Sixteen-year-old
Tess Kendrick has spent her entire life on her grandfather’s ranch. But when
her estranged sister Ivy uproots her to D.C., Tess is thrown into a world that
revolves around politics and power. She also starts at Hardwicke Academy, the D.C.
school for the children of the rich and powerful, where she unwittingly becomes
a fixer for the high school set, fixing teens’ problems the way her sister
fixes their parents’ problems.
And
when a conspiracy surfaces that involves the family member of one of Tess’s
classmates, love triangles and unbelievable family secrets come to light and
life gets even more interesting—and complicated—for Tess.
Despite my unadulterated love for
Jennifer Lynn Barnes’ writing, I was sincerely concerned that I wasn’t going to
enjoy this book when I initially heard about it. I’m not really into politics
and that sort of this, so this book was mentally out of my comfort zone. Good
thing I read it, though, because it was really great if a bit awkwardly bumpy
in places. Look at me, reading a political thriller of sorts. Oh my gosh! Am I
turning into an adult?
First off, big spoiler in this paragraph,
I’m going to mention a few of the things that turned me off and out of the
book’s world a little. Now I realize that I am one of zero (and I do mean zero
because as of right now I’m on the fence and holding my utter judgment until
after book two), but I was not a fan of how Tess’s sister became Tess’s mom.
It’s not that I didn’t love the plot twist, because trust me I loved it and the
story potential is brings, it’s simply that I did not like how it was revealed.
It just seemed so mundane. Blah blah, things are falling apart, I don’t want
you not to know that I’m really your mother, blah blah. I thought there could
have been more build up, or hey (better yet!), Tess could have figured it out
on her own! Gasp! How does she come up with this?
More on her figuring things out on
her own, though. When hearing about this book, I really thought that I was
going to get to see Tess become a fixer for this “high school” scene. I
wouldn’t have even minded more “cases” being thrust upon her before the big
conspiracy case. There just needed to be more of her becoming a fixer alongside
her sister and then there needed to be a cross and some links between cases.
The way that occurred in the book just seemed flat. It was a nice variation to
the usual to kid in high school trope but I don’t think it was executed well
enough to be an acceptable differentiation.
The last thing that bugged me was
how quickly Tess forgave Ivy for leaving her with her grandfather and for
stopping writing letters. I would be livid if that sort of person uprooted me
from the life I love to move to Boston and live with them. I’d never forgive
them, even if they did tell me a huge secret that really “changes things”. I
understand that tragedy brings people together, but to me Ivy was a bully that
tore Tess from her home. Considering Tess’s key character trait of despising
bullies, her forgiving Ivy so quickly just didn’t ring true.
Now on to what I loved about the
book: which is a lot! As I mentioned before, I’m not a huge politics fan but
this book had me hooked. The more of the conspiracy that got revealed, the more
I got invested. I would have liked if Tess could have figured out some secrets
before her sister, but in the end she really got to determine her own fate and
figure things out on her own (which I loved).
Tess was a dynamic character for
sure, and I loved her interactions with her friends and I adored Henry. Now
there’s a ship for which I’ll knit a sail! But characters are never something
with which I’ve seen Barnes struggle. She can build great characters that I
will fall in love with inevitably and no matter what.
One thing I was a huge hopeful for
in the beginning was the maybe love triangle between Bodie and Adam. I thought
it was so inventive to have a love triangle with the sister rather than the
main character. In that instant, the book really felt like a TV series with the
clear life of Ivy and then the life of Tess. An almost split POV story, if you
will, and I thought it was going to be amazing! But then I was denied that joy
by Ivy lackluster “love-type” emotions for Bodie. Finishing the book, however,
I’m still hopeful that there’s a love triangle in Ivy’s future that I’ll get to
read all about.
And yes, there were the twists,
thrills, and all other Barnes amusement park rides. There’s never a dull,
untwisted moment in the book, and never a person without some sort of ulterior
motive. But I’m guessing that’s just D.C. and I can’t wait for more.
XOXO Tia
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