OstensiblyA

Looks like a cute small town romance, but parts of it are a little dark. I liked the romance, though I wish more time had been spent on it. There just wasn't enough Evie and Brody together to make their love fully satisfying. Though I really liked their scenes together. And moving from their misconceptions of each other to appreciating and loving their differences. I also liked them individually. Though I do wish Evie hadn't caved to the emotional blackmail. It bothered me that Katharine, who knew why she shouldn't subject herself to the PT job still pushed when she wasn't the only option.This book is basically the epitome of my "why-i-am-never-having-children" shelf. It's like a how-to on raising bratty, menace-to-society teenagers. All the parents make excuses for their shitty behavior and choices. Most weren't made to account for their actions (and I get Taryn suffered terribly for her crimes but what the hell good is telling her she bears no blame, etc.? She does. And while her suffering taught her a lesson on reckless, criminal choices, her unhinged response to what was a simple – and warranted – punishment definitely still needed to be discussed). Really by the end of the book the kids were showing more maturity and responsibility admitting to their wrongdoing while their parents were still trying to shield them. Okay, and call me an asshole, but why is the whole town memorializing and celebrating the girl, Layla, who died in that wreck? Evie gave a lot of money and work for that scholarship fund! Layla died after being a part of a group who broke into several businesses, robbed and vandalized them – Taryn's idea – broke into someone's cabin, drank, then piled in a car and drove THEN tried to outrun the cops. In a snowstorm. And almost killed a woman and her two children. What kind of message is that to the other children in town? Not only do they ignore all these things but they put all the blame on the kid driving and act as though Taryn and Layla are purely victims when they weren't. They all bear some blame. The woman and her two kids were the victims. You know which teenager wasn't celebrated? That girl, Hannah, whose father ran off with some woman. Had to deal with a fragile mother, take care of her three little brothers now that her mom had to work, and had a job of her own on top of that to help with the family's finances. AND started helping out with Taryn's PT – even though Taryn had ditched her as a friend when she became a popular cheerleader. No, but we celebrate the criminals because they got hurt being stupid. AND THEN EVIE GAVE TARYN HER DOG WHOM SHE LOVED AND ADORED SO MUCH AFTER TARYN THREW A FREE WEIGHT AT HER HEAD AND INJURED HER. And suffered no consequences for that either! Gah!. Ugh, seriously, this is why I don't read YA. I have a severely low tolerance for teenage bullshit and there was too much in this book. Some people hate babies and little kids in their romance. I generally have no problem with them – even love the trope most times – but teenagers? No. Just ruins all the fun, sexy, and romance.That said Brody and Evie could be cute about Taryn. And she was okay when she wasn't being a brat. I could feel bad for her struggle. I know I've complained a lot but there was something about the writing and story I did enjoy so, 3 stars. Would have been 3.5 or four were it not for what didn't work for me.