Review: Juniors by Kaui Hart Hemmings

Title:  Juniors

Author:  Kaui Hart Hemmings
Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers

Publishing Date: September 22nd 2015

Pages: 320
Genre: YA Chic Lit 

Series:  Stand Alone
Source: Audio

 

Lea Lane has lived in between all her life.

Part Hawaiian, part Mainlander. Perpetual new girl at school. Hanging in the shadow of her actress mother’s spotlight. And now: new resident of the prominent West family’s guest cottage.

Bracing herself for the embarrassment of being her classmates’ latest charity case, Lea is surprised when she starts becoming friends with Will and Whitney West instead—or in the case of gorgeous, unattainable Will, possibly even more than friends. And despite their differences, Whitney and Lea have a lot in common: both are navigating a tangled web of relationships, past disappointments and future hopes. As things heat up with Will, and her friendship with Whitney deepens, Lea has to decide how much she's willing to change in order to fit into their world.

Lea Lane has lived in between all her life. But it isn’t until her junior year that she learns how to do it on her own terms.

This was a good steady read. I enjoyed the story, I enjoyed the characters. I enjoyed the narration. In the end I felt good. A couple warm fuzzies and a smile on my face. 

Lea has moved back to Hawaii with her mother. She is a junior in high school. She doesn't feel that she fits in any where. No friends. No past time to enjoy. Just school and home and school again. Then her mother decides they are moving into a guest cottage for a very dear friend. A friend that has a daughter and a son. Both of which are nothing but trouble. Kids she knows but hasn't really ever been a part of their inner circle. Until she shares a lot with them. Then things change. She forms a bond with both but soon learns the truth, motive, and pressure of those bonds.

This was a good solid read. I hate to use that term sometimes because I don't really know what it means to others. But what it meas to me. I enjoyed this book. There was a great pace, great story, great characters. I was not wowed, I was not slouched in my seat crying or on the edge of my seat biting my nails. I didn't need to be though. This book really kept my attention and I was very satisfied with the book when I was done. There were lots of good parts, deep but not always, there were laughs and uh oh moments, there were lots of smiles, there was just the right amount of everything to really enjoy the read, but it was a bit predictable. 

Lea was a very interesting character. I could really get into her and see her as someone I would know in high school. Maybe even have some of her characteristics in me when I was her age. She really didn't fit in but she wasn't bullied or a loser either. She was just there. People knew of her and knew her but she wasn't close to anyone. She was pretty lost in her own ways. Always searching without really knowing she was searching. She was not grounded in herself or who she wanted to be. She wasn't sure who she wanted to be or who she really was. She was easily molded when the neighbors, Whitney and Will came into her life. These two were very interesting. I couldn't tell if I liked them for a while. In the end.. I loved Whitney and not so much Will.

Whitney was cool, collected, go with the flow kind of girl on the outside.... but on the inside, she was lost, spinning her wheels trying to get somewhere she had no idea where it was. She had felt her life was fake, fake family, fake friends, fake smile. She desperately wanted things to change so she grabbed on the Lea. I liked her. I liked her bunches. She had lots of layers and I love my characters with layers. 

Her friendship with Lea was layered too. For the longest time I didn't know what Whitney was after but I could tell she was not fully honest. But after a while things changed. It was Whitney I loved and Lea I wasn't so sure of.. They were almost the same but not and they just didnt' know it. 

Will I liked at first. He seemed cool but in the end not so much and I kind of disliked him a lot. Through out the story his true colors began to appear and they were  not bright or happy colors.

The story is about Lea and how she had to find herself and figure out what was true in her life and what wasn't. The relationship with her mother, the truth about her father, her friendship with Whitney. It all had some truth about it that she had been closed off too, blind too. She had to discover who she was and who she wanted to be. 

I did like this story, but it didn't wow me. I wouldn't say it was one of the best of the year. I would recommend it though. To many contemporary readers out there. Its strong on friendship no on romance, but it's a good story. 

I liked it, it was a steady read

I'm the author of The Descendants, House of Thieves, and the Possibilities (May 13, 2014) Visit my website:https://www.facebook.com/KauiHartHemm...Instagram: http://instagram.com/kauiharthemmings#