've been some sort of conversation about tourism and gentrification in hawaii. i know this is a lighthearted romance but it just didn't feel right.

i read this in middle school and i remembered the big twist a quarter of the way through but it was still fun to catch everything that lead up to it

1.5/5: i save 1 stars for something truly offensive but this was just all around awful. the main character is the most hypocritical person i have ever had the displeasure of reading about and the writing was god-awful. hearing a variation of the word "frack" instead of "fuck" ever two seconds couldn't be more annoying, not to mention the rest of the worst teen-speak i have ever heard. the plot was basically cheating without cheating (because there was no label on the relationship yet) which is never actually challenged. the conflict and resolutions happen way too quickly and i cannot believe how easily jay was let off the hook. there are so many more things i disliked that it would be easier to talk about what did like, which was basically nothing. the side characters deserved to be developed more and deserved a thousand times better than jay, especially lou. im tired and if you still want to read this book for some reason, avoid the audiobook at all costs. listening to the teen-speak was so much worse than reading it with my eyes would have been and listening to jay's "gay agenda" list at the beginning of the chapter could not have made me want to tear my eardrums out more. i had to listen to the words "see a penis IRL, and do fun things with it!" what felt like fifty times and i cannot explain the rage it insighted in me. if you want more tecnhincal things about what was bad about this book look at other 1 and 2 star reviews because it is so late and i am just so thankful to be done with this book that i should've dnfed within the first chapter.

4.5/5!!!

i wasn't sure how to rate this but then i read the authors note and started crying even harder god i need to read everything k ancrum's ever written

there could've been so so much more and every single thing felt underdeveloped. my copy also had like 40pgs of previews for her other books so i thought there was way more when it ended. tbh this felt very forgettable and underwhelming :( maybe I'll stick to woodson's adult books

WOW

i loved this so so much i liked the henna wars just fine but i thought the pacing/writing was a little off and i didn't really see the chemistry between the main characters but everything about hani & ishu's guide was perfect also i am in love with ishu thank you for listening

3.5/5: i really enjoyed this and i thought the romance & rep was well done i just thought it needed more of a plot and once the characters got together things got too repetitive