I know it won’t seem like it but I did actually end up liking this book but I did almost stop reading it multiple times. Kylie, the main character, took the entire book for me to even remotely like. Otto, is the best character, coming from a gay person: Tristan’s storyline was absolute garbage fire. I don’t know why it was written that maybe he was just confused, but it was, and I genuinely think every part of it could have been done better. Loved Harlow and Charles relationship! 2.5/5

Need a fun book to read to get your mind off the seriousness of life? Check out When Life Gives You Lemons Instead of Lattes. Quick and fun read that has a great story line and colorful characters. YA fiction is not always well written but I loved this book and author Rayna York has crafted a great book.

Teenage angst and drama abound but watching main character Kylie as she works through her summer drama made me smile. I was happy to see her transformation over the summer into a young woman with a little bit more depth.

Special thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the free copy for my honest review.

This was a cute, quick read, and the perfect palette cleanser type novel.

I really enjoyed the flow of the novel and the character relationships. There is a great sisterly love that many readers can relate to and a family tension a lot have probably felt. There were a few outbursts from the main character I was a bit put off by, but her snotty rich b*tch behavior is definitely a stereotypical act that had me rolling my eyes. I'm glad we saw the characters grow and change and learn to love. A very cute read!!

This book was a pleasant surprise, especially because of how disappointed I was at the beginning. The beginning really made Kylie out to be a total brat, and I'm really not good at reading books in which I hate the main character. Thankfully, Kylie got serious character development, and it Cam fairly fast.

This book follows Kylie, a teenager who's father is accused of embezzling. Her family goes from a lifestyle in which they have everything they wanted, to having to pinch pennies. They move out to her grandmothers old house in a small town, and there she is forced to confront herself and change.

This was a fairly heartwarming story, and while it did have some issues, I did still enjoy it. This story was heavily reliant on the characters, as the plot was fairly uneventful, which actually helped the book out a bit. Kylie has the largest character arc, and I really liked how it was written.

Like I mentioned earlier, Kylie was a conceited brat at the beginning of this. She uses her looks to get what she wants, and isn't used to being denied her comforts. This was definitely irritating for around the first 1/4 of the book, but it got better quickly. I loved watching her develop a relationship with her mother, it was as touching, and one of the better elements of the story.

I've seen other reviews mention it, and although I'm in no way educated on the topic, the coming out scene in this was not written well at all. I had been expecting it, so it wasn't a surprise, but the writing was. Kylie, instead of just accepting that her friend was gay, and leaving it there, tries to convince him otherwise. I'm sorry, that just didn't work for me very well.

I really liked how the romance in this was pretty understated. Instead of making the romance a driving feature, York kept it on the sidelines, adding a pinch every once in a while. It really allowed the characters to grow on their own. At the beginning, I was worried we'd be stuck with a love triangle, but thankfully that was resolved,

After being pretty excited for this book, I'm happy with it. While it definitely wasn't amazing, and I'll probably forget it, I did enjoy it. I can definitely see myself going back and rereading it when I need a happiness boost.

Thanks to Rayna York and Netgalley for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review

Most books draw you in with the main character, this book took a different route. I was interested in the main character's many issues, but more interested in the lives and reactions of those surrounding her.
The spoiled rotten child, learning to become a responsible adult in the rough world of reality is this book's main plot. However the characters surrounding the main plot add a level of depth and interest that made me zip through these pages.

Well guys, this started off a little rocky and then got better and then completely crashed and burned for me. I thought about dnfing a few times but continued hoping that it would get better. Boy, was I wrong.

The main character, Kylie, is one of the biggest narcissists I have ever read about. It’s all about her and she doesn’t care about anyone else, probably besides her sister. At least their bond was nice. She was always harping on her mom for poor choices but literally makes some of the worst decisions ever. She would grow on me a bit because you know, we all make stupid choices at one point, but then it would start all over again…

The only two characters I actually liked were Charles and Otto. They were the saving grace of this story but even then, they couldn’t help this book from diving into the deep end.

Otto is your typical nerd boy who gets the girl in the end. Surprise, surprise. Charles has a bit more depth but at the same time I feel like his part of the plot was kind of unnecessary and just used for more fuel for the plot. At least it was my favorite part of the book.

The rest of the plot is typical and full of tropes and very bad plot twists. The worst offender was her trying to hook up with a guy after finding out he was gay and wanting to be friends with benefits but without the sex. Because you know, every guy obviously loves her. How could he resist her? Just yuck!

I could write more issues but I’m just going to keep this short.

Overall, I would not recommend. It’s just not good. Almost everything is obvious. The main character is not one I liked. It’s just too tropey for my taste.

I disliked the protagonist and had no pity for her because of her behavior and because she was a total snob but the other characters are great and they have depth in overall I really enjoyed this book and the plot was amazing I also absolutely love the cover

Thank you so much to NetGalley and publishers for this ARC.

I thought this was a decent read, but found the main character - Kylie - incredibly unlikeable. In addition I found the microaggressions and mild homophobia incredibly off-putting.

SPOILERS


I don't know if the plan was to have Kylie as the most unlikeable character in this book, but she is.

I had more than a few issues with what was written in this book, especially set in the world Tiktok is in.
-Calorie counting and a social media addiction
-Says her mom could have been pretty if she worked at it
-Underage drinking but also acting like she is responsible for her younger sister.
-she uses the term "slave driver" and says it out loud when Charles tells her about her new work schedule.
How is she not, as a modern woman in today’s age, not suspicious about guys? And her mom just lets her go? It’s not realistic to me. Especially if she’s watching tiktok and all the information that’s shared there, I know for a fact she’s not watching just funny videos.

So a nine year old knows what beer smells like so she obviously knows that Kylie shouldn’t be drinking it underage if Harlow tells her to go shower bc she smells bad. If Kylie loves her little sister so much, how is this showing responsibility and good choices?

Seems like a very long journal entry. There’s a overload of “I” statements and really no extra details. Then she finds a diary of her great grandma and I see no change in writing from the 1930’s to now.

I am super confused at Tristan’s teasing of Kylie. And his character in general is a bit cliché and how she names him her best gay male friend.
Overall, I was very disappointed as a reader, and as a woman in 2020.

Huge thanks to NetGalley for the advanced reader copy!

If Clueless and Heart Of Dixie had a lovechild, I'm pretty sure this would be the outcome of said tryst. The plot is incredibly creative and I love how the author was able to balance the tone of the book so well, mixing the comical aspects of suddenly losing everything with the more sobering realities of how money and status can influence your lifestyle.

That said, I'm torn on this book. While I was invested enough to finish (I genuinely wanted to know what happened with Kylie and Harlow's father!) there were some fairly big missteps along the way. Kylie's portrayal can feel very one dimensional and Disney Channel Movie-esque at times. I wasn't a big fan of the way she handled things with Tristan once the revelations of his private life came into light, I'd go as far as to say it's insensitive to certain readers.

Peeves aside, the second half of the story is a vast improvement over the first. Kylie's character development, while rushed at times, feels rewarding to see. Her relationship with her sister, as well as Charles, definitely pulled on my heartstrings quite a few times.

The ending was abrupt and I felt perhaps an epilogue was necessary, but nevertheless, it's a sweet story that's perfect for a summertime beach/lake read.

Book Review

Title: When Life Gives You Lemons Instead of Lattes

Author: Rayna York

Genre: YA/Family/Contemporary

Rating: *****

Review: I didn’t know anything about this book going into it, but the synopsis sounded interesting. We are introduced to Kylie and her younger sister, Harlow as the F.B.I. turn up at their home. Their father is wanted for fraud and embezzlement and has seemingly fled that very morning; however, this isn’t good for the family as their mother doesn’t have anything more than $500 and the rest of their assets have been frozen. Kylie is your typical moody teenager, but she does manage to smuggle out her laptop which would be very unlikely in reality and constantly blames her mother for the situation even though she is trying her best. Their mother does try to contact their grandparents for help, but they refuse and with days to leave the house and only the great-grandmother’s home in Ohio to go to, they have to use a donated car which promptly breaks down in Utah. The family are helped by an elderly couple who house them for the night and Frank even offers to take the girls riding on their horses the following morning. So far, the opening to Lemons Instead of Lattes was interesting but I didn’t really like Kylie as a character, I am hoping she develops over the course of the novel, but I shall wait and see.

As we approach the ¼ mark in the novel, the family arrive in Ohio and Kylie is immediately disappointed by the difference between her old life and this new one that has been forced on her. She doesn’t like the town or the people since they aren’t the people she is used to and reflects on how her father lavished money on her as a child while her mother refused to, hoping to make her a more well-rounded adult rather than a stereotypical rich kid but that is exactly what she has become. However, Kylie does have some good in her as she takes care of Harlow and tries to get along with her mother for her sake. In a trip into the towns he meets some local guys who invite her boating and then to a party which is more like the lifestyle Kylie is used to, so she dives in. I did like Otto, who is the same age as Kylie and their mother used to be best friends before Kylie’s mother left and never came back. Kylie is also offered a job by Charles, the grumpy old man that runs the General Store, who knew her great-grandmother and Kylie reminds him of her a lot with her sass and attitude which is something her mother also suggested but I have the feeling she is going to get a rude awakening when she realises what it is to work for a living and how much she is actually going to earn. Even between her job and her mother’s new job, she isn’t going to have a lot and definitely not enough to attend the university she wants to.

As we cross the ¼ mark in the novel, Kylie foes to the party and drinks far too much and finds herself in a compromising position but she is rescued by Otto from making some extremely bad decisions and from that point on Kylie endeavours to form a friendship with him and I can smell the romance coming. The following morning, she has a conversation with her mother specifically about her past, where she tells Kylie that she grew up extremely poor and both of her parents were dependent on alcohol. Her father was also abusive and eventually her grandmother, Kylie’s great-grandmother took her in and raised her until she met Kylie’s father at 16 and moved away with him. Kylie is beginning to see what her mother tried to do for her when she was younger and tries to be nicer to her despite the anger she is holding, although I think this is directed more at her father than her mother. Kylie also starts her new job with Charles at the general store which surprises everyone in town as Charles has always worked alone and he even defends her against some boys who comments about her performance at the party, and while Kylie doesn’t appreciate this at first they do form a good friendship going forward. This is proven as Charles trusts her to make changes to the way the store is run and she also introduces him to the local coffee shop but she does slip up here asking how his wife died and it turns out she and his daughter were both lost in childbirth but I think they will get past this. The more time Kylie spends in her mother’s hometown the more she is growing as a character and while I still don’t like her, I think she does have potential.

As we approach the halfway mark in the novel, Kylie is beginning to like the small town life but she still finds herself thinking about her old life and snapping at people whenever they try to make assessments about her and her character, which are mostly true. Otto does this on more than one occasion but in his defence, he has been bullied by Chase and his friend purely because they have more money that Otto’s family and the rich lifestyle Kylie used to live isn’t easily removed for her character, especially when she is constantly dreaming of her dad and returning to their old life. However, we do see Kylie making an effort to learn more about her family and the town itself, she learns that her mother’s nana was once in love with Charles although we know that relationship didn’t work out and it might have something to do with him enlisting in the Second World War. I didn’t really like the set up for the love triangle between Kylie, Otto and Tristan, while I do agree that Tristan is the kind of boy Kylie would normally go for, she is making an conscious effort to be friends with Otto despite their difference in upbringing and she can’t stop thinking about him. When Otto’s mother invites her for dinner, Kylie bakes a pie especially for it and Joanne offers to pay her for supplying to coffee shop, Jojo’s with the delicious baked good and Kylie reluctantly agrees. Kylie does have some self-image and self-esteem issues as she mentioned always being “on” and not knowing how to switch off that part of herself anymore and she is extremely conscious of her weight and appearance, although this is slowly changing.

As we cross into the second half of the novel, Kylie is trying to develop a relationship with Tristan and has to ask Otto if he is ok with them just being friends and while he says yes, we knows he isn’t. During their “date”, Tristan and Kylie go shopping and he invites her to his friend lake house party with Otto and she agrees but remembers what happened last time and decides to be carefully. However, Chase shows up at that party and tries to forcibly make a move on Kylie, but Tristan and Otto come to her rescue. After the party she tries to kiss Tristan, but he pulls away and I have the feeling that he might be gay and just wants to be a good friend to Kylie, but this hasn’t been confirmed yet. Between these events, Kylie has been reading her great-grandmother, Grace’s diary and learnt a lot more about her relationship with Charles. It appears the pair were in love and he went off to fight in the WWII and while we know Charles returns home, we don’t know what caused their relationship to break down. Kylie is also building a strong relationship with the old man and he seems to be teaching her and Harlow to take over the store since he has no children of his own, which would be a really emotional moment. Kylie also come to accept the truth about her father when she is confronted with the amount of money he stole and the evidence the F.B.I. can tell her about. They are also informed he has fled to Mexico and he hasn’t even contacted them to make sure they are alright which is causing Kylie and her mother to become closer since it was her father who drove the wedge between them in the first place with his emotional manipulation. The scene where Kylie talks to Otto about this when they go flower shopping was beautiful and heart-breaking since we know it is hard for Kylie to open up to others but it is some relief for her having someone she can talk to about that part of her life.

As we approach the ¾ mark in the novel, it turns out I was right about Tristan, but he wasn’t out and didn’t know how to tell Kylie as he believed she wouldn’t want to hang out with him anymore. I really like the dynamic between this pair but when he mentions Otto, Kylie becomes defensive as she believes that he kept the secret from her to hurt her when in reality keeping Tristan’s secret from her hurt him too as he likes her and Tristan urges her to give him another chance. In the time where Kylie isn’t speaking to either of the boys, she finishes Grace’s diary and learns that Charles was MIA for a long time and presumed dead when they couldn’t identify the bodies found. After two years of waiting Grace got married to Richard and fell pregnant but then Charles returned home ready to make her his wife and was devasted to learn the truth. While Grace and Charles were relatively happy with their partners they didn’t get together after their deaths because there were resentments and bitterness that neither could truly let go of, even if it meant being together. Two things happen in quick succession here, first Kylie spots her father and informs the F.B.I. he is in the area as she is afraid for her mother, but he hasn’t approached them yet and Charles collapses and ends up in hospital. There Kylie informs him about the diary and knowing his past with Grace and he explains from his perspective why they never got together even when they were able to do so and Kylie understands that type of guilt as she has it with her mother and Charles tells her to make amends while she can. While he is in the hospital he basically has her running the store as he doesn’t know how long he is going to be there and I have the horrible feeling that he might die before the end of the novel, which would be terribly sad as he is the closest thing Kylie has to a grandfather. She also repairs her relationship with Otto, and it seems like they are going to give being in a relationship a go as it is something, they both obviously feel and want, despite how much Kylie likes to look at Tristan.

As we cross into the final section of the novel, I was right about Charles too as he passes away and the girls are devasted especially Harlow, since she was the closest to Charles but Kylie loved him too even if she never said it in as many words. In the aftermath of Charles’ death, Kylie feels like her life is falling apart all over again but when Charles’ lawyer visits and tells them that he left them the store including his living accommodation, they are all stunned. Kylie agrees to teach her mother everything she was taught by Charles so they can run it together and she even convinces her mother to hire help when she goes away to university as she doesn’t have to worry about money as Charles set up a trust fund for her and Harlow. However, her father comes into the store one day when her mother is working, and Harlow is playing with a friend and convinces Kylie to meet with him and hand over her laptop. We know her father is a manipulator and he is manipulating Kylie into getting what he wants, this sends Kylie into a tailspin as she lashes out at her mother, Otto and even Harlow. That night he breaks into their home for the laptop and Kylie realises he was lying to her and that he hid the access to his offshore account on her laptop and refuses to hand it over. He threatens to hurt Harlow if she doesn’t hand it over and when she threatens to break the laptop, he hits her, bruising her face badly but the F.B.I. have been informed and come in gun blazing and take him away. Afterwards, her family can finally move on with their lives now her father is heading to jail, but Otto also realises why Kylie lashed out at him and they make up. Overall, When Life Gives You Lemons Instead of Lattes was an emotional rollercoaster and Rayna York is definitely an author, I will be keeping my eye on.

3.5/5 - I was provided with an eARC of this book in exchange for a fair review.

Pregnancy insomnia found me with 4 hours in the middle of the night needing to be filled, and this book did the job! I enjoyed the premise a good deal (no doubt helped along by my actively re-binging Gossip Girl right now), and the development of the characters was great. Kylie was very hard to like at first - she was just plain *mean* most of the time - but she definitely did some growing for the better. Harlow was adorable, and Charles was curmudgeonly in the best of ways. Tristan was excellent (totally guessed his secret - thank you Clueless), and Otto was *chef kiss*.

For all Kylie's flaws, she did overall make smart choices - she stepped up and worked hard at her job, adapted to life on a budget, picked up new hobbies, built a relationship with her mom, and even wisely trusted her FBI agent (I was so worried she was going to be sullen forever and make that harder for everyone). I will say that the story did feel quite rushed at times - not just because it was only 300 pages, but the timeline itself probably could have been widened so as to make everyone's growth seem more logical. I also think the author made things VERY easy on our characters in some ways - SPOILERS AHEAD - mainly, how both Kylie and her mom found great jobs right away, everyone made friends quickly, money was never REALLY an issue, and then the fact that they inherited the grocery store AND a hefty fortune from Charles in the end.

Despite the flaws, I still enjoyed this one. After all, it kept me company in the wee sma's.

I am torn on my rating for this book. Kylie is infuriating but she has her reasons for her behaviour and I think when you learn them it all shakes out. This book was more serious than I thought it was going to be it really focused on the hardships of having your life turned upside down overnight. I felt the ending was particularly rushed. But generally, this was a nice, quick YA read.

I was given a free copy for review by NetGalley.

I haven't read a lot of YA lately, but this caught my attention, not just because of the colorful cover, but because of the blurb.

This story is not just about romance, there are many themes circling around the characters. Family, friendship, self-discovery and personal growth, this was a fabulous story for those who are looking for their path and who they are in life.

Kylie's father is in trouble with the law. So Kylie is moving to a new town, with her mom and sister. This book did nothing for me, I did not like the characters at all.

When Life Gives You Lemons Instead of Lattes really missed the mark for me. I'll start with a couple things I did like and then get into why I didn't enjoy it over all. There may be some minor spoilers in here, because it's hard to go over pros/cons without them, but I think this may help someone trying to decide whether to read this.

Pros:
-The relationship between Kylie and her sister Harlow. They really love each other, and Kylie's protectiveness towards Harlow is clear from the beginning of the book.
-The growing relationship between Kylie and her mother. They have a very strained relationship at the beginning, and as Kylie grows, she is able to open up to and understand her mom.
-Character growth. This is definitely not a book where the main character is stagnant and learns nothing.

Cons:
-Kylie feels like a parody of a rich teenager at the beginning of the book. I get that she isn't supposed to be likable, but she feels so over the top mean and terrible. Someone can be terrible while still seeming like they could be real, but Kylie doesn't start to seem like a real person until close to the end of the book.
-"Fake" character growth. I mentioned I liked how much Kylie grows, but unfortunately, not all of it seems real. She does change by bits over the course of the book, but her major change comes from her just having an internal monologue where she decides to be a better person. Maybe just too internal-monologuey as a whole; she thinks a lot about how she's a bad person and needs to do better, and it doesn't always seem believable.
-All the butt smacking?? Why does Kylie keep "affectionately" swatting/smacking people's butts, including her sister and a new friend's? It's really weird. Do people do this? It kept pulling me out of the story.
-Kylie is convinced every boy will love her. The problem is that she doesn't really learn otherwise. She just decides every boy will love her except for boys who are gay. She basically kept pursuing a guy temporarily after finding out he was gay, sure that she can change his mind because she's sooooo hot. She's genuinely baffled that someone couldn't be into her. This should have been a learning moment for her. It's not.
-Speaking of the gay representation. It feels very forced - just included to push Kylie towards Otto. It's written as a "twist," although it was clear (to me, anyway) that it was coming. The guy has to come out to Kylie to get her to stop pursuing him, because she wouldn't take no for an answer, and it's not really addressed that this is wrong. She even calls him her gay best friend later and says it's better than having female best friends because there's not as much drama, or something to that effect. Essentially, my issue with this obviously isn't that there is a gay character, but that his sexuality exists as a plot point for a straight girl/to make the straight couple work out, and he has very little of his own agency.

Anyway. There's honestly more, but I feel like that's enough. I'm just confused because most of the reviews for this book so far have been really positive! Am I missing something? Am I just overthinking what is supposed to be a cute YA romance/family story? Who knows. But I can't ignore all of the issues with this book. 2 stars because I liked the family dynamics; otherwise would probably be one star.

This one is a hard one to review because I almost didn’t finish it but I’m so glad I did. At first I could not stand Kylie, and after finishing the story I know understand that you aren’t supposed to like her at first and Rayna York does a fantastic job of making you feel that way. Kylie is very entitled and selfish character at first, but thinking back I suppose I would be like that if I had to walk in her shoes. As the story progresses she grows as person and although she’s nowhere near perfect, I like her much better at the end. My two favorite characters though are Charles and Harlow. I love Charles’ grumpiness and his backstory made me so sad, and Harlow was just too cute.