[I received an electronic review copy of this book from Netgalley and Swoon Reads in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.]
Summary
Camryn Roth has her heart set on Columbia for college. Her boyfriend, Marc, is a legacy, and they made a pact to attend together. Then Cam meets with her school counselor. Cam has been so focused on Marc and her friends, she’s neglected her extracurriculars. As things stand at the start of her senior year, she doesn’t have enough on her applications to get her into somewhere like Columbia. And there’s really no other school on her list.
That meeting with the counselor was bad. It threw Cam off and left her brain spinning. But she was going out that night with Marc. He would help her brainstorm some ideas to get back on track.
Only, he didn’t. He dumped her. Publicly. Not over the college thing, but because he wanted “some space.”
Cam is devastated. Marc is dating again in no time, eager to move on. But Cam’s whole life – her free time, her class schedule, her future plans – all revolved around Marc.
But with her best friends by her side, some new friends on her team, and a plan, Cam is going to get her life back on track. And she’ll show Marc what a huge mistake he’s made.
Review
This had a rough start for me. I did NOT like Cam. I felt there were huge, flashing “DANGER” signs in her thinking about Marc and their relationship. She hounded her counselor for the whole summer because she *had* to have at least one class with Marc her senior year. The activities she did as a freshman dropped off so she could focus on Marc. And it wasn’t because Marc made her drop those things. He wasn’t abusive or demanding. That was just what Cam thought it meant to be in a relationship – ignoring her ideas or her interests to focus solely on him. Every new glimpse into their relationship dynamic made me feel even more uncomfortable.
I do not enjoy characters and stories like that. I like strong, sassy characters who don’t put up with anyone’s guff. Cam seemed to be giving herself up for this relationship that started when she was 14 or 15. A lot can change about a teen from freshman year to senior year. And that’s often a good thing. But not for Cam. The big drama, the big feelings and the desperation were a turn off to me. If I had not committed to reading this, I probably would have stopped after a couple chapters.
Once I pushed through those initial feelings, I started to think that I was supposed to be uncomfortable with how Cam was acting. This whole book is about her finding herself again outside of this relationship. Cam kept sacrificing her wants and her options for guys – it didn’t just happen with Marc. And her head was so far in the sand of these “romantic” relationships, she missed out on some amazing friends until the break up set her on a new course.
It takes awhile, but Cam starts to listen to her own heart again. She prioritizes the things that have always mattered to her – having fun, being a little wild (like, school mascot wild), her friends – but got lost when she put other people’s preferences over her own. There’s still more of an emphasis on dating through the last half of the book than I would have chosen, but it’s probably more realistic this way. Cam needs time to realize what she’s doing in these relationships and start making her own choices again.
This is really NOT a romance, although it looks and sounds from the title like it might be. It’s really about Cam finding herself outside of a relationship and being okay with that, and with herself, for the first time in awhile. This could be a powerful story for teens exploring co-dependent relationships or trying to figure out where their own romantic relationships fit in the balance of their lives.
Rating: ♥♥♥½