reveriesociety_
Written on Apr 9, 2014
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...
- ISBN10 1442459409
- ISBN13 9781442459403
- Publish Date 7 May 2013
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country US
- Publisher Simon & Schuster
- Imprint Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 320
- Language English
Reviews
Rowena
Written on Oct 21, 2013
I wasn’t sure what kind of story I’d be getting when I first started this book but I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this one. I say that because I’m not a real big fan of characters that are crazy enough to go to their ex-boyfriend’s house and burn memorabilia from their relationship that ends up burning said ex-boyfriend’s cars. But I’m glad that I stuck with this one because as much as Rosie was crazy, I came to really like her in the end.
This is another road trip book that sucked me right in and I really enjoyed the ride. I enjoyed getting to know Rosie and I enjoyed meeting Matty, Spencer and Logan. Man, did I enjoy getting to know Logan. He starts off as this super bossy and super cocky jackhole but man does he grow on you as the story progresses. By the end of the book, I was near swooning with delight over every mention of Logan. I couldn’t get enough of the guy and when I couldn’t figure out who the love interest was, I was firmly in Camp Logan even though I really liked the other guy, too.
This book was a fun road trip of a book with a cast of characters that were fun, quirky and too adorable for words. In this book, nerds rule and I ate all of that up. I heart nerds and Spencer and Matty were definitely nerds. There were times when I thought I would strangle Rosie but in the end, I liked her. She was just like any other teenager with real problems and she was trying to work through them the best way that she can and I really liked the friendship that blossomed between her and the girl from Texas (who’s name I’m totally blanking on). This was a great summer read for lazy days at the beach or lazy days outside in your backyard while you tan. Either way, this was a fun read that ended in a way that had me super happy so yeah, I definitely recommend this book.
jnikkir
Written on Jul 14, 2013
Full review to come.
inlibrisveritas
Written on Jul 5, 2013
How My Summer Went Up in Flames is undoubtedly a great book to read when the sun is shining and you’re feeling a bit of wanderlust.
I don’t read very many road trip books but anytime there is a lot of travel involved in a plot I usually really enjoy it, and HMSWUIF is no different. Rosie is forced to put some distance between her and her ex-boyfriend due to an incident with fire and his car, and a restraining order. Unfortunately since this contains very little in the way of plot, other than a road trip and a girl needing to learn a lesson there isn’t much for me to talk about.
Rosie is kind of funny, a tad bit of obsessive and a little bit impulsive; and she starts off the book a bit immature about the whole situation. I can tell she’s trying to handle the situation as best she can, but she’s not really doing that great of a job with it and it just lands her in more trouble. I liked seeing her grow some over the course of the trip, though I honestly wish there had been a little more because I got tired of seeing her flirt with or try to get the attention of other guys. Despite that I could see her trying to become more responsible. Matty is her best friend and probably one of the best characters in this book. He’s a great friend and I felt that Rosie sort of took his friendship for granted most of the time. I also really liked his two friends and their dynamic with each other. In fact I would say the side characters are better than Rosie for most of the book.
Over all HMSWUIF is a fun romp across the country but the main character sort of dampens things a bit.