Book Review: Laguna Cove by Alyson Noel (Forever Summer)


Title: Laguna Cove
Author: Alyson Noel
Published: 26th April 2011

Summary:
The new girl always makes waves.
Welcome to Laguna Beach, California, where the beach is hot, the teens are beautiful, and there's always time for surfing.

Anne's new life in Laguna Beach feels more like a death sentence than a vacation. The local high school is the exact opposite of her former Connecticut prep school, and the social scene is all about hanging at the beach and surfing.  But when Anne finally makes friends at one of her dad's show-biz parties, she decides to give California a chance. There's wild child Lola; laid back, free-spirited Jade; and beautiful, competitive Ellie. And of course, Chris, the gorgeous guy who teaches Anne how to surf. Anne becomes fast friends with Jade and Lola, but no matter how hard she tries, Ellie won't give her a chance And the closer Anne grows to Chris, and the better she gets at surfing, the more Ellie seems to hate her. But now that Anne has worked so hard to find her place, she's not about to budge—especially since she plans to enter the annual surf competition, where she'll really give Ellie a run for her money.

With the signature humor and spot-on insight into teenage life that her readers have come to love, Alyson Noël makes waves with LAGUNA COVE. [GoodReads]

My Thoughts:
I bought Forever Summer which this book, Laguna Cover, and Cruel Summer were included in it.  There have been many negative reviews due to the ending of this book however once finishing it I didn't think it was as bad as I thought it would of been.


Anne is the new girl in town. She is continuously worrying about fitting in with everyone at school but she soon finds out there is nothing to worry about. Anne, I found, was a strong and confident character. She wasn't afraid to take risks that may end up leaving her in humiliation. I felt that many of the other characters lacked depth and when I first began reading this book I was immediately surprised by the different side-stories that were included in this book. This book seemed rushed with open gaps. Jake, who was written as a minority character, I felt, should of been included much more because I felt that he was an interesting character who just wasn't been looked into.


To conclude, the ending of the book was...open ended. It is for the readers interpretation is one was you could put it. Yes, it did leave many lingering questions however I didn't mind it as much as I thought I would. Yes, there are some that I wish were answered however I did like the open ended-ness and I thought that it worked well for this book.


However, I don't really think it's much of a romance book, I felt it was more about friendship. A new place, new friends and a new life. 

Recommend or Not? It's not a book that I would recommend as much as others. But yes, I would recommend it, however I will warn you that the ending of the book leaves many unanswered questions.

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