Nantucket Red (Nantucket #2) by Leila Howland - #review

Nantucket Red (Nantucket #2)

by Leila Howland (Goodreads Author)

Cricket Thompson's lifetime of overachieving has paid off: she's headed to Brown University in the fall, with a spot on the lacrosse team and a scholarship that covers almost everything. Who knew living in the dorm cost money? An Ivy League education seems to mean living at home for the next four years.

When Cricket is offered the chance to earn enough cash to afford a real college experience, she heads back to Nantucket for the summer. But the faraway island challenges Cricket in ways she hadn't anticipated. It's hard to focus on earning money for next year, when she finds her world opening up in entirely new ways-to art, to travel, and, most unexpectedly, to a future completely different from the one she has been working toward her whole life. A friendship blossoms with Ben, the gorgeous surfer and bartender who encourages Cricket to be free, even as she smarts at the pain of seeing Zack, her first love, falling for her worst enemy.

But one night, when Cricket finally lets herself break all her own rules, she realizes she may have ruined her carefully constructed future with one impulsive decision. Cricket must dig deep to fight for her future, discovering that success isn't just about reaching goals, but also about listening to what she's been trying to ignore-her own heart.

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Source: eARC for Honest Review from Disney - Hyperion via NetGalley

Genre: YA Contemporary

My Review ... 

After meeting Cricket and Zack in Nantucket Blue I couldn't wait to find out how their relationship blossomed in this book. 

As I was quickly hoping for a HEA and a cute YA romance I was surprised to realize that this is not what I was going to get. Instead this is a tale about growing up, becoming your own and finding your own path.  Once you can do that then you get the sweet romance. 

Cricket has been living vicariously through everyone else just trying to find her way in the world.  Where she thought things were going to be easy, she quickly learns that she has to work for things to  find out who she really is.  In this journey she re-establishes her friendship with Jules, explores dating, gets closer to her family and finds herself and what she truly wants instead of living through Nina's. 

First love is always tricky and we often don't know how to navigate through it.  Here, Cricket learns that relationships take work and you can't take them for granted because sometimes you don't always get what you want.  For Zach and Cricket it is a process to be together. 

I did think this was a cute YA book, but the first third of the book I felt was a bit slow.  It did pick up momentum once they were back in Nantucket.  Sweet YA series about finding one's self with a little romance and teenage drama thrown in.

3 Cute Finding your way thumbs up!

Lauren

My Review of Nantucket Blue