This is a followup novel and from the synopsis, it didn't seem like reading the first one was necessary.

I don't think it is.

However, I ended up abandoning the book because the tone of the girl's thoughts and feelings felt wrong for what is revealed that happened in the first book.

It was also a bit too superficial for me. I like my YA books to have some grit to them.

Apparently Air by Lisa Glass is the second in a series and I accidentally opened up the Netgalley widget not knowing this, thus obligating myself to read and review this book. So because this is my year of clearing through as many eARCs as possible, I went in with an open mind to this YA surfing book. I do tend to enjoy books about girls who participate in sports, after all.

Air follows Iris who is from Cornwall and is 16 and about to turn 17. She’s the face of Billabong UK and a talented surfer in her own right. Iris is in Miami for a competition tour along with her boyfriend Zeke who is a very elite surfer. Zeke apparently has a lot of friends in Miami. Anyways this whole book is basically about Iris being insecure in her relationship and Zeke being somewhat shady and secretive.

I think I am just too set in my grown up ways to have really enjoyed this book. There’s like no adult supervision of these two teens who basically shack up with their parent’s permission. So much could be resolved with a simple conversation. And don’t get me started on how some therapy could be real useful for both characters. I also think that it was easy to figure out what had happened in the previous book without having read it. However, I maybe was missing some nuance.

Regardless, Air was a miss for me. I won’t go on to read the first book or to complete the series. One good thing is that it was a very quick read. I just wish there was more focus on actually surfing and less on the relationship issues. There is appeal to actual youths who read this book for sure. But if you’re an adult, you might want to skip this one.