The Next Best Thing by Jennifer Weiner is an easy read that is perfect for the summer. I have to be honest with you…I had high expectations and this book didn’t really live up to the hype. I thought it was definitely fun and cute, but it just wasn’t awesome.
The story is about a girl that struggles with the fact that she has a scarred face from a childhood car accident that killed her parents, and moves to California with her grandmother to become a TV writer. The main character Ruth really bugs me in the first part of the book. I think that has something to do with the fact that I always try to see a little bit of myself in a main character and she was doing things/thinking things that I would be mad at myself for doing/thinking. Nevertheless, she got much more likeable as the book went on and I ended up becoming very fond of her.
This novel is funny, filled with heartbreak and romance, and gives an interesting inside look at the Hollywood TV industry. I learned a lot and my mind was opened to quite a few things while reading this book. I don’t think you’ll regret reading it, I just think you’ll need an open mind when going into it!
Let me just start out by being straight with you: Spring Fever is the best book I’ve read so far this summer (maybe even this year?) and you all need to read it. I. Loved. This. Book. I’m actually re-reading it right now because I’m having separation anxiety from the characters.
Annajane Hudgens is living in a little town called Pascoe, North Carolina and works for her ex-husbands family company, which makes a soda called Quixie. The story begins when Annajane’s ex, Mason Bayless, is about to get married. Although she is engaged and about to move to Atlanta for her fiancé and a new job, Annajane begins to realize she might still have feelings for Mason when luckily fate intervenes; Mason ends up having to postpone the wedding.
This book alternates point of view between Annajane, Mason, and Mason’s evil (sorry, I just have strong feelings about her) fiancé, Celia, as Annajane and Mason revisit their past and begin to wonder if they really should have gotten divorced in the first place.
The characters, the setting, the story, and the friendship are all so real and relatable. If you’re anything like me, you’ll become deeply invested in this book within the first two chapters. Spring Fever is the perfect summer read and it gives you a little bit of everything! You may fall in love with some characters, you may hate some characters, but one thing I’m sure of is that you’ll love this book.
