3.5 stars

It Started with Goodbye was a story about a teenager who was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and had no one who’d listen to her. I have to say, I found that last part incredibly frustrating. Tatum was a good girl, but her parents wouldn’t give her the benefit of the doubt or listen to her when she tried to tell them she was looking out for her friend. She could have handled the situation with her friends less than stellar boyfriend better, but it wasn’t like there was a teenage handbook for that kind of situation. Her parents were heavy handed with the punishment, and it was terrible that after she was essentially ‘sentenced,’ her father left for eight weeks on a business trip. It wouldn’t have been so bad, but he left Tatum with her step-mother, who she had an already tenuous relationship with. And on top of that, I think it was unfair to his wife to put the burden of enforcing punishment on her. Having said that, those things didn’t make me dislike the story, because I think they were realistic.

One thing I really appreciated about this story was that even though we only got Tatum’s point of view, I didn’t feel like her step-mother, Belén, was always the bad guy. The author did a good job of capturing the sometimes over-dramatic reactions of a teenager, and while I didn’t always agree with Belén’s decisions, I could see why she went the way she did. I really enjoyed the progression of the relationships in this story, particularly with Tatum and her step-sister, Tilly. And I liked that even though Tatum was sentenced to community service, she wasn’t bitter about it. She knew that what she was doing was helpful and took pride in that fact. There was also a cute romantic aspect to this story that didn’t overshadow the bigger picture of Tatum coming to terms with the way she treated people. I liked the mystery and the reveal surrounding it, and the meet-cute was adorable. I do like it when a story explores the talents of a character (though Tilly’s may have been exploited a bit,) because I think we all have something we’re talented at. That Tatum was able to use hers not only to make a little bit of money but as the one thing she had to hold onto while she was being punished was a good message. There’s always a healthy outlet available if we’ll just take the time to explore it. And the valedictions - I loved Tatum’s preoccupation with valedictions!

I do think that everything in this book was resolved in a smack you in the face kind of way and could have used some subtlety, especially abuela, who was brought in as a fairy godmother of sorts. I prefer my YA to have a few loose ends, because I think that’s how life is. It was just too neat of a package for me. Having said that, I found myself finishing It Started with Goodbye with a big, cheesy grin on my face, and very much enjoyed Tatum’s story.

Lots of love,
Angie Elle ;)

It Started with Goodbye is a modern contemporary YA spin on Cinderella, though a bit darker, and much lighter on the romance (sorry Prince Charming). There is humor and heart and friends and lots and lots of feelings. So if anything sounds like it is up your alley... read on!

Our story centers around 16-year-old Tatum, who gets falsely accused of shoplifting and has to spend her summer in house-arrest and doing community service. First off, Tatum is a very likable character. There are many true to life moments as she has her interior monologues and arguments with herself about what valediction to use as she closes letters. If you overthink small decisions, you will find her relatable. Of course Tatum is also into doing freelance graphic design, so that is even more relatable to me.

It is also important to note that this, as many re-tellings are, is inspired by Cinderella but it is not a reimagining that follows every detail. Yes, there is a step-mother and a step-sister, but the father (who turned out to be the most annoying of the characters for me) is still in the picture. Like so many well-loved contemporaries, Tatum has to find confidence in herself, which isn't something I had really considered in a Cinderella before... again, very relatable.

While this book will be good for fans of Cinderella re-tellings, it is also a good for when you need a contemporary YA fix. Very enjoyable debut novel.

Thank you to NetGalley, Blink/Harper Collins for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. This in no way changed my opinion of the book.

This modern day contemporary Cinderella tale is a delightful fun read!! Super charming and sweet! Well written with an inspiring story about family, friendships and self-discovery. If you love YA definitely give this one a try.

Thank you, NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC.
This was probably my favorite YA contemporary of the year. It was great! The storyline wasn't the best, but I really enjoyed the characters. They felt real and were so simple. I really enjoyed it!

Teens who have made a bad decision and had to face consequences, will relate to Tatum. It covers a variety of relationships from friends to parents to boyfriends.

This feel-good Cinderella story is a light, quick read with a good message. I have to admit I almost gave up half-way through. Even though it's well-written and the characters are well-rounded, it is predictable. Which isn't always a bad thing. If you're in the mood for a dependable story, and one you won't have to think about too much, then this might do the trick. However, when you have a stack of books just like it filling up your to-read list, you might find yourself ready to move on.

DNF

Mini review:

I received this E-ARC via Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I was looking forward to reading this. But when I started it I couldn't stand the MC's parents. It was so stupid how they were being hard on her for no reason and yet Ashlynn didn't get held accountable. I felt that it was just used as a plot device.

Do not recommend.

When I first started this book, I wasn't sure about it. I didn't like the first encounter we had with Tatum, but then as the story progressed I started to enjoy her and wanted to know more about her.

The story clearly has some Cinderella influences. It was interesting seeing the dynamic between all of the characters. Especially, Tatum and Blanche. I think Blanche was my favorite.

I loved the way that SK and Tate interacted with each other through their email corespondences.

I have to say this book was an easy five stars and I wouldn't mind reading more from Christina June.

Sweet, swoony and cute. I really liked Tatum and Tilly and Tilly's abuela (can she be mine too?). I haven't read a lot of fairy tale retellings, but I loved how It Started with Goodbye was done. Just enough Cinderella in it to see where it's going, but not so much that I don't feel like I'm reading anything different. I enjoyed watching Tatum and Tilly become friends and work things out and also how Tatum begun to see how her actions have consequences.

I wish there was more of the things with Ashlyn. I wanted to know more about their friendship and how they were going to fix things. I also wish that the ending hadn't wrapped up so quickly, but I did love how it ended. Mystery guy for the win. :)

So many Cinderella stories, oi vey! However, this one has spatterings of the classic, but still unique enough to be interesting. Definitely a great book for middle grades and even high school, I am quite sure it will be a crowd pleaser for many, especially those who know Northern Virginia and can picture exactly what park needs trimming, the parking lot at Dulles, or going to a music concert in the Plains.
A young girl is banished by her stepmother to her room over the summer for a wrong-place-at-the-wrong-time incident. Her only solace is starting up a clandestine graphic design business (thank you, fairy Godmother). She also has to do some community service where she meets some new friends and discovers some growing up realizations herself. In library world, it's called bildungsroman. Seriously there is a word for that- I didn't make it up.
Despite the predictable and somewhat simplistic story, it is a great book for people to read to get a new perspective of someone else's shoes. You can never go wrong with that theme.

This book was such a wonderful surprise! I was expecting a cute romanic story but it was so much more than that. Actually, the romance wasn't the main focus at all, family and inner strength were. I think that's what made me fall in love with it! Plus, it's a modern version of Cinderella, a fairytale I absolutely love.

The book is about a girl (Tatum) who is falsely accused of committing a crime. This sends her life in a direction she wasn't prepared for and strains her relationship with her family who claim that they can't trust her anymore. So, when not completing her community service, she works on her covert graphic design business which she uses to raise money to pay off her fine.

I loved Tatum! She's what I love seeing in female characters. Tatum's strong, independent and willing to work hard. My heart went out to her from the very first chapter. She's blamed for committing a crime her best friend was participated in! How she dealt with it was both realistic, honest, funny and at times heartbreaking. I particularly enjoyed how the incident changed her relationships with those around her. Like in Cinderella, she wasn't close with her step-mother or step-sister. But how things developed added a nice twist to the traditional story and one that I smiled a lot at while reading.

I cannot recommend this enough! If you have enjoyed books by Kasie West or Jennifer E. Smith then this story is definitely for you!

16-year-old Tatum Elsea is not having the best start to her summer. Her bestie's skeezy boyfriend shoplifted $300+ worth of merchandise with the two ladies around, meaning all three of them were arrested. After offering her testimony in exchange for a less-harsh sentence, her BFF isn't talking to her and Tatum is under house arrest. When her traditional summer babysitting gig falls through, Tatum is prepared to do nothing but suffer community service and the company of her terrible stepmother. Things cannot get worse.

The way this book started out was a bit of a dud for me. I struggled to believe that Tatum would be charged with grand larceny in this situation. I also couldn't understand why her stepmother, Belén, and her father were so unbelievably hard on her. No one was having real conversations with her, they were only looking down on her and holding a hard line. From the perspective of a Cinderella re-telling that made sense, I guess. But from a realism perspective it didn't.

But Tatum's character was incredibly realistic. I can relate to the terrible feelings and poor self-esteem that Tatum is going through in It Started with Goodbye. 16-year-old me would have been bestie's with this girl. She is vocal, strong, knows what she wants-- and yet she is constantly questioning herself, her personal worth, and her future. This is a perfect 16-year-old.

I adored watching the relationships between Tatum and the people in her life mature throughout this book. Tilly and Abby's relationships were my personal favorites. It was fun watching Tatum come into who she wants to be with friendships, family, and her future career aspiration. In retrospect, Blanche, Tatum's step-grandmother didn't really develop much as a character, but with her fairy-godmother status, I didn't mind.

A cute, quirky, and modern take on Cinderella, I strongly recommend this to any fan of contemporary YA and romance.

Christina June swept me off my feet with It Started With Goodbye! Like the original tale, there is an adorable romance but the heart of this story centers around family and friendships which made it a refreshing YA contemporary read!

We meet our main character, Tatum, as she is getting caught in a crime. It’s all about her being in the wrong place at the wrong time because she’s far from a criminal. I easily fell in love with this book because the characters felt so real. It was like a breath of fresh air to read Tatum’s story. The aftermath of the crime leaves her completely isolated since her family doesn’t believe she had no involvement.

Everyone has been in a situation that caused us to be misunderstood and lose the people we love’s trust. Even when Tatum was a little uncertain of herself because of this she never quit fighting. There are moments when she wonders what the point even is in trying, but after crying it out, she keeps going. That’s where her strength came from and why I adored her.

As the story progresses, we learn more about her family. Her stepmother and stepsister play important roles and I enjoyed their family dynamic so much. I thought I knew where this story would go since it’s inspired by Cinderella, but there was so much more to this story than what was in the original tale. It Started With Goodbye is its own while keeping fun aspects of Cinderella woven throughout.

Honestly, in most contemporaries, I feel as if the love interest plays too big of a role when it concerns family drama, but this book’s heart was always family. The love interest didn’t help her see things from a new perspective, although there are certainly a few adorable moments between the two! Tatum’s personal journey alone was what kept me reading until four in the morning.

I enjoyed the great set of diverse characters that help play in Tatum’s life. My favorite was her step-grandmother, though! She brought a lot out of Tatum by challenging her thoughts concerning her goals and relationships. Also, when they immigrated from Chile she renamed herself Blanche after The Golden Girls. If that’s not awesome then I don’t know what is.

The story wraps up in a beautiful way! Christina June’s writing is absolutely wonderful and I’m looking forward to reading whatever she writes next! We’ve all felt abandoned at least once in our life and reading Tatum’s story will help anyone feel less alone. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves Cinderella or enjoys contemporaries! It’s on sale May 9th so make sure to pick up your copy then!

It Started With Goodbye is a touching story about a girl who is falsely accused of a crime and tries to strengthen her relationship with her stepmother and stepsister. I loved the main character’s independence and the focus on family and friendship instead of romance. Fans of authors like Sarah Design will definitely enjoy this book!

This book is kind of like a modern version of Cinderella. Tatum is falsely accused of a crime that her best friend helped commit and is placed under house arrest by her strict stepmother. She must earn $500 by the end of the summer to pay her fine, so she decides to start a graphic design business to keep her busy when she’s not doing community service. I loved the use of emails in the book and the mystery identity of a certain client named S.K. If you like your contemporaries a little more on the serious side with less of a focus on romance, you will enjoy It Started With Goodbye.

I loved Tatum’s character in the novel. I felt so frustrated just reading about her sentence for a crime that she didn’t even commit. Despite all this, she still stays strong and agrees to work hard for forgiveness. Tatum is also an avid graphic designer, which I found really interesting. I loved the fact that she is able to become an entrepreneur at such a young age because of her talent. Strong and independent female characters are my favourite, so Tatum really hit the bullseye for me.

One of my favourite aspects of It Started With Goodbye is the strong focus on family and friendship. Tatum doesn’t have the best relationship with her stepmother and stepsister, but she really bonds with them throughout the book. It was so touching to see her prim and proper stepsister open up to her. Tatum also spends a lot of time trying to connect with her friend (the one who assisted in committing the crime), who has been shipped off to a boarding school. Romance isn’t the priority in this book, which I really enjoyed. We need more YA books like this one, about friends and family.

It Started With Goodbye is a modernized version of Cinderella with a main character who is strong and self-reliant. The focus on family and friendship is really touching, and much better than a story all about romance. Definitely pick this story up this summer!

It Started with Goodbye by Christina June is a recommended YA retake on the story of Cinderella.

Tatum Elsea (TLC) is sixteen and about to experience a horrible summer. After Tatum unwittingly acted as a getaway driver for her best friend Ashlyn and Ashlyn's boyfriend, she's been charged with a misdemeanor. She has to pay a $500 fine and perform 100 hours of community service. To make things worse, her strict and intolerant stepmom along with her perfect stepsister are the ones in charge of her "house arrest" as her father is going to be away on business. When her stepgrandmother/fairy godmother arrives, it is a blessing. Tatum is secretly starting a graphic design business, TLC Design during this summer of reflection and growth.

This is a feel good story where the characters make dramatic changes rather quickly and the plot is very predictable. but it is all for the happy ending that you know will be coming because it is a Cinderella story. It is also quite decidedly a young adult novel. As an adult reader there were parts that made little to no sense and annoyed the heck out of me, but I am definitely not the target audience here. I would take this down to a younger teen audience (grade 8 for sure) as older teens or adults who like YA fiction are likely going to also have a few issues with the novel.

The writing is fine and there is some progression with the plot. Suspend disbelief for a few parts and just go with the flow to appreciate this light, fun novel for younger YA readers. (I really love the cover more than the book.)

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Blink.

http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2017/05/it-started-with-goodbye.html
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1990416042

Tatum Elsea is not looking forward to summer. Accused of a crime—falsely—she’s under house-arrest with her less-than-loving stepmother while her father is out of the country. Tate is only allowed to be at home and her court-ordered community service, unless her stepmother approves it. Like that’s going to happen. So, Tatum starts a secret graphic design business, which leads to an email flirtation with a cello-playing client.

With her feisty step-grandmother in town, Tate starts to realize that maybe her way isn’t the only way, and soon she learns she’s not the only one in the family keeping secrets. Will Tate be able to use her new perspective to fix her relationship with her best friend and turn her family around? Then there’s the cello player…

I finished reading It Started with Goodbye in less than 24 hours. This is a fun, light read, but it delves into some deeper issues, like taking responsibility for your actions, healing relationships, and honesty. Tate grows a lot through the course of the book, and the author captures her growing pains vividly and emotionally, letting the reader see through Tate’s eyes and experience that awakening along with her. I loved how Tate’s relationship with her stepmother and stepsister evolved, and her step-grandmother is perfect; feisty and fun but not irresponsible. The email exchanges with the cello player are a cute finishing touch.

If you like young adult books, I highly recommend this one. It deals with some deep topics and isn’t just a fluffy romance.

(Galley provided by Blink via NetGalley.)

I read this book in one sitting and I loved it so much!

I need to start this stating I really liked this story overall. I consider it a 3.5.

Tatum has suffered a hard blow, thanks to her friend's bad choices, she now has to do community service, she's grounded with her stepmother checking the odometer on her car, and said friend isn't speaking to her anymore. It's in the middle of this that she finds hope for a new start—her own design company. But she needs to hide this if she doesn't want helicopter stepmother to block her way again.

This is also one more story of romance arising from an exchange of anonymous exchange of messages, this year it seems to be all I'm reading.

The book is a quick, enjoyable read. But the happenings were unnerving. Tatum is like your classic romantic heroine, who keeps receiving unfair treatment as if it were the right thing. Despite my Master's degree in Criminal Law, I still don't understand why she had to pay with community service. Really, what the hell? And her stepmother was so out of the line, that was borderline-criminal. And for some reason, the morale in the story was that she was right in her own way? That Tatum is the responsible? Blame the victim, and soon parents will be throwing their naughty children out windows. Oh, wait.

With all that said, I think the book is excellent for a group discussion. I'm not a parent, so maybe that's why I think the conclusion was all wrong, I'd love to learn how actual parents would feel. Especially since Tatum had her flaws, and her stepmother wasn't entirely out of line either. The plot is very interesting to reflect over.

There is also romance and this part is cute. Unfortunately, it wasn't the focus. The two basically talk only through e-mails and they are not that many because Tatum has just too much else going on. And as I'm on the topic, the author was successful in balancing each topic in Tatum's nightmare. I got a feel from each of the side characters and all of the issues seemed solved by the end with no rush.It really seemed impossible to me in the beginning as I saw the problems escalate.

As I said in the opening of the review, I liked the book a lot. To a point I even liked the flaws because it made me reflect for myself, instead of trusting the author to tell me what was right. Because there is some generational conflict I'm sure not only teenagers but also parents may enjoy reading it. This is the kind of YA that easily crosses target audience.

3.5 stars. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I didn't realize going into this that it was a Cinderella retelling. So at the beginning, I kind of struggled with the legal trouble that Tatum ended up in - it just didn't seem quite realistic, nor did her father/step-mother's response. But looking back and thinking of it more in line with Cinderella, I guess this was needed to set up the story.

I did enjoy how Tatum's character grew throughout the novel, as well as how her relationships with those around her developed. The writing made for a quick, easy read, and it is likely to be enjoyed by early- to mid-teens. The romance is fairly predictable, but I did like that it started with Tatum enjoying the personality (through emails) before the physical attraction.

Overall, a good book for early teens, and anyone looking for a really light, easy read. A decent debut YA book.