Kasie West does it again with this summer romance. Love how realistic she is able to capture how family’s work. The relationship that Avery and her sister have is very believable and might be my favorite relationship of this book!
The characters all learn and grow in this story and it was a really relaxing and enjoyable read!

Thank you for the opportunity to read and review SUNKISSED.

Kasie West is on my short list of AUTO-BUY authors because I know I can count on a heartwarming story with witty banter and good, clean fun. SUNKISSED did not disappoint! I enjoyed seeing how the relationship dynamics between Avery and her family, friends--old and new, and Brooks played out. Her struggle with being a people pleaser is relatable as is her ability to follow through with what she knows is right and best for her. Knowing what to do isn't always as easy as knowing how to do it. I think that's something a lot of readers--young and old--can identify with.

This is the perfect summer YA romance read, especially for fans of Dirty Dancing.

And long time Kasie West fans will not want to miss this one!

Avery is heading to a family camp in the woods and that means no internet. Her sister Lauren has a social media channel that she’s planning to share their summer vacation on until she discovers the lack of WiFi. The two sisters plan non-internet activities combined with watching the camp band (comprised of young men) without their parents’ knowledge. Lauren decides to create a video documentary of the band so the sisters spend more time with them without their parents knowing. They become friends with many of the camp employees, which is forbidden by the camp manager. Avery and the band’s guitarist, Brooks, work together to create song lyrics and really start to like each other. They both struggle with personal troubles and find common ground. This is the first Kasie West book I’ve read and I can understand why her books are popular with my high school library students. The values and integrity are a breath of fresh air. I enjoyed the characters, the humor, and the feeling of hope in this story, 5 stars!

Summer camp: the perfect way to spend a summer break. Except when summer camp involves your annoying little sister who refuses to put down her phone for one second, and your parents lurking around every corner. But when Avery sets off on her summer adventure, these aren't the things that are bothering her most; her best friend kissed her boyfriend just before school was out.
Avery is understandably upset. And just as she's about to respond to her friend's endless apology texts, she loses cell service. It turns out the camp she and her family will be spending their summer at has ZERO cell service. If only she had read the information her mom sent beforehand... Perhaps a summer with no connection to the drama of her life is just what Avery needs.
Things get off to a rocky start as soon as Avery gets to camp, and some unfortunate circumstances lead to her meeting a very cute boy, who happens to think she will be working at the camp for the summer.
Throughout the summer Avery learns about what she truly wants for her future after high school. She also comes to realize that her sister isn't the vapid, phone obsessed teen she always perceived her to be. She makes great friends along the way to self discovery, and finds her voice to stand up for herself.

Thank you to NetGalley and Delacorte Press for the advanced copy of this book to read and review.
I'm always excited to read a Kasie West romance. I'm never disappointed with her themes and I always get easily pulled into the story and become invested in the characters.
Are you a Dirty Dancing fan? Love the campy atmosphere it brought with the "forbidden" love? Then you're gonna really like this one.
Avery, recently single, is carted away with her family for a summer of fun, lake, and activities at family camp. Determined to pull herself out of her funk, she decides to try and break out of her shell. But doing so could cost Brooks, a camp employee, his job! No fraternizing between employees and guests, or even between employees, is the rule. But Brooks and Avery find their chemistry on stage singing as a band can't be ignored.
Avery is a cute character. A little quirky, a little shy, a little down on herself. She is your quintessential 17 year old who needs is trying to fit in and find her way. She's realistic with her reactions to events and happenings. Just what you think a 17 year old at family camp might be.
Brooks has his own baggage. But he's not wanting to let that get in the way of his want to become a musician. He's a bit broody, which seems to draw Avery to him.
I think my favorite thing about this book is it's setting: who doesn't love that Dirty Dancing vibe? Guests cabins separated from the employees. Avery sneaking off to meet up with Brooks and other employees she befriends. Her family none the wiser until it's "too late". It definitely brought me back to watching Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Gray dance around and have fun while falling in love.
If you're looking for a cute, easy read while you lounge at the beach or pool this summer, pick this one up.

Super cute summer romance for teens. It definitely has Dirty Dancing vibes.

I will say the conflict was wrapped up really fast at the end. it was honestly too fast for my taste, compared the story building to get to that point. but it's all preference at that point.

I have been a Kasie West fan since I first read The Fill in Boyfriend years ago. I love her books and they are always massive feel good books. I jumped at the chance to read an ARC of this! It did not disappoint!

'He was quiet for a moment before his eyes went to mine. "You keep surprising me."'

I read this book so quickly, as I tend to do with all West's books, as they are extremely addictive. I really liked the premise of the book and the inclusion of music being an important part of the story. Avery is on a journey of discovery throughout this book and actively tries to push herself out of her comfort zone. The book begins with Avery and her sister Lauren, in the car on the way to a summer camp, where they are going to spend the next two months of their summer without internet and phone signal. Avery has just been betrayed by her best friend and ex-boyfriend, as they had kissed less than two weeks later than the break up. In some ways, this camp is good for her, as she can avoid all contact with her best friend and ex, but it leads her to wonder whether this had been happening whilst she was still with her boyfriend.

'I am begging you that I might be able to sing at this festival with someone who has helped me see that I'm not boring and predictable.'

Brooks, the love interest, was such an adorable character. I really liked him, despite him coming off as a bit of a jerk to begin with. I really liked his character development, as he opens up to Avery more over the course of the novel. I think both Avery and Brooks help each other be more vocal and share their feelings. The issue is Brooks is a member of staff and is forbidden from being alone with guests, else he might lose his job. This creates multiple points of tension throughout, but they were perfect! Brooks is a member of a band, and wants to enter a music competition to perform at a festival. The only problem is, his band don't like the lyrics he writes to their songs. Avery helps him throughout the book, and rediscovers her love for performing.

'But if you aren't feeling like yourself lately, if you're feeling uncomfortable and a bit cramped, maybe it's time to start climbing.'

All in all, this was the perfect YA contemporary book and I could not recommend it more. This will definitely be a reread for me. It had likable characters, a swoon-worthy romance, and a great story. I recommend this for all YA romance lovers!

Synopsis:

Avery is betrayed by her best friend just before he parents drag her and her sister to a remote family camp that has no connection to the outside world except via a pay phone.

Avery’s escape is music but she can’t even download any to her device and her sister was planning to stay connected with her followers. When they arrive they end up connecting with the camp band. Avery likes Brooks, there’s just one problem. Brook works for the camp and they are not supposed to have anything to do with guest outside of work.

As the summer progresses Avery is trying to find herself. With a forbidden budding romance, the frustrations of everything that happened with her friend, the issue with her dad, will she succeed at finding herself?

Review:

This is a cute YA romance that I really enjoyed. I don’t usually read YA romance and wasn’t sure what I was going to get but I was rather surprised at this story. It was well done.

This is my first Kasie West book but I had seen people talking about it and it had sounded cute so I decided to see what happened. I’m glad I did. If you like YA romance, Kasie West, bands, friendships, or clean romance then this is worth checking out.

I’d like to thank NetGalley and Random House Children’s for his copy in exchange for my honest review.

Sunkissed is the perfect summer read. I've read a couple of Kasie West books before, but this one was my favorite. It was witty, sweet, and full of butterfly-inducing moments. I loved every single character in this book. They were all so fully fleshed out, even the really minor ones, and it made it feel real and allowed me to connect to the story more deeply. Avery was a delightful and relatable narrator and I was so invested in her journey of self-discovery and her budding romance. Brooks was super hot and their banter was swoon-worthy. I also loved seeing the relationship and dynamic between Avery and her sister, Lauren. The plot was cute and paced very well, and who doesn't love a summer resort setting? Music also played a big part in this book, which I strongly related to. It can be hard to convey the qualities of music in writing, but I thought that this was done beautifully. I devoured this book so quickly, and think that anyone looking for a well-written summer rom-com will as well.

Super quick read and very fun! This was exactly what I expected from a Kasie West book and it didn't disappoint.

I really liked this book because it reminded me of Dirty Dancing but with singing instead. It was very cute, though I wish it was longer. I didn't want it to end. Four stars.

A longer review will be up on my blog later when life isn't trying to bring me down.

Thank you Netgalley and publishers for giving me the chance to read this book.

Kasie West has done it again with another sweet and swoony YA romance! She is so good at writing lovable, relatable characters.

Avery had such good growth and character development in this book, and I loved reading about her journey. And Brooks was a perfect love interest for her.

And I really enjoyed the addition of music and lyric writing to the plot. It made for a fun plot point.

A solid YA romance from Kasie West. We never have reservations about getting her books from our library. We know the kids will love them and they are appropriate for our readers' age group. This was fun and sweet and I really liked it.

I love Kasie West's books! They are typically books I read over and over again When I read the description of this book, I couldn't wait to read it! Kasie West once again delivered a wonderful read! Avery was a girl who seemed a little lost in the beginning of this book. She is a people pleaser to a fault. She doesn't want to hurt other's feelings and definitely doesn't like conflict. After a couple incidents at the start of the summer, she decides she needs a change. Enter Brooks, even though he's not supposed to interact with guests they strike up a deal. Brooks dealing with things from back at home and it left me wanting to know more about his life when he is not at the camp. Avery and Brooks are cute together!

Since Avery is at a family fun camp, she has to spend more time with her family. I really like the family dynamics. Her relationship with her sister, Lauren, seems very typical of siblings that are a little different. Her parents are also featured through out the book. They seem like they really care about the family even if the dad is a little clueless at times.


I loved the growth Avery went through. She really went out of her way to get out of her comfort zone. The fact that she was self aware enough to realize she wanted to change is pretty impressive.

This was of course another win for me from Kasie West. My only problem is now I'm done reading it!! If you are looking for a light summer romance, I highly recommend it!

My daughter enjoys Kasie West's books so I read this one at her urging and I'm so glad I did. I love good, clean YA romance, and Sunkissed was one of the best I've read in ages.

I thought West did a great job developing Avery's character. I also enjoyed how Avery interacted with both her sister and Brooks. The story was believable, funny, and sweet. I also appreciated that Kasie West kept the language and dialogue clean but still realistic sounding.

I would definitely recommend this book- 5 sunkissed stars from me!

NetGalley and Delacorte provided an advance copy of Sunkissed in exchange for my honest review.

Sunkissed is cute, quick and full of heart. If you’re looking for a sweet read to pull at your heartstrings, then this is the book for you. I loved the Dirty Dancing-esque family resort setting, and the characters were completely loveable.

My thanks to NetGalley and Delacorte for a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

- Relaxing, especially cause it is set during vacations!
- All the band and music goodness was oh so pleasant.
- The banter and the relationship between the sisters unsurprisingly felt like home.
- Somehow all the activities around the camp made me nostalgic, especially the sports.
- Reading it was sooo cutesy and swoony, especially Brooks (He reminded me of Heath from Gourment Hound <3)
- The romantic plot was so fluffy, I wanted to dive right in the fluffiness.
- Of course there were certain parts that touched my heart amazingly.
- Lauren’s character made me want to scream WOW and curse at the same time for some reason.
- The additional, guests believing that they are on the top of the world didn’t fail to make me mad lol.
- The summery vibes that was present all over the book made me even more anticipatory for my summer break!
- The bonding between Avery and Brooks honestly warmed me up.
- Music, music, music – it centric to the plot and really the BEST thing about this book.
- I wasn’t shocked per say with all the twists in the book – they were more like guilty pleasure for me hahaha.
- Many a times it made me go all AWW and aww, it was soo cutee!
- The plot was character driven in many instances, focusing on relationships and all, so I can say it made me feel like even I wanted to explore and test my limits!

Avery's parents have taken her and her sister Lauren to a remote family camp. It does not sound ideal but it's just what Avery needs. She's just broken up with her boyfriend and her best friend so being stuck in a place that doesn't have any internet or phone service may seem isolating to her at first but it just might be what she needs to get over what's happened back home. I liked Avery. She is definitely the rule follower and people pleaser daughter and I liked that she decided to try new things to figure out who she is and what she wants to do with her life. Her sister Lauren is the opposite and has always been the risk taker. I really enjoyed how Lauren was able to help bring Avery out of her shell a little bit.

I enjoyed the dynamic between Avery and her parents and her overprotective behavior towards Lauren felt authentic. When they stumble across the band that plays around the camp Lauren immediately decides she wants to participate by filming them for a documentary on her website but Avery is just there to hear them play.

Over their stay at the family camp they make friends with the staff members, including those in the band, and Avery starts falling for the mysterious but talented lead singer Brooks. As the story progresses she finds herself writing music for the band and getting to know Brooks more and more. When they sign up for a music festival together things start to get a bit unsteady as Avery remembers what happened the last time she was up on stage.

This book is everything I wanted it to be. Summer vibes, romance, new friendships, sisters, and music! I have been in a bit of a reading slump lately and this one definitely turned that around for me. It was light and fluffy, the perfect read to get me in the summer mood!

As always I just love stories by Kaise West !!!!

Sunkissed gives you Dirty Dancing vibes and makes you want to go to camp so you too can fall for your camp crush. They even reference Dirty Dancing (hehehe).

I thought the pace of the story went so well. I finished it within the day of starting it. Avery reminded me of myself a bit when I was a teen. She wants to step out of the predictability lifestyle and try to figure out what other things in life interest her. She gets some help from Brooks, the really cute guitarist who is totally off limits because guests and employees aren't suppose to hang out. Thus we get some cute moments of sneaking around and the always fun will they won't they.

This story is perfect for those days you want to read something light and get all the giddy feels. It's like being able to talk to your crush and not get super nervous that you forget your own name or why you even thought you were brave enough to talk to them. Not that that has ever happened. Instead this book gives you the exciting feeling of hey you did it and didn't pass out from embarrassment.

Perfect book for a summer read at the beach!!

Another wonderful book by Kasie West. This was a beautifully written summer contemporary that I thoroughly enjoyed. There was a nice emphasis on family, friendships, and standing up for what you want even when it’s scary. I loved watching the main character progress throughout the story. If you’re looking for a feel good book that feels like a real summer trip, deals with changes in relationships, and the importance of surrounding yourself with people that believe in you, I think you will enjoy this!