Title: Broken Hearts, Fences, and Other Things to Mend
Author: Katie Finn (web | twitter)
Series: Broken Hearts & Revenge #1
Genre: Contemporary YA
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Publisher: Feiwel and Friends
Release date: May 13, 2014
Source: ARC from the publisher (Thanks, Feiwel and Friends!)
Summer, boys, and friendships gone sour. This new series has everything that perfect beach reads are made of!
Gemma just got dumped and is devastated. She finds herself back in the Hamptons for the summer—which puts her at risk of bumping into Hallie, her former best friend that she wronged five years earlier. Do people hold grudges that long?
When a small case of mistaken identity causes everyone, including Hallie and her dreamy brother Josh, to think she’s someone else, Gemma decides to go along with it.
Gemma’s plan is working (she’s finding it hard to resist Josh), but she’s finding herself in embarrassing situations (how could a bathing suit fall apart like that!?). Is it coincidence or is someone trying to expose her true identity? And how will Josh react if he finds out who she is?
Katie Finn hits all the right notes in this perfect beginning to a new summer series: A Broken Hearts & Revenge novel.
Couple things: This is the time of year when I crave contemporaries like crazy. Also, turquoise is my second-favorite color. Finally, Katie Finn = Morgan Matson, one of my favorite, auto-read authors. These three things together mean that I was really stoked to read BROKEN HEARTS, FENCES, AND OTHER THINGS TO MEND. Bonus that it’s a story of facing past troubles and friendships gone wrong and romance and summer in the Hamptons. This is a winning combo, most of the time. And while I thought BROKEN HEARTS, FENCES, AND OTHER THINGS TO MEND (whew! What a mouthful!) was cute and fun, and I’ll keep reading this series, it was also a little cray beyond belief. Alas.
So Gemma just got dumped by her boyfriend, Teddy, super-activist, over-achiever, vegan, professional volunteer. They’ve been together for years ever since Gemma pretended to be interested in one of his plethora of random causes. When he dumps her in Target while they’re shopping for supplies ahead of their volunteer trip to South America, Gemma is kind of lost. Until her mother sends her off to the Hamptons–a place Gemma has avoided for years ever since one horrible summer when she found out her parents were not just separated, but getting a divorce–to summer with her father. She’s dreading going there so much and seeing Hallie, the young friend whose life and family Gemma basically ruined on purpose (but not without reason), that she plays herself off as her best friend, Sophie. Problem? Gemma/Sophie starts crushing on Hallie’s brother, Josh, almost right away. Then, things start going spectacularly wrong as she starts mingling with Hallie again the in hopes of righting her past wrongs.
One of the things I liked the best about BROKEN HEARTS, FENCES, AND OTHER THINGS TO MEND was the way Gemma had such good intentions with her scheme, but it kind of failed amazingly. I didn’t blame Gemma for her reaction to learning of her parents’ divorce. She was 11 and sad and confused and angry. The results of that fateful summer of plotting were not what she anticipated. The fact that Hallie still hates Gemma so much after all this time–5 years, I think–seemed a little far-fetched to me, but what do I know about one of my childhood friends literally ruining my entire family’s life. But I admired Gemma’s desire to fix things with Hallie, even if I cringed over the methods. HARD.
Even though I mostly liked Gemma, most of what goes on in BROKEN HEARTS, FENCES, AND OTHER THINGS TO MEND tends towards BANANAS of the ridiculous variety. Like, the kind of bananas that make me wonder in all honesty how these things could possibly happen in real life. Thankfully, this is just a book, because there’s not too much reality here. Well, maybe I should clarify: The thing that set off my “this is totally impossible” bells was Gemma’s ability to keep her identity hidden despite living in a house with her father and two of his work colleagues who all know her name. With Josh and other kids stopping by the house or running into people in town, I just can’t imagine that her charade would’ve lasted very long. Of course, Gemma’s plan is maybe not as successful as she thinks it is, so that goes a long way to bringing the story down to Earth.
The thing that Katie Finn does well that made me all happy and fluttery is the relationship between Gemma/Sophie and Josh. Of course, it’s based largely on a lie because Josh would never date Gemma even though he is falling for Sophie, who is really just Gemma being herself while using a different name. But it was still sweet and swoony and they connected over lots of things, including their exes. I LOVED THEM, and want them to be together. Not going to be easy, but I will be rooting for those two kids.
The ending of BROKEN HEARTS, FENCES, AND OTHER THINGS TO MEND was both not surprising and surprising at the same time. There’s really only so far that Gemma’s deception can go, but the way it all played out wasn’t necessarily the way I figured. And the way the end sets up things for the next book is certainly making me interested in the way this whole series will play out.
The writing and the dialogue in BROKEN HEARTS, FENCES, AND OTHER THINGS TO MEND is also pretty excellent, so I know that Katie Finn will be good for more of that in the next two books as well. There are few things I love more than BANTER, and Katie Finn is great at it!
In the end, I can’t say I loved BROKEN HEARTS, FENCES AND OTHER THINGS TO MEND, but it was enjoyable enough to keep me interested not just in this book but in the books to come. Huzzah!
Check out another review of Broken Hearts, Fences, and Other Things to Mend by Katie Finn!
Ashley @ Ashley Loves Books: “I’m not going to lie here: I considered DNF-ing this book. It’s not that it was bad…it’s just that I wasn’t too enthralled in it either.”
Ooooh I’ve been dying to read this one ever since I found out that Katie Finn is Morgan Matson. Normally I don’t go for books like this, but Morgan talked a little bit about it at a recent event and she had me totally intrigued so now I’m dying to get my hands on it.
I’m glad that the ending doesn’t sound like it was too predictable and I’m curious to see how Gemma hides her identity. I’m not surprised that it wasn’t a very realistic book, mostly because Morgan mentioned that the books she writes under Katie Finn all have a vibe of being slightly outside the realms of realistic possibility. Can’t wait to read it and glad that it left you wanting to read the rest of the series.
Your review makes the book sound interesting but I don’t think this is the contemporary YA for me. Thanks! ~Sheri