Nantucket Blue by Leila Howland // Fun in the Sun (This Statement is As Cheesy As the Book)

Tuesday 23 August 2016
Nantucket Blue (Nantucket #1), by Leila Howland
Publication: May 7, 2013, by Disney-Hyperion
Genre: Young Adult Fiction, Contemporary, Romance
Pages: 294
Format: Paperback
Source: Borrowed
Rating: 

For Cricket Thompson, a summer like this one will change everything. A summer spent on Nantucket with her best friend, Jules Clayton, and the indomitable Clayton family. A summer when she’ll make the almost unattainable Jay Logan hers. A summer to surpass all dreams.
Some of this turns out to be true. Some of it doesn’t.
When Jules and her family suffer a devastating tragedy that forces the girls apart, Jules becomes a stranger whom Cricket wonders whether she ever really knew. And instead of lying on the beach working on her caramel-colored tan, Cricket is making beds and cleaning bathrooms to support herself in paradise for the summer.
But it’s the things Cricket hadn’t counted on--most of all, falling hard for someone who should be completely off-limits--that turn her dreams into an exhilarating, bittersweet reality.
A beautiful future is within her grasp, and Cricket must find the grace to embrace it. If she does, her life could be the perfect shade of Nantucket blue.

 My Thoughts:

Nantucket Blue is one of those books that I added on to my TBR list ages ago when I underwent some kind of YA contemporary-romance chick-lit phase. It happens. I never stopped wanting to read it, either. I finally found a copy of it available when I went to the new library by my house. Seeing a copy in good condition also intrigued me, you know? I borrowed it, sat down in one of their uber-cool noise-cancelling chairs, and read half of it there. The other half? At home. It's currently summer vacation, and although I won't be spending any time on the beach until August, Leila Howland converted me from reality into Nantucket. You cannot imagine how much I want to visit Rhode Island, tour Brown University and take a ferry to this gorgeous island that I now know so much about. For some, this may be a cheesy chick-lit where we could all predict the ending. Yeah, it was extremely cheesy, but that's the fun of it. I really loved Nantucket Blue, and I am excited to read the sequel!

This story revolves around soon-to-be-seniors in high school, Cricket and Jules. They have been best friends since the eighth grade, and since Cricket doesn't have a good relationship with her divorced parents, Jules' home has become Cricket's, in a way. After a huge tragedy strikes, the two friends' lives change forever. This is right at the start of summer vacation, and Jules' family is still going to their summer home on a small island called Nantucket. Cricket follows Jules to show that their friendship still exists and gets caught in a summer fling in the midst of it all... yada yada yada.



You can most likely predict it if I tell you all about each of the characters and how Cricket gets involved with them. That's not why I read the book, to catch the predictability and make fun of the story. I read this book because I was looking for a book that will capture the great moments of summer and make me have this inexplicable feeling. This book is your perfect beach read, a book that you will fly by in a sitting and squeal over. 

Leila Howland is just such a good writer. This story was fast-paced, and although it takes place over a matter of two months, it never got boring. Boringness is a HUGE book pet peeve of mine, and if I get bored reading a book, I feel like it's a waste of time for me to read. Nantucket Blue was just so addicting and like bliss. It had this kind of 90210-like drama, but it was narrowed down a touch and made extra fun. 

Our protagonist, Cricket, was kind of the issue at times, but I liked her anyway. Overly attached characters are no fun. There were moments where I just wanted to slap the book and scream at it because Cricket never made the decisions that she should have made! Like seriously, making out with two guys in a day? Being nice and overly attached to your ex-best friend? NOOOO. Cricket Thompson is your stereotypical example of a bi*chy teenage girl. I honestly am so against stereotypes (they're the worst things possible), but Cricket Thompson fulfilled the ones that have been made for years because of shows/books like Gossip Girl. She had no respect for her parents, didn't care about anything she did, and was so boy-crazy that it blew my mind. 



At least the romance was cute when it came around. Screw Jay though. I can't believe that Cricket was obsessed with this douche-bag. ZACK, GUYS. I don't understand what was the big deal with the whole dating-best-friend-brother thing. I guess people have different opinions on all of this. The age difference kind of frustrated me, though. (Zack is a sophomore. Cricket is a senior).

My favourite thing was Nantucket itself. I've read books about The Hamptons, about Martha's Vineyard or Cape Cod, but never about Nantucket. I wouldn't have known about Nantucket if it wasn't for Leila Howland's duology. I WANT TO GO THERE. I want to eat fried clams, as well.







Nantucket Blue is one of the most summeriest books you could possibly read. Next time I go to the library, I'll have to grab a copy of the sequel and be introduced to another summer of Cricket's in Nantucket. Any lover of Melissa de la Cruz's contemporary novels should definitely go for this pretty. 


What is your favourite summer romance? What is an island that you would seriously like to visit in the future?

No comments :

Post a Comment

I love comments, I always read them, they always make my day and help me improve my posts. Thank you!