Title: Sunkissed

Author: Kasie West

Pub. Date: May 4, 2021

Pages: 320

Pub: Delacorte Press

Genre: YA Contemporary Romance

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

Goodreads

A lighthearted and swoony contemporary YA romance by fan-favorite author Kasie West about a girl who finds that a summer spent at a family resort isn’t as bad as she imagined…and that falling in love is filled with heartache, laughter, and surprises!

After being betrayed by her best friend, Avery is hoping for a picture-perfect summer. Too bad her parents have dragged her and her sister to a remote family camp for the entire summer. And that’s not even the worst part. Avery also has to deal with no internet, a cute but off-limits staff member, and an always-in-her-face sister.

But what starts as a disaster turns into a whirlwind summer romance as Avery embarks on an unexpected journey to figure out what she truly wants and who she wants to be.

This will be a spoiler free review. I listened to the audiobook via Audible. I didn’t love this, but I didn’t hate it either. It made me feel some pretty strong emotions – a lot of them rage-y.

Kasie West books are usually hits or misses for me – mostly hits. But this one just kind of sits in the middle. I could connect to some of what the MC goes through, but just about everyone in her life, treats her kind of horribly.

Her “best friend”.

Her crush.

Her sister.

Her parents.

And okay, some of her relationships with these characters are colored by the angst of being a teen, but her “best friend”? I was fucking enraged.

The way the love interest/crush treats her towards the end of the book? Miss me with that shit.

I spent so much of the end of this book just absolutely annoyed. I just wanted to throw both of them away.

Despite her sister’s actions, I did really like her. And the parents pretty much play minor roles until they need to parent.

I was really excited for the whole summer camp setting, and while it was kind of a summer camp, it just felt more like a resort. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but I was expecting something more stereotypical summer camp.

I also really didn’t like the MC and the love interest. I didn’t think they had chemistry. Their banter was cute but lacking any emotion. Like, Kasie West got the dialogue perfectly, and if I’d bought into the relationship, I would have been absolute trash. But because I didn’t enjoy their relationship or believe it, it all just kind of fell flat. And that outside of the stupid fucking choices he makes at the end of this book.

I don’t know. Maybe I was in a bit of a slump from Blade of Secrets when I listened to this and it clouded my judgment. I’ve loved most of Kasie’s books in the past, but this one just didn’t live up to my excitement for it. The audiobook was pretty good and the narrator did a fantastic job, this book just kind of fell flat for me storywise.