My rating: 3.5/5
Emily McIntire is a great author, and her retelling of stories is amazing and I simply loved them. But before Emily went “dark”, she was “sugar” – “The Sugarlake” series is a 4-book series, with stories that connect with each other. Personally, I cannot say for sure if I like the series or not, even though I read the first 2 books. Comparing this series with the retellings one, there is no comparison, and I think that Emily was too young when she wrote it, because the difference is extremely notable.
The story of Alina and Chase starts in their childhood. Chase just moved in with his adopted family and his sister, Lily, and they all became friends, together with Becca and Jax. Chase was a very difficult boy, driven by fear and abandonment, trying constantly to understand why his mom left him and Lilly and how to surpass that moment. He is conflictual, mad all the time, but completely in love with Alina. Despite that, he is hot and cold, being her friend but after that abandoning her, leaving mixed messages in his path. I think part of the ranking was because of Chase and the way Emily portrayed him – a chaotic mess, with no justification for his actions, mainly in his teens.
Alina was always in love with Chase, but she was over his mixed signals and wanted to live her life and dreams. She had a simple life, but life would be in her path in the most cruel way possible, leaving her alone and without a direction. When Chase is back in her life, things will get complicated because they are not the kids from 8 eight years ago.
Mainly, there is no complicated plot to follow along, just them growing up together, being together, then apart, then back together. The author is exploring more of the psychological part of the story, coping with grief, abandonment, death and so on. There is a mix between Alina’s story and Chase, but not very solid. Or at least for me, it was not.
The story was complicated and kind of chaotic, because Chase made things difficult and implicit, the story became difficult because of him. I gave the plot 3 stars because the complexity was not there, the depth in characters was not OK explored and more than that, I sounded a little childish in the construction. I read it fast, I skipped some parts, but I was determined to read the second book 2, not to abandon the series at first impression. That is why I gave the book 3.5, because it was better in comparison to the second one. 🙂
Ramonisme 