ARC Review: Promise me Something - Sara Kocek

Title: Promise me Something
Author: Sara Kocek
Publication date: September 1st 2013 by Albert Whitman & Company
Add It: Goodreads
Purchase: Amazon, Barnes & Noble

Summary from goodreads: As if starting high school weren't bad enough, Reyna Fey has to do so at a new school without her best friends. Reyna's plan is to keep her head down, help her father recover from the car accident that almost took his life, and maybe even make some friends. And then Olive Barton notices her. Olive is not exactly the kind of new friend Reyna has in mind. The boys make fun of her, the girls want to fight her, and Olive seems to welcome the challenge. There's something about Olive that Reyna can't help but like. But when Reyna learns Olive's secret, she must decide whether it's better to be good friends with an outcast or fake friends with the popular kids. . . .before she loses Olive forever.

What I think: Well, what to say about this book. The beginning was quite alright, further on I thought it was just straight out boring and the ending had a really nice twist, got more appealing but was also really predictable. All in all this book is a nice read!

I enjoyed the book, the description of the ambience is done marvelous, you really get a feel for the surroundings and it makes it a lot easier to visualize the story.

Reyna is the main character of the book, or at least the book is written from her point of view. Reyna just finished middle school and is now entering her first year of high school, but what should have been a great experience with all of her friends beside her turns into her own little nightmare. Because Reyna isn’t in school with her friends, she is actually the only one in the group that has to go to a different high school. And the stupid thing is that it is only due to the fact that her street is in another neighborhood.

In her new school Reyna is kind of a loner, until one weirdly dressed girl starts talking to her and this is where Olive comes in. A strange love hate friendship builds up between them, up to a point where there is only love. Olive is displayed as the weird girl that no one talks to; this of course could have something to do with the fact that she has her heart on her sleeve. But I have to say that this was refreshing and in some ways funny and loveable.

When Olive tells Reyna one of her biggest secrets the two girls start growing apart. This is where the life lesson of this book comes in. A friend should be someone who is always there, in the good and the bad and; never lie to a friend (or anyone else), lies always come out in the end.

I don’t want to spoil the book, so if you want to know what happens next, start reading the book!

To end this review, I wanted to say that the part that I disliked most of this book was how predictable it was. Maybe some of the younger readers won’t notice this (not that I’m that old ;) ) and maybe it was just me, I guess you could say that I’m a real detective when it comes to plot twists. I just can’t stop myself from figuring out ten million ways of how the story could end.

With thanks to Netgalley and Albert Whitman & Company for providing me with the ARC of this book.