lollipopsbooks

The Last Summer of the Garrett Girls by Jessica Spotswood
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

tw: aromisia (unchallenged), bi character gets outed, homophobia (challenged), and biphobia (challenged)
cw: car accident/crash

At first glance, this book sounded like it was exactly in my wheelhouse. It's a contemp. YA book that follows 4 sisters during a summer that changes everything. They own a family run indie bookstore (which I adored that bookseller element and it's told through 4 alternating POVs.)

All the characters were flawed in their own way some of the girls are unlikable characters and aren't afraid to admit it. I adore sister-sister relationships that are real & raw & messy. Des is the oldest, & feels the biggest responsibility and burden (oh boy could I relate to her the most.) She's the very glue that holds her family together because their grandmother got injured, and years before became their sole guardian after their parents died in a car accident.

We have Bea, who is the driven ambitious one.
We have Kat, who is the wild theater kid.
We have Vi, who is the quiet bookish nerd who writes fan-fiction.

Just to quickly cover the aromisic part of the book, Vi uses the phrases such as: "It's only as friends...The truth is, she doesn't want to be just friends. She wants more."[direct quote.] Which if you've ever followed me anywhere, I've talked in depth about this is extremely harmful to readers like me.

The really bizarre thing about this above is that Des was really aro-coded and ace-coded to me. Like at one point, she admits that she's a virgin and "is not interested in sex or being in a relationship." I feel like this is a truly missed opportunity, and it's not really an excuse that Des wouldn't know the label because this is set in a modern contemporary setting and its prime time for on-page aroace to be clear: Spotswood wouldn't have to change Des' character at all just attach this label to her in an authentic way.

Vi is a very vocal lesbian, she reads all the Nina LaCour books and has been out to her family (which is cool!) Her love interest is Mexican-American, & she does get outted in a newspaper through a newspaper through a gossip column, which is just something to know (and the reporter does get rightfully fired.) There are multiple people who cheating in this story but one of them is another sister's bi LI, who cheats with his ex the second he comes back to town. I've heard from my fellow bi pals and believe it myself that this is in fact a harmful stereotype, so just a heads up.

One thing that I could really appreciate the author doing was PTSD rep and anxiety rep, although both are rarely mentioned and kind of skimmed over on the surface level. I wish there was some more scenes of two individual characters dealing with these struggles and mental illnesses, that would have really enhanced the book in an enriching way.

Other than that, there seems to be a real lack of communication b/e the sister for most of the book. For a majority of the summer, all of them get suddenly really out of character and keep huge secrets to themselves. Although I did genuinely enjoy multiple aspects of every girls individual story. I sometimes felt like the multiple POVs really blend together and be bland. That majority of the book was about each girls romantic relationships (& the all the drama that comes with that) excluding Des. Yet at the end, I was still more thirsty for the intricate sisterhood ties that bond these girls together.

View all my reviews