e-ARC, 320 pages
Release Date: May 17, 2022
Published by: G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers
Read from: April 28 – May 5, 2022
Stand-alone
Source: Edelweiss (I received a copy of this book from Edelweiss and the Publisher in exchange for a just and honest review. This did nothing to influence my review.)
TW: N/A
For Readers Interested In: Contemporary Romance, Realistic Fiction, Second Chance Romance, LGBTQ+, Road trippin, Sex in YA (not shown on page), YAFrom the author of Hot Dog Girl comes a sweet and salty queer YA rom-com about two girls on a summer road trip in an ice cream truck.
Fallon and Chloe used to be best friends, but last summer they hooked up right before Chloe left for college, and after a series of misunderstandings they are now not speaking to one another. A year later, Chloe’s back home from school, and Fallon is doing everything in her power to avoid her–which is especially difficult because their moms own a business together, a gourmet ice cream truck where both girls work.
When their moms have the opportunity to make a presentation to some venture capitalists in Texas–something that could seriously expand their business and solve all their money problems to boot–it’s up to Fallon to work a series of food truck festivals across the country. But she can’t do it alone, and Chloe is the only one available to help. As tensions heat up again between the two, will Fallon be able to keep her cool?
*MY THOUGHTS*
I 1000% did NOT want to write this review. If you go right now and look at my reviews for Jennifer Dugan’s other books, you will see me GUSHING over them. Especially Verona Comics. But this one, just didn’t feel like any of the other books she had. And I just didn’t enjoy it.
“Behind the next group of mini golfers- a bunch of olderboys probably just home from college – makes noises of impatience from our recently abandoned bench. And god, why is everybody in such a rush to have things end? Davor the time, people, I want to tell them, because after this horribly creepy hole, we’re all going to be shoved back into the real world.”15%
Fallon and Chloe were besties…. Until they did the unthinkable and hooked up. Now it’s a year later and Fallon wants nothing to do with Chloe. Unfortunately her mom and Chloe’s are besties that run a business together that they both work in. But now that they are trying to get their ice cream into other places, things are getting serious. Fallon and Chloe’s moms have to fly out to convince the board to help back them, while Chloe and Fallon take on the two biggest festivals they have for the year. Can they make up during their time together? Or will Fallon continue to give her the cold shoulder? (Lol sorry! I couldn’t resist)
“Better to sleep in the belloy of a shark than share a tent with the devil.”30%
Ok so the number one thing about this book that I didn’t like was the fact that the trope for it is the miscommunication trope. And y’all know how that makes me lose cone-trol. (Sorry, I had to lmao) Throughout the ENTIRE book I kept yelling at her to just say something already. It really make sense not to actually. Especially considering the lengths she went to to cut her hours, etc. Instead of doing that, she should have had the decency to come and tell her why. And she made the comment during the book, “I don’t want to have to tell her” and that just pissed me all the way off. That was the coward’s way of handling this. But because of this, it made me dislike her the entire book. I even contemplated DNF-ing it, but because I wanted to know what actually happened, I kept reading.
“I would like to tell you that I haven’t, in fact, ever imagined her saying this to me. That when she left, it was straight out of sight, out of mind. But I think we all know that would be a lie. Because the truth is… the truth is that you don’t get to be as angry as I am at someone who used to matter to you if they don’t matter to you still.”44%
The plot itself was ok. I liked the hijinks they got up to while on the road trip. I even looked up some of them to see if they were real. And with all the cool things they got to see and do, I thought it would bring them closer. But no. She stayed mad at her until like 65/70%. And of course, by then it’s time for the third act break-up, so it seemed like nothing happened between them. And this is a contemporary romance book ya know?
“I don’t know what I want anymore I realize.”49%
Being a character driven reader made this book hard to swallow. Although I was rooting for Chloe, I couldn’t stand being in Fallon’s head. At a few points I wanted Chloe to just give up because she deserved better. It just seemed like Fallon was so selfish and all about herself. She was so set on Chloe doing wrong that she never considered she could have been in the wrong also. It just really rubbed me the wrong way. I wished so badly that this a multi POV because I needed a break from Fallon’s bad attitude. Like y’all know that people who dislike everything is exhausting. Well that is definitely her. And then on top of being selfish and exhausting, she’s also petty. She was like mega-annoying. Basically what I’m saying is Fallon was a drip (lmfao last one I promise) and Chloe and the ice cream saved this for me.
“We are on two different wavelengths right now. She’s a confused best friends and I’m a scorned lover, and I don’t know how to reconcile how different our interpretations of that night last summer seem to be.”49%
To say I was disappointed was an understatement. I just knew I was going to have the most fun writing this pun filled review, but for the most part I was dreading it. I didn’t want to give one of my favorites a low rating, but then I thought about it. That’s how you know it’s true. I am being 1000% honest.
Overall, I give this
