The Last Summer of the Garret Girls by Jessica Spotswood | Book Review

Title: The Last Summer of the Garret Girls
Author: Jessica Spotswood
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Published Date: June 5th, 2018
Genre: Contemporary, Realistic fiction, YA
Page Count: 320
Format: Kindle

My Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★.5

Goodreads Summary: 
One summer will challenge everything the Garrett sisters thought they knew about themselves—and each other.

Kat lands the lead in the community theater’s summer play, but the drama spills offstage when her ex and his new girlfriend are cast too. Can she get revenge by staging a new romance of her own?

Bea and her boyfriend are heading off to college together in the fall, just like they planned when they started dating. But Bea isn’t sure she wants the same things as when she was thirteen…

Vi has a crush on the girl next door. It makes her happy and nervous, but Cece has a boyfriend…so it’s not like her feelings could ever be reciprocated, right?

As the oldest, Des shoulders a lot of responsibility for her family and their independent bookstore. Except it’s hard to dream big when she’s so busy taking care of everyone else. 
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 My Review:

Thank you to Sourcebooks Fire and Netgalley for the free e-book.

Last Summer of the Garret Girls follows four sisters from the ages of preteen to college age. 
We have Des the oldest, Bea a recent high school graduate, Vi who is in early high school, and Kat who is also in high school. 



This truly was a perfect summer read for me. It was light and funny but also dealt with a lot of real life things as well.
Des being the oldest has given up going to college so that she can help out there grandma with raising the other girls, as well as now running the families bookshop. While she loves doing it, she also feels a little bit like it's just expected of her now and like she is missing soo much of life, that her best friend is getting to experience. 
Bea is in a way stuck. She's planned out her whole life with her longtime boyfriend, but now she's not sure if that's what she wants. 
Vi has a huge crush on a girl, but the girl has a boyfriend and is also from a family that doesn't appear to support the LGBT community. Vi is also a huge reader and was one of my favorite characters.
While Kat might be the youngest, she's also the one that they all watch the closest because she is recovering from an eating disorder. She is also now set on making her ex-boyfriend want her back.

Overall I really enjoyed this story. The sibling bond between all the girls, and the real-life things they were going through felt real. With four different storylines, you would think this would get confusing at times, but it doesn't! Each girl has a distinctive personality, making it so you can tell instantly who each one is.

I did have two favorites out of the four girls. Des and Bea. I liked the other two characters storylines, but I loved Des and Bea's because they were a little older, and as an older reader who is now dealing with some of the same things they are now it was really easy for me to connect with them. Bea struggle with school is something I myself am going through right now, it's a really tough choice and no one can make it for you (well they can, but it most likely won't end well). Des is dealing with a lot of responsibility, and she also feels stuck because of it. She wonders if she really is missing out on what's going on, but she also realizes that she is needed and loved right where she is.

I loved seeing all of the girls grow and change throughout this story, and I wish them all the luck in the world in their bookish universe.