The summer walks the line between toxic and intoxicating. My Best Everything is Lulu’s letter to Mason – though is it an apology, a good-bye, or a love letter?

My Best Everything by Sarah Tomp is a truly wonderful story of small towns, moonshine, and 'love that walks the line between toxic and intoxicating'.

Narrated by Lulu Mendez, and told as a letter to Mason, the older boy from a notorious family who helps her brew the illegal alcohol so that she can pay for college, it completely captivated me. More than almost anything else I've read recently, it left me desperate to know what happened next.

This is one of those books that reminds me why I love YA! Sarah Tomp takes you into the hills of Virginia and makes you remember why you might want to leave. But she also reminds you why you would want to stay.

Love, moonshine, and a whole lotta fun are available in My Best Everything. It's the kind of story you don't want to put down because it's just so sweet and fun.

It is a sweet and quirky read perfect for the summertime. Lulu wants to get away from the small town life while her best friend Roni feels the opposite. I liked their friendship and how it was told. The writing style wasn’t what I was expecting as it is Lulu writing this to her boyfriend with whom most of these things happened while he was there, so it left me confused. Also the use of you and us kind of throws you off the page and out of the story. Because of this style of choice in narrative I wasn’t surprised by the ending even though it is a bit bittersweet all the same.

Can moonshine be the answer to Lulu's prayers after her dad ruins her plans for college. Or will it just complicate things?

My Best Everything was a solid contemporary YA read that delved into issues of identity, race/ethnicity, class, and Appalachian culture, all set within a romance storyline that kept me reading. I appreciated the author's contemplative writing style, mixed in with action and intrigue plot-wise. I recommended this title as one of the "Best of the Best" in young adult fiction of the past year at the 2015 Best of the Best in-service training sponsored by the UTK Center for Children's and Young Adult Literature. Read in 2015.

This just didn't actually make sense. Does someone trying to go to college really think that making moonshine would be the answer? DNF

This is Tomp's debut novel, and her writing and tone set the scene super well. It feels slow and sluggish, in a bit of a haze, the way I think a small town Virginia summer might feel. And I remember wanting to leave and go to college so badly that I thought my skin would itch. I'd really like to see something else from Sarah Tomp, because I thought she hit on a lot of things really well, and the idea of moonshine running in 2015? Super interesting.

Less effective was the pacing, specifically the ending. The climax went at break neck speed, and by the time you could process what had happened, the book was over.

Overall, not too bad. With work on pacing and more insight into secondary characters, I bet the next book will be really solid.

Sadly, this one didn't work well for me. The premise of a young girl making moonshine just didn't end up working out well. I didn't really connect with, or like, the characters. The storyline of the messes Luisa ended up with wasn't for me. I'm sure that plenty of readers will love the story, so I wouldn't caution anyone against reading it. The book just wasn't to my personal taste.

This is my first book by this author. And to say I loved it is very mild. I fell in love with the story. Even the sorbet part. I kind of figured it out what would happen at the end, but I still enjoyed it. This author knows how to make it dramatic and keep you interested. The sorbet part was so dramatic and I really enjoyed it because I have not read any book that has something like that in it. I cannot wait to read her other books. And see what surprises are in store for those. But this story gets an A+ to me. It kept me focused and I enjoyed it immensely. I really truly enjoyed it.

I am not going to be reviewing this book, but thank you for the approval.

Very charming and unique coming of age story. Not everyone’s cup of tea but I really enjoyed it. The pace is a little slow at first but with the plot development, it sucks you in. Well written in unusual form of a letter.