Plot:
Teenage mechanic Sawyer Taft is approached by her grandmother, whom she’s never met with a proposition: Live with her for nine months and participate as a debutant, and her grandmother will pay for her college education. Sawyer agrees. She also has another motive. She wants to solve the one great mystery about her life: who is her father? Along the way, she has to navigate the ins and outs of a lifestyle she's unfamiliar with.
Positives:
The overall mystery of who is Sawyer's father is actually fairly well put together. I can safely say I didn't entirely put it together. I liked the majority of the characters. The four main girls all felt like they had distinct personalities (something that isn't always easy for a young adult to pull off). They were also pretty well fleshed out. This is another thing that's not always easy to do, especially considering the book is told in first person perspective from Sawyer's point of view. I will get into my thoughts on how some of the male characters are written in a different section, but there are a couple I quite enjoy. One of the teenage boys is a bit of an eccentric oddball, and he's fun. One of the men Sawyer suspects could be her father is a senator, and he's actually a pretty effective villain. Finally, Swayer has a younger cousin who is a lot of fun. I appreciate it when an author knows how to write kids, and he feels accurate to how a young boy would act. The book throws several twists turns at you, and was fairly unpredictable at times, which I greatly appreciated. Finally, while this book does answer the main question, I do like that it sets up another mystery for the second book.
Mixed:
There's definitely some suspension of disbelief to be had with the story. Part of the reason the story comes to fruition is Sawyer's relationship with her mother. There are also just things that other characters happen to know where if someone just said something, the book would probably be over in about 50 pages. For some people, this is going to be a deal-breaker. I kind of loved the really ridiculous elements, and was just along for the ride.
Negatives:
I mentioned in the positives that I would bring up the male characters in another section. Well, there are a few male characters in the book that feel like they needed to be fleshed out more. In particular, the other two prominent teenage boys in the story, Nick and Walker, have the personalities of cardboard. I wish the other men who are on the suspect list could have been given more to do as well. The only one who feels like he has any real character is the senator. The others are just kind of there.
Final Thoughts:
This certainly wasn't a perfect book, but I had a lot of fun with it. If it sounds like it's up your alley, give it a read. If you read this review and thought "this sounds stupid," then I don't think this is going to be a book for you.
3.5 / 5
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