Review Detail

A new family has moved to the small town where Westlin Beck has lived all her life. Silas is different from the boys in Green Lake and when her father volunteers Silas to be her partner in the car detailing business West and her best friend usually run all summer, she finds herself drawn to him – and his whole family.

I wasn’t too sure what to expect going into this book. The synopsis was pretty light on detail and I was worried I wouldn’t be able to get too into the book if there was a lot of cheating and excuses being made. But I ended up really getting into it and enjoying it.

There were two things that really stood out for me about the book. The connection some of the characters had to books was one of them. They were fellow bookworms and it was great to see them so passionate about it. The second was Silas’ relationship with his sister. I won’t say much because it would be spoiling but I really liked the way it was handled.

I really liked West. She made some bad decisions, and I definitely don’t agree with how she handled her growing feelings for Silas when she was still with her boyfriend, but it provided her with an opportunity to grow as a character and start expressing her opinion more. I could empathize with her feeling left behind when her best friend left for camp for the summer and her boyfriend was too busy on the farm to have much free time.

I was surprised at how much I liked West and Silas as a couple. Usually it’s hard for me to enjoy a couple’s interactions when one of them is seeing someone else, but I enjoyed watching their partnership turn to friendship into an eventual relationship. I also really liked how involved both West’s and Silas’ families were in the plot. I liked the interactions and that they seemed like good families going through rough times.

By the cover and synopsis, I was expecting more of a light, fluffy summer read type of a book, and the book did have its more lighthearted moments, but there were a lot of issues that the plot brought up as well. Growing up, growing apart, faith, how different people express their faith, family, mental illness, alcoholism, friendship, grief, and it did it all without feeling overwhelming or loosing the main plot.

An expected light summer read turned out to be a lot deeper than expected and I couldn’t be happier about that.