Review : Thirty Sunsets by Christine Hurley Deriso

Posted by on July 7, 2014 8:40 am in 3.5 stars reads | 4 comments

thirty sunsetsThirty Sunsets by Christine Hurley Deriso
Pages : 240
Genre : YA, Fiction
Stand alone
My Rating : 3.5/5

About the Book  :

To Forrest Shephard, getting away to the family’s beach house with her parents and her brother, Brian, is the best part of every summer.

Until this year, when her mother invites Brian’s obnoxious girlfriend, Olivia, to join them.

Suddenly, Forrest’s relaxing vacation becomes a mission to verify the reality of Olivia’s rumored eating disorder. But the truth behind Olivia’s finicky eating isn’t at all what Forrest expected. And over the next thirty days, Forrest’s world is turned upside down as her family’s darkest secrets begin to come to light.

My Thoughts :

There was much more going on in this relatively short YA contemporary novel than I expected – and it was a good thing, too!

The synopsis on the back of the book is pretty spot on, but it doesn’t say a lot of what’s going on in the book : for instance, that the mystery of Olivia’s eating habits isn’t something that drags through the whole novel; in fact, the truth is revealed soon enough and leads to some pretty great moments between Olivia and Forrest.

Which was one of my favorite aspects of the book : Forrest and Olivia coming together and getting to know each other. From the start, you can see it isn’t black and white; Olivia can be nice, and Forrest can be a bit judgemental, too. But once they room together, they bond in a natural way. They talk boys and share secrets, like girls their age would do.

Fortunately there is also a lot more going on to keep the reading interesting. Forrest meets a boy who treats her hot and cold, her family have their own challenges, all while she tries to figure out who she is and wants to be. I was surprised by some of the very strong themes of the book – this isn’t a light, summery beach read, but a serious contemporary novel about real teen issues.

I will say that I did feel some of the pacing was uneven, or that the characters lacked a bit of complexity/subtlety in the way they were written. It was really easy to see through Forrest’s “romance”, for instance; I would have liked it to be more uncertain, so that I could feel how she felt towards her guy.

All in all, Thirty Sunsets was a good read. I felt it touched on important issues without taking them too lightly. While it didn’t come together as neatly as I would have hoped (and I did feel the ending came on too hard, too fast), the overall result was satisfying.

Thirty Sunsets will be available for sale tomorrow July 8! Thanks to Flux for generously providing a e-copy of this book!

4 Comments

  1. This sounds like a fun read for the summer even with the uneven pacing.

    • Yes, it still feels like a summer book even though it is more serious than one might expect! I think it’s good though to have books to explore more difficult themes, too.

  2. I just was wondering about this book! The cover is so pretty and summery but I hadn’t heard too much about it. It does sound pretty heavy but I don’t mind that in my summer reading. I’m intrigued!

  3. I’m not a huge YA reader but this one interests me. I like the title and your review makes me think it might be one I like!

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