The Story of Us by Deb Caletti

Summary:
Cricket’s on a self-imposed break from her longtime boyfriend—but she’s picked a bad week to sort out her love life. For one thing, her mother’s romance is taking center stage: After jilting two previous fiancés, her mom is finally marrying Dan Jax, whom Cricket loves. But as wedding attendees arrive for a week of festivities at a guesthouse whose hippie owners have a sweet, sexy son—Ash—complications arise:

Cricket’s future stepsisters make it clear they’re not happy about the marriage. An old friend decides this is the week to declare his love for Cricket. Grandpa chooses to reveal a big secret at a family gathering. Dan’s ex-wife shows up. And even the dogs—Cricket’s old, ill Jupiter and Dan’s young, lively Cruiser—seem to be declaring war.

While Cricket fears that Dan is in danger of becoming ditched husband-to-be number three, she’s also alarmed by her own desires. Because even though her boyfriend looms large in her mind, Ash is right in front of her.... (from GoodReads)

Review:
I truly adore Deb Caletti and I think her novels are amazing. However, I was not as enthralled with The Story of Us as I would like to be.

My main issue with this book was the letters that Cricket would write to her (ex) boyfriend Janssen. They really had nothing to do with the plot but served to explain the relationship between Cricket and Janssen to the readers. The letters acted as a stream of consciousness for Cricket and in my opinion, we got a lot of unnecessary information from them. I actually started skimming the letters because I didn't really care about them and they weren't essential to what was happening in present day. The only reason I even bothered at times was because I wanted to know why Cricket and Janssen broke up; she's very vague about the reasoning when she discusses the situation with other characters. That part was actually a little interesting and I would have liked to see that explored a little more.

The main gist of the story is that Cricket and her family are staying at this big beach inn for a week in preparation for her mother's wedding. I was excited for a great atmosphere so I could be engaged in the book (like how I was with the beach town in The Moon and More by Sarah Dessen). That didn't really happen for me. However, I did love all the supporting characters, especially Cricket's grandmother. They added a lot of color to the story.

This wouldn't be a romance if there wasn't another character on the side for the protagonist to choose between. This character was Ash, the son of the innkeeper. He wasn't even in the book that much nor did he have that great of a personality. Another reason why this book didn't keep me engaged.

Overall, I still love Deb Caletti and I still would recommend all of her books. But if you read this one and didn't like don't give up! Definitely try The Secret Life of Prince Charming or Stay.

Rating: 6 out of 10.
FTC: borrowed from the library.

2012/Simon Pulse/389 pages.