In this Bridges of Madison County for teens, Michelle Zink weaves a magnetic tale about summer love that stays with you long after the seasons change.
Rose Darrow never wanted to spend her life working on her family’s farm. But when her family is rocked by an unexpected tragedy she has no choice but to put her plans for the future—and dreams of escaping her small town—on hold.
Bodhi Lowell left home as a kid and hasn’t looked back. Years of working farm jobs has given him the one thing he wants most: freedom to travel without answering to anyone. He’s already looking past his job at Darrow Farm and plans on leaving in September—until he meets Rose.
Neither Rose nor Bodhi can deny the sparks flying between them, but with the end of summer looming, they must decide if it is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all….
Thank you to HarperTeen for providing me with this book in exchange for an honest review.
THE WALK IN THE SUN had a beautiful cover, so I knew I was going to be interested. I’ve been trying to read more contemporary romance, for myself and for one of my 2016 reading challenges! Unfortunately, I was not very impressed with this novel.
The thing about this book was that it was good; it had a lot of new elements that aren’t very common in YA, but the plot was just so cliché. This tale has been told a thousand times over again, and frankly, I’m getting bored with it. The plot is a popular trope throughout young adult literature: the girl is hurt. The boy comes along. They hate each other, then they fall in love. The girl and the boy have a fight/have a rift between them. They make up. Happily ever after. I’ve just seen this sort of concept everywhere, so I feel like if I had never read a book like this, I would enjoy it so much more.
Let’s talk about the characters. We first get introduced to Rose, who is obviously the gorgeous, sweet, kind, caring main character, whose mother has just passed away. In turn, her father is not working on the farm, and Rose has to take everything under her belt, but she’s stressed. That’s where Bodhi comes in. He’s the tall, attractive farmhand who helps out around the property and who also has a troubled past. Do these character descriptions sound familiar? They should because they’re literally the reincarnations of every young adult character ever. That being said, the romance was cliché. They fall in love while Rose’s friend (who is like a brother to her) feels jealous and wants to “protect” her because he’s just so desperately in love with her.
If you want to take one interesting thing from this novel, just know that this takes place on a farm. I haven’t read any books that are set on farms (now that I think of it, I’ve never read any of those kinds of books), and reading about their daily routines and farm responsibilities was pretty cool.
Overall, this book did not meet my expectations. I would assume that if you’re looking for some contemporary fluff set on a farm, then this one might be the one for you. I just suppose that I wasn’t in the mood for any contemporary romances when I read this, so I didn’t enjoy it as much as I had hoped.
Have you read this book yet? Are you planning to? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
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