Erin

LOVED IT! The premise completely charmed me. I love the idea of a big family, I always have. I can definitely relate to Samantha and how she feels very drawn to the Garrett family, what with all the messiness and chaos and cuteness. I had a good friend in high school who has 8 siblings. I loved going to their house, it always felt so full and warm and fun. I'm sure it's not always everything it's cracked up to be (something the author of this book highlights towards the end), but in my mind the Garretts are The Perfect Family. :)

The characters we care about (i.e. Sam, the Garretts, and Tim) are so well-developed; they're people I genuinely want to know in real life. I've already said how I love the Garrett family, so I won't overemphasize that again (ha). But to be more specific - OMG, George?!? Is probably the best 4-year-old brother you could possibly ask for. I was quite young when I had a 4-year-old brother, but he definitely could have learned a few lessons from George on how to be awesome. So yeah, back on point, this book had mostly great characters. However, some of the minor characters (Sam's mom, Clay, Nan) were very one-dimensional, and hard to believe. Especially towards the end, after the, dun dun dun...

Big Traumatic Event(what would a story be without it's conflict?)
I won't spoil it, but I will say: actual tears. I know it's a bit overdramatic, but when a well-written main character has a Big Time Meltdown because Her Life Is Falling Apart, I can't help but cry with her. My only complaint on the drama front is that I wasn't completely clear on how that all got resolved. It was just kind of a vague/abrupt ending.

No biggie, though, I still loved this book enough to buy it & reread it at least once a year, which is really the mark of a 4-5 star book in my opinion.

The thing about Abby is that she sees people in such a two-dimensional way. She sees her sister as this perfect girl that everyone adores. She sees Eli as a guy who's rich and gorgeous. And definitely, there are people in her life who supported her world view (stupid Jack). And it screwed up Abby big time, cuz she can't see herself as anything but not good enough. It takes her so long to figure out that people are never just one thing, that everyone has problems, etc.
It can definitely make for a very annoying protagonist, but what saddens me is that it takes so very long for enough people in her life to sit her down and say, “You deserve to be happy” to the point where she kinda believes it.

**somewhat spoilerish, so tread carefully. :)
I noticed today that I give books 3 stars a lot. I think there are, in my mind, about 5 different levels of 3-star-books. This was on a higher level of 3 stars. Maybe level 2 (with level 1 being the highest level of 3-star-books, and level 5 being the lowest. My mind is a very jumbled place. Ha.)

Anyway. I liked Wintertown. It was far from being a favorite, but it was an enjoyable story. The two main characters were great, together. I love the idea of best friends since childhood. I guess because that's not something I ever had. Separately, I identified more with Evan, and Lucy mostly annoyed the heck outta me. :) But they were very well-written characters & very convincingly angsty teenagers.

What held me back from completely loving the book, is that I resented the implication that Evan was too “perfect” and he had it too good, or that he was too focused on academics and getting into college. I know you learn lots of life lessons by making mistakes, but Evan was making all kinds of mistakes, just not the ones that Lucy thought he should be making.

I guess that was part of the point, though, that Lucy and Evan both had unrealistic expectations of each other. They were both in a weird place, and they needed the time apart to make their own choices & mistakes before they could work together, as best friends or otherwise. In that sense, I liked the ending, although I like to think that Evan eventually ended up going to college, maybe at NYU. But that's my nerdy, I-love-school side coming out. I can't stand that idea of someone like him not going to college.

Maybe 2.5. I didn't like it nearly as much as the first book. I was disappointed. The journey wasn't as fun, it was so awkward most of the time. And even though I appreciate the realsticness of the whole Ginny-Keith thing, I was so bummed for Ginny.
But the painting itself was a cool thing, and that her aunt again encouraged Ginny to do things she didn't realize she was capable of. Plus they had some really unique experiences!!