Review: How My Summer Went Up in Flames

How My Summer Went Up in Flames by Jennifer Salvato Doktorski 

First she lost her heart. Then she lost her mind. And now she’s on a road trip to win back her ex. This debut novel’s packed with drama and romance!

Rosie’s always been impulsive. She didn’t intend to set her cheating ex-boyfriend’s car on fire. And she never thought her attempts to make amends could be considered stalking. So when she’s served with a temporary restraining order on the first day of summer vacation, she’s heartbroken—and furious.

To put distance between Rosie and her ex, Rosie’s parents send her on a cross-country road trip with responsible, reliable neighbor Matty and his two friends. Forget freedom of the road, Rosie wants to hitchhike home and win back her ex. But her determination starts to dwindle with each passing mile. Because Rosie’s spark of anger? It may have just ignited a romance with someone new…

How my Summer Went Up in Flames was such a fun read! (Although I can't stand the way the girl is standing on the cover. Can I say Ow?) At first, I thought it sounded cute but thought the main character would be kind of pathetic. Luckily, she was real, and fun, and not too pathetic.

Can I just start by saying I have a rocky relationship with road trip books? I tend to love em' or hate em'. In this one I thought the road trip aspect was handled superbly though. The characters go to cool destinations in the USA, plus the ratio of boys to girls is 3:1. So, we get a lot of fun comments from Rosie about the car ride with the boys. One of my favorite scenes is when Rosie tries to play a road trip game. (To the question "What kind of fruit are you?" Rosie get back an answer something like, "I am not sure about me, but you are definitely bananas!")

Rosie is, as already stated, an awesome narrator. She is spunky and you can clearly see the character growth by the end of the book. Also, her voice is easy to read and I was laughing, like, the whole time! This was a such a good book to read right after Prophecy which had nothing remotely laugh inducing within the pages. The other girl we get to know well is a character met half way(ish) through the book. I really liked her though. Just let me search through the book for her name... Avery! Yes, I remember!

Anyways, she is lots of fun and also induced some laughs from me. And, finally, we have the three boys, Matty, Spencer, and Logan. They were all great. Matty is the younger best friend that helps keep Rosie from getting into trouble. Spencer and Logan are brother who are both very, um, neurotic about the schedule and rules. I think I rolled my eyes at there freakish obsession with how they planned everything!!! Rosie feels the same way.

Also, I love how the dialogue feels real, and not at all forced, as that is one of my biggest pet peeves in a book. I read the book so fast, it was addicting. I love addicting books!  And this book had everything else too: humor, awesome romance, a good message, cool premise, and a great pacing that had me zipping through the pages.

Overall, this was a great read! I would reccomend this to anyone looking for a light, fun contemporary full (and I mean full) of laughs. I cannot wait to read more by this author, Jennifer Salvato Doktorski!

4/5 bookcases (This was won in a giveaway, thank you Emily Crammed Bookshelf and Jennifer!)


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