Broken Hearts, Fences, And Other Things To Mend by Katie Finn

Broken Hearts, Fences, And Other Things To Mend by Katie Finn

Release Date: May 13, 2014

Publisher: Feiwel And Friends
Age Group: Young Adult

Pages: 352

Summary: 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.

My Thoughts: When I read the summary of this one, I knew I had to read it. It sounded right up my alley! A perfect fun beach contemporary. And, I was right!

We are introduced to Gemma who has the perfect life. She lives with her mother and stepfather, has an awesome best friend, and and even cooler boyfriend named Teddy. This summer she is going away with him on a trip.

A few days before they are scheduled to leave, Teddy breaks up with her. He tells her it’s just not working, blah blah blah. Well, Gemma is devastated. She and Teddy are perfect together! Well, now her whole summer is free so she figures she’ll just spend most of it in bed moping. Until her mom tells her that she and her husband are going away also so Gemma can’t stay there. Gemma has to go stay with her father. No big deal, right? Right, until Gemma finds out where exactly her father is right now.

Her father is staying in the place Gemma dreads. The Hamptons. A while back, Gemma had a friend and that friend’s mom was dating her dad. Well, Gemma did some pretty bad things to this girl and basically made her life hell. Gemma isn’t proud of it, but it is what it is, and Gemma has spent the last few years trying to make up for it karma wise, and make herself a better person.

As soon as Gemma gets to the new town, she runs into a boy named Josh. She then meets his sister Hallie. Oh no! But, neither of them recognize her so she says she is someone else.

This whole story is basically Gemma pretending to be someone she’s not and trying to make things better with Josh and Hallie and showing them what a great person she is. But, Gemma can’t catch a break. Everything seems to go wrong for her. Crap. Many funny moments.

I really liked Josh! I fell for him right away. He was sweet and caring and awesome. I did not like Teddy at all, and he’s in the story more than we know. And, I caught on pretty quickly about him. It just clicked in my head, and I laughed so hard.

Josh and Gemma get to know one another, and they really go good together. They have things in common, and things are just easy between them.

I loved the plot of this one, and the characters. But that ending almost killed me. And now I have to wait a while for the next one! I want it now! I need to know what is going to happen next!

Overall: If you like contemps you have to read this one! If you like revenge, redeeming yourself, best friends, beach reads, read this! I thought this was pretty darn interesting and it had its fun moments too. You have to take this one for what it is though. Its a fun beach read. Yes, there are some lessons throughout the novel but its just so much fun! I found myself laughing, wanting to tell Gemma things, and wanting things to go good for her!

Cover: I think its cute! I’d definitely pick it up for the cover alone! Colorful and neat!

What I'd Give It: