Kaui Hart Hemmings

Seventeen-year-old Lea Lane must navigate a complex web of friendships and relationships after she and her mother move into the guest cottage of the fabulously wealthy West family in Honolulu.

Juniors

Lisa ✩ @lifeinlit

Lea and her mother have upped and moved to Hawaii, which is where her mother is originally from. Moving isn’t anything new for Lea, so she’s not at all bothered by this move. What does, however, bother her is that they are residing in the Cottage of the West Family, who is an extremely wealth family friend. The Wests have two children, Whitney and Will, how are both Lea’s age. Lea, Whitney, and West get into all kinds of teenage trouble and are having a blast, but Lea soon realizes that she’s not like these people, and is changing herself quite a bit in order to feel like she fits in.

The characters in this story were a lot of fun. The friendships were strong, and the parent/sibling relationships were even stronger. I really enjoyed how loyal and protective they all were, even while making the normal mundane mistakes we’ve all made in the past. Nobody is perfect, and neither were these characters, which is what made it all even more realistic. There was a “villain” though that added a lot of fuel to the fire, and that was Melanie West. She wasn’t just wealthy, she was conceited, entitled, and overly willing to use whoever was in the way to get where she wanted to go… including Lea’s mother. (Trust me, you’ll love to hate this witch!)

I also have to mention the setting because… HAWAII!! I haven’t come across many books taking place in Hawaii, so this was a huge bonus for me. The sights and sounds are ones I’ve only dreamed of experiencing. I’d love to visit Hawaii some day.

I had heard such great things about this book, so my hopes were pretty high going in. It didn’t disappoint one bit. A solid YA contemporary that is loads of fun and also carries with it quite a few values lessons. This is one that contempt fans won’t want to miss!
 
Audiobook Impressions:
Jorjeana Marie is an experienced narrator that never disappoints. I’ve listened to The Boy Most Likely To also narrated by her, and I enjoyed her narration of that one as well. She has a wonderful teenage voice and portrays the teenage persona perfectly. I’m always happy when I see Jorjeana Marie is narrating a book that I’m listening to.
 
(Thanks to Listening Library & G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers for the review copy!)

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Juniors

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