Sunkissed by Kasie West

The Quick Cut: Two teen sisters are dragged by their parents to a camp for the summer without wifi. Chaos ensues when their interests clash.

A Real Review:

Thank you to Delacorte Press for providing the ARC for an honest review.

Family relationships can be complicated enough, but when you have to spend extended time together? That can be like asking for trouble. It's a trouble that leads to unexpected places for Avery.

Avery definitely did not plan on spending the summer away with her family. Even more so, she did not plan on spending it without wifi or her bestie who recently betrayed her. When her parents bring her and her social media influencer sister Lauren to a remote camp, Avery can't help but find her life very different than she's anticipated. She has always done what was expected of her, but when she meets a guy working at the camp? She feels drawn to him and begins to do what is least expected of her. Will change lead to better things? Or worse relationships than what she had to begin with?

Kasie West is the queen of young adult contemporary novels. She's great at writing stories that help you check out of reality and into someone else's. This latest release definitely checks that box, but it also adds a level of escapism that we could all use right now. Rather than focusing on quarantine, this book lets you drop into a world where avoiding one another and viruses isn't the norm. We could all use more of that.

This book centers around Avery and her journey of self discovery. Her life hasn't gone as expected, but rather than focus on how frustrating that is - she decides to try things she's never done. If I found myself not liking the path my life was on, I'd probably do the same thing. It was easy for me to relate to Avery's journey and the end of that made me smile.

The other focus of this story is around expectations. It's fascinating how common it is to hear how we feel pressured to meet an image our family places on us. Seeing Avery's family be forced to face those images directly is a great example of how important being authentic is. That's exactly the type of point I think we all need to hear more.

A fun, sun filled book that will leave you smiling.

My rating: 4 out of 5