My Best Friend, Maybe

by Caela Carter

[Angie]

I received an ARC through NetGalley.

I really liked My Best Friend, Maybe! I was very excited and very nervous for it, but thankfully it was great! Collette has been without her best friend Sadie for three years. Now, out of the blue, Sadie invites her to Greece with her family. Collette is confused, because why now? Maybe this is Sadie's way of apologizing, or maybe she has a more sinister reason. Collette flip-flops about going, since she's suppose to spend the summer in Costa Rica with her boyfriend building houses with their youth group. But plans change, and Collette ends up on a plane to Greece, where she tries to put the past behind her. Easier said than done.

Based on the description, I was expecting My Best Friend, Maybe to end up with a romance between Collette and Sadie. I wanted this to happen! But, after meeting both girls, I'm glad it didn't, because it wouldn't make any kind of sense. Collette is a good, Christian girl (don't worry, the book isn't preachy at all). She gets good grades, is active in her church, and does what her parents say. Her boyfriend was the same way, but Collette realizes that that isn't who she is. She wants fun, something her mother believes will lead her down the sinful road to hell. She wants to find out who she is, and be herself, even though this vacation and being around Sadie is making it difficult, since everyone knows something that she doesn't.

I normally love misunderstandings in plots. However, I was a bit annoyed with the one in My Best Friend, Maybe. Everyone believes Collette is the one who abandoned Sadie because of who she is, but Collette has no idea what's going on. Sadie cries about it and pulls the "I thought you knew card" but then she goes on about how no one but her family knows, and that she tried to tell her a few times. Doesn't that imply that Collette didn't know? And yet she blames her anyway. I did like that Sadie eventually took responsibility for her part in ruining their friendship. Then the whole truth is revealed and I was all GASP! Some people are truly awful. I won't spoil it though.

My Best Friend, Maybe was great! It was fun, and sad, and heart warming. It covers a lot of different issues, but I don't think the author let any of them get away from her. Everything fit and wrapped up nicely. There's even a cute romance, and I loved watching Collette try to balance what she wants from that with the values she was raised with. It's always nice to read about characters with different beliefs than mine, as long as the narrative doesn't try to convert me. I do think that Sadie's sexuality could have been handled a little better, since she was very wishy-washy about whether she's out or not.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.