I liked this story a lot. When I requested this book, I didn't realize that the author had written the Traveling Pants books. I didn't read them, but I did see the movies. After I requested the book, was approved, sat down to read it, saw her earlier books, I was all set for a great read. I was not disappointed at all.

This was definitely a very dysfunctional family. Three daughters were born to Robert and Lila. One daughter was born to Robert and Evie. One son was born to Lila and Adam. Together Robert and Lila shared a beach house. They took turns weekly sharing this beach house. Sasha and Ray who shared the three sisters, but weren't related, also shared a bedroom. You got all that?

Robert and Lila did not divorce amicably. They fought over every little detail. When the switch came to change families at the beach house, there was a time lag to make sure they didn't see each other. Also Robert and Evie did not sleep in the same bedroom as Lila and Adam. They each had their own separate bedrooms. When the older three shared children graduated, the families made sure they were on opposite sides of the auditorium. Sasha and Ray were 17 years old and had never seen each other. That's how determined Robert and Lila were to keep the families separated.

That being said, this was a great book portraying a lot from the eyes of Ray and how he dealt with this life. A story of irrational and immature parents, tragedy, family dysfunctions and sibling love that I truly enjoyed and did not want to leave. I really felt for the characters especially the younger ones who were being denied sharing a bond just because they were not blood relatives.

This is a book that will stay with you long after finishing the last page and leave you wanting more.

Thanks to Random House Children's for approving my request and to Net Galley for providing me with a free e-galley in exchange for an honest review.

I love Ann Brashares, but this book really let me down. There are a TON of characters to keep up with and the author jumps between their storylines and POVs so quickly I felt like I didn’t have time to really get to know or overall like them. Even though it’s stressed repeatedly that Ray & Sasha aren’t related their relationship still comes of feeling weird and creepy.

I was excited to kick off my spring/summer reading list with Ann Brashares. I am a fan of her work, but this one left me a little disappointed. I missed the rich character development that she has provided in the past. The emotional attachment to these characters just wasn't there for me this time.

The perspective of the divorce and families focus mainly on Sasha and Ray's experience which I enjoyed a lot. It is so odd to see how much a divorce can effect the children that can come after and it has brought me closer to my sisters from my mum and dad.

The book deals with many themes simultaneously; family tension, adoption, and love. It shows every characters own perspectives on each of the themes resulting in a variety of opinions to be represented. Robert is originally from Bangladesh but was a war baby that was consequently adopted by a middle class white couple in America. How he views his adoption and family dynamic is wholly different from how his daughters see it. Quinn feels very in tune with her blood heritage and the struggle between being who you were raised and being what you look like is beautifully handled. As a child of immigrant parents that grew up in a Swedish environment I could partially identify. I felt "Swedish" and acted "Swedish" but I didn't look it and weren't treated in that way either. It's a very interesting topic to explore further and was, in my opinion, appropriately handled.

Although great it was very short, there were a lot of characters that were underdeveloped. I wanted to see more of the sisters and learn more about the family issue. You can guess the reason for the divorce but it is never explained and it didn't offer any other information. The family dynamic also took a while to understand and I'm still not sure how they split up the time at the beach house.

Now to the juicy stuff. Nah, I'm not spoiler warning this shit because despite being such a great work of YA Contemporary it still get's a 2 star rating, rather than a 4, from me because of the fucking incest. What went through Brashare's mind? Is she a child of divorce? My sisters, although not blood related and rarely in contact, are still SISTERS! It did my head in to no end... I'm so disappointed by this mess that ruined the book. If Robert couldn't stand Quinn getting a nose ring, I cannot imagine how he would react to this.

Thank you to Netgalley for the free copy!

This will be a perfectly acceptable YA beach read for the summer. Ann Brasheres has a really enjoyable writing style, and this book is a quick, easy read. However, it felt just very expected , both in relation to other books by Brasheres and to other YA books. The story happens just as I would have predicted, and even some things that I think were intended to be shocking were seen from far away. Despite this, I still found it to be a decent read, with some good thoughts about family and relationships.

I have really mixed feelings about this book. The parents in this story are all absolutely awful people. The get together that involves the parents is a disaster that you can see coming from a mile away. The death was a bit predictable for me, as were other plot twists. The story is supposed to revolve around the two youngest children from each side of the family (now teenagers). They share a set of step sisters, but the two youngest unrelated teenagers have never met despite sharing a room in a shared vacation home. The story couldn't decide if it wanted to focus on the teenagers or the slightly older sisters. Personally, I found myself more interested in the sisters. There were just too many players in the game and I felt like we didn't really get to fully know any of them. I didn't dislike the book, but I didn't feel particularly attached to it either. I think I just felt more drawn to the sisters that the teenagers. And really, I could not get past how awful and childish the parents were. Not my favorite Ann Brashares book, but probably a decent beach read.

When I saw Ann Brashares was coming out with a new YA book, I was so excited. I grew up on the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants books and I was ready for another book that explored family and friendship. In the end, though, I was not a fan of the writing style or characters in this book.

Sasha and Ray have shared everything pretty much their whole lives. They've shared books, sweatshirts, toys, and even a room. Too bad they've never met. Part of a torn family, Sasha's dad and Ray's mom were once married but split apart, leaving three daughters between them, three sisters that Sasha and Ray share. They've managed to stay apart, but this summer is going to be different than the rest. This summer, lives will change and even the smallest decisions will have the biggest impacts.

Oh man. I barely give books a one star but I could not stand this book. First thing that just did not mesh with me was how this book was written. There are so many characters and such a strange family tree and this story is told in third person omniscient. The story switched between characters so often and I had such a hard time connecting with someone since we barely had time with them before we were yanked away to someone else. Out of all of them, I didn't even have a favorite character. I didn't care about anyone and didn't really buy into their loving relationships with one another.

Since I didn't enjoy any of the characters, this book was so hard to get into. There was so much time spent on inner monologues and I felt like not a lot of actual character interaction and dialogue happened. And some parts I had to reread because I wasn't sure if what happened had actually happened [like what happened at the end between Sasha and Ray? Did what I think happened happen? Because that's just weird and makes no sense at all]. Once I hit about the halfway mark I found myself skimming through a lot of parts because I just didn't care. I was so disappointed that I just couldn't connect with the writing, the characters, or the story in general.

There were so many moments that held potential with these characters and the issues they were facing. Sadly, because there were so many characters, these issues could not be fleshed out and it felt very surface level. And that ending just didn't mesh with me at all. In the end, this book just wasn't for me.

I read many things about this book but I actually liked it. Yes, the parents are immature and I hated them most of the book. Yes, there were too many chatacters an POVs, but you kinda get used to it after a while. But, it's something different, easy to read and that touches a lot of issues of a family's life (maybe too many). It wasn't bad, but it could have been better. For being my very first book by Brashares I'll say it was pretty good, I Liked it.

Wow.... what a book. This was not what I was expecting and yet I should have because Anne Brashares doesn't disappoint. The story of Sasha and Ray, two teenagers who have parents that used to be married and share a beach house on Long Island. Sasha and Ray also share a bedroom and three sisters, though they have never met. There relationship exists within the stories and moments shared with their sisters and the items within their room, until the summer they begin to share a job. Their chance meeting and shared texts help them grow their relationship beyond what they every thought it could be. This book isn't just about Sasha and Ray, but about their three sisters and their distinctly different personalities and relationships. It also deals with the horribly broken relationship between their divorced parents. This story was full of depth and emotion. It was a very quick read because of the continued changes in relationships and the development of the characters by the author. I loved the way the perspective changed and the way the reader gets a full view of the story, not just focused on Ray and Sasha. Worth the time to read this one!

I was very thrown off by the flow of this book. It could have just been the way the e-galley was put together, but it got to be very confusing as far as who the topic of the section was, who the reader was talking about, etc.

Also, the relationship between Sasha and Ray made me feel very uncomfortable and I do not think I will be recommending this title unless readers is a fan already of Brashares.

I have enjoyed everything that Ann Brashares has written. She weaves tales with great characters that you can really see in 3-dimentions, with a whole lot of heart. This tales was good, but did not quite live up to her reputation as a writer. What would you do if you lived in a family that was split down the middle? What if you were the one child in the family who had different parents? Your siblings went back and forth between parents, but you stayed put. Not only that, but the other half of the family had a kid just like you.... they had different parents too, and you shared a room.... just not at the same time. There is a house that is shared for vacations -- one week your family lives there, the other week, the other family lives there. You share a bedroom in that house with your non-sibling. You have actually never met, but it starts to feel like you know each other, as you grow up sharing that room... each adding your own mark. Now, your sister is engaged. Everyone is going to meet. What will that be like? What will happen when you get your parents together in the same house? You can find out, if you pick up this book. You'll find out a whole lot more, too...I bet you'll fall in love with the characters in this book and be sad when the story comes to an end as you will probably want more!

I was really looking forward to this book as I have fond memories of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. I figured if anyone could pull off a multi-POV mad house of characters, it was likely Ann Brashares. And to a point, I think she does. But to the same point, I think it got away from her and resulted in a confusing, twisted mass of characters without much of a plot.

I can forgive a lot of things that other reviewers have pointed out as negatives in that… not everyone’s life fits into a perfect box. Not everyone’s life is free of criticism, body-shaming, racism, negativity, and immature adults. I can understand why you maybe don’t want to read books with those types of things, but highlighting them in certain ways to raise awareness or to add an element of realism to their lives seems okay at times. I didn’t like it. But I can understand why those threads are in the story. I found most of the characters to be very annoying, but I have to think about it the way I think about other people I have met… no one’s life is perfect.

So that’s what this book was to me. A bunch of relationships that felt like people I have met at one point or another, that I then put my hands up in peace, and retreated away from, and told them I’d be waiting for them to call me when they figure out their life. These people at are such a messy point, you just hope everything turns out okay on the other side.

The setup with the house and alternating weeks, etc, is all a little unbelievable. So there’s that. And while there were some good moments, and the tragedy was intriguing and lended some much needed perspective and heart, overall this book was not for me at all. It was okay.

Note: Thank you to NetGalley and Delacorte Press / Random House for this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. The Whole Thing Together is available on April 25, 2017.

I haven't read "the sisterhood of the traveling pants" but if it's close to being as good as "The Whole Thing Together", then I have to buy a copy like right now!
I took myself some time reading it. Because 1. I really didn't want it to end and 2. I wanted to read each sentence carefully and let them sink in. Anna Brashares sure knows how to write.
That's all I have to say.

Thoughts

Sit back, this is another doozie. I'll start with writing related stuff and move slowly to stuff that I just wasn't here for. Ann Brashares wrote one of my favorite middle grade series. One that really helped make me as a person and that I still cherish to this day. But by 20% in to this novel I was bored, disgruntled and grossed out. I did finish it for review purposes though. First off this story was written in third person omniscient point of view. Which on it's own isn't enough to make me hate a book. There tends to be more jumping around as the narrator follows different character's. But I can handle it. For this particular novel though it made it come off as an adult family drama rather than a YA contemporary romance. The reader is continually flipping back and forth between all the siblings and not getting enough of Ray and Sasha. Now if you like family dramas then by all means please pick this up. Personally I was a little bored.

I feel like the character's really like dimension. By telling everyone's story instead of one or two characters we lost precious time and these children seem to be lacking personality. They were flat and could be summed up in a phrase or two. Emma was your typical rich girl. Matty was your girly girl who was redefining herself. Quinn was your manic pixie dream girl. Sasha was the studious one and Ray was the fumbling awkward kid. Come on guys! Give me something.

My next issue has to deal with representation. This book has a diverse cast. The father is from Bangladesh and was adopted. His children are obviously half Indian. While I am not from India and can't give you specifics, I will say that a lot of the dialogue about the father's Indian heritage bothered me. And the way the characters presented themselves. It didn't feel like a diverse cast. Just like white people pretending to be cultured. The father refused to recognize that he was Indian. He was so obsessed with being well off and rebuked his daughter Quinn when she tried to embrace the culture. It wasn't discussed as part of his lifestyle or affecting him. He would rather pretend to be a white christian. (Yes he says that)

There was also A LOT of focus on people's bodies. And not in a positive way. Emma tells her sister Matty she can't wear a dress because its too slutty. Matty hears her fathering saying he saved a huge sum of money for the youngest Sasha to go to law school one day. Matty asks what he saved money for her for and he replies, "To get you a dress that actually covers your ass." WHAT?!?! Every single character describes people in terms of "modesty" "hott legs" "so fat her belly hangs over her jeans". It was horrifying. I know that society can tend to zone in on people's outer appearance. But I would have liked to see some correcting of this behavior. Instead it was made to seem normal and alright.

Which brings me to my next issue. The parents were cruel. To their children and to each other. I understand that you had a horrible breakup but learn to be an adult. And at the very least do not bring your kids into it. Emma, at the beginning of the story, is hiding she has a boyfriend because she knows her mom will make a big deal out of the fact that the boyfriend works for her father at his firm. And guess what? When the mom finds out she flips out. "Your father put you up to this? It'll never last you know! You probably don't even care about him." She says this IN FRONT OF said boyfriend. Yep. The father is so obsessed with proving that he is part of the american upper class and showing that he came out of the divorce better that he takes credit for his daughter at her engagement party. He is rude when people try and talk about his heritage. And he generally savors Sasha over his other three children. Like who let these people be parents?!? And multiple times too! I just don't get it.

Ok now this last issue is a personal one that has more to do with the story that Ann chose to tell. Basically this is about two blended families. There once was a happy couple who had three children then divorced. Upon remarriage to other people both couples had a baby at the same time. So Sasha and Ray aren't siblings by blood. But since their parents take turns using the beach house every other week these two have shared a room, shower, bed, toys, ect. In the beginning when Ray was wondering about Sasha all I could think was "Why?" Like I get it that your mom and her dad do NOT get along so you've never actually met her. But you're sharing stuff. She has slept in your sheets. Just email her and be friends. Why is this a big deal? Then they develop a romantic interest. And I'm sorry but this made me want to vomit. They are basically step siblings!! It was weird!! I really struggled to wrap my mind around this one and I'm still not really okay with it.

This is an engaging story about how strange and screwed up families can be, especially families of divorce whose three daughters are connected to their half-siblings but the half-siblings have never met. The parents share a vacation home but on a “your family leaves before my family arrives on the same day.” The half-siblings share the same bedroom and develop a type of relationship built on the idea of each other. Over the years, they form a strong bond but never communicate until they meet by accident. There so much more to the book involving the familial relationships and is not a book to miss.

I think one of the reasons why I enjoyed this book was that it was so different. I hadn’t read a book before that dealt with characters that were connected yet didn’t know one another. I really liked how broken the book is yet how wonderful things got tied together. It kind of felt like real life that way.

I can understand why some people would shy away from this book or not like it because of a plot line that could skeeve people out. Honestly, I have no problem with this. There are way worse things and there is no bloodline between Sasha and Ray, no real relation whatsover. So, it really doesn’t bother me a whole lot.

One thing that I did wish there was more of within this novel is a little less POV switching. I wanted to get to know the characters a little more. But then again, that’s also part of how the book is broken yet ties things together. I know this story won’t be for everyone, but if you like Ann Brashares writing and are willing to read a story that is unique and a little out there, you should give this one a try!

I'm usually a fan of Ann Brashares. I've read and enjoyed the Sisterhood books and The Here and Now. While I wouldn't count her as one of my favorite writers, she's always been an author I'll pick up the new book and I usually enjoy it.
This book, I had issues with, which was really disappointing because I was pretty excited by the premise. So I'm going to start with the positive points and then go into my negatives.
I did like that it wasn't entirely predictable, there were actually some parts which really shocked me.
There were some well-written emotional scenes, although I did take issue with some of the emotion, which I'll discuss further later.
The premise was great, it had me excited to read it and I liked the title.
For the negatives, there are a few more.
The characters, and I mean all of the characters, felt underdeveloped. You never really got to know any of them, which really bothered me. Even Sasha and Ray, who were supposedly meant to be the main characters, never really got any depth to them. Making it hard to root for them.
The narrative felt really choppy and hard to follow. There were too many perspectives. I would have loved to of seen this book simply from Ray and Sasha's points of view, which would have allowed their characters to get more depth.
Following on from this, I really felt like Ray and Sasha needed to be focused on a lot more. They were meant to be the main characters and love interests, yet you barely got to know them or see much of their relationship develop. Not only did we not get to know them, it seemed like they didn't know each other either, yet the book plays it off that they get really close/fall for each other. This being over the course of meeting a couple of times, where they hardly speak. Granted there are some emails between them, but never really about much and definitely not getting to know each other enough to end up where they wound up.
The emotion. I said I'd touch on this again from the negative point of view and this is it, there were moments that were emotional, but sort of unnecessary. It seemed completely out of the blue and kind of emotion for emotion's sake. I think there were better ways to inject emotion into the story, which would have worked better.
The ending also seemed really rushed and almost unfinished, which was really disappointing.
Overall I enjoyed the premise and think it had great potential. The characters were just ok and needed more depth. The whole book needed more fleshing out and fewer perspectives.
It just wasn't the book for me.

Okay folks, get ready, because I am about to discuss a book I absolutely H-A-T-E-D. I was a bit reluctant to use this word (hate) at first, but then I thought – who fucking cares? I didn’t like this book and I am going to talk about it.

So, let us begin with a bit of the family’s history. Lila and Robert used to be married. Together they had three daughters, Emma, Quinn and Mattie. After their divorce they both re-married and they each had another child; Lila had Ray and Robert had Sasha. Confused? ME TOO! It took me about half the book to be able to tell the characters apart and remember who is who and, if I’m being completely honest, even by the end of the book I couldn’t tell the three older sisters apart. That’s exactly how indistinguishable their voices were. ( Keep in mind that I have read the A Song of Ice and Fire series numerous times and was never confused about who the narrator was.) So here’s my first problem with the book; its characters are so flat and common, so boring that I couldn’t even tell them apart; how was I supposed to care about them?

Moving on to the story after Lila and Robert’s divorce, the two are unable to decide who gets the beach house, which leads to them splitting their time there so they wouldn’t have to face one another. As a result, Sasha and Ray end up “sharing” a bed, toys, books, collections and family members without having met one another. And here comes the second problem: from the very first time we meet Ray, his thoughts while laying in the bed he “shares” with Sasha are way too sexual. He practically fantasizes about a girl who is almost his sister; it made me so uncomfortable I was ready to DNF it. I was curious, however, to see how the author handled this obsession Ray had with Sasha. Surely, she’d be creeped out by it, if she ever found out, right? WRONG! Because Sasha is also almost creepily obsessed with him. The two can’t stop thinking about each other, which leads to a very creepy, uncomfortable-to-read-about relationship between the two.

Moving on to the next issue: poor characterization. In the book synopsis there’s one word to describe each sister: Emma is the perfectionist, Mattie is the beauty, and Quinn is the favourite. And that’s all these three girls are. I’m being literate here. They possess no other personality trait, other than the one given to them by the book’s synopsis. Ray and Sasha, their parents, and step-parents are equally one-dimensional, pure caricatures and walking stereotypes. You think that’s all? I haven’t even touched this book’s racism and sexism and slut-shaming yet.

Robert is Bangladeshi. So, props to Brashares for including diverse characters in her book! Hm, maybe not so fast. Robert may be Bangladeshi, but he was adopted by a white couple and wants nothing to do with his culture and history. Now, I am not trying to say that this wouldn’t be an important story or a story worth-telling. But, coming from a white author, it feels a bit like the easy way out. You get the praise for including a character of color (and his biracial kids), without having to do any in-depth research on the region and the culture. Mattie ( I think) even refers to her father’s descent as a “check in the diversity box” which exactly how his descent is treated by the author. It is even specifically mentioned that Lila married him to piss off her parents. Not to mention, an extremely disrespectful and inconsiderate mention of the burqa. I really am wondering, how on Earth did this book even get published?

As for the aforementioned sexism and slut-shaming: Emma constantly judges her sisters’ clothes, either deeming them too revealing or too slutty (the burqa comment fits somewhere in here, since it was made during a shopping spree). Ray even considers himself to be deep and special because he noticed Sasha’s beauty instead of her friend’s. Congratulations boy! Do you want a cookie? Brashares is proudly promoting stereotypes like “she is not like other girls” and the idea that “modest” girls are far more beautiful than girls in revealing clothes. Can we ever take a breath? Mattie is extremely jealous and antagonistic towards Sasha – her own fucking sister– because she thinks she may be more beautiful? What kind of nonsense is this??

Anyway, you get my point. I absolutely loathe this book and I’m mourning the time I wasted reading this.



** An ARCopy was provided via Netgalley in exchange of an honest review**

Another good one by Ann Brashares. This was an emotional story about two fractured families who share a seaside cottage on alternative weekends. When the youngest children (related by marriage but not by blood) fall for each other, things get complicated. Their universe implodes when tragedy strikes and the families have to find a new way of living together. Brashares gives us a beautiful portrait of complex characters and situations which keeps the reader engaged throughout. Good for young adults an mature readers alike.

I really enjoyed reading The Whole Thing Together. At first, it took me a while to get used to the 3rd person narrative and invested in the characters, but when I did, it was great! I especially liked it when I got to learn more about Sasha, Mattie, Ray and Quinn. Not so much when it came to Emma though. I feel as if she didn't really have anything at stake in this book in terms of development or wanting to bring about development. Whenever the 3rd person narrative would get to her, I always found myself unable to connect with her, feeling as if she's a flat character. Maybe the author tried to give her more depth later on by adding some flaws, but I felt as if it were too late by then to develop Emma into a complex character. The book was practically over by that point.

As for the plot, things were really tense in terms of the book's tone, which made me want to keep on reading. It was mainly the history surrounding the parents and their fallout that made me intrigued in the book. I wanted to see how things would unfold, especially between the two families, because it most certainly was going to. However, I did not see that it was going to unfold the way it did, or the revelations that happened along the way. Overall, The Whole Thing Together was a bit predictable, but not too much that it ruins the book.

Well, that's all I have to say about The Whole Thing Together by Ann Brashares. I recommend this to anyone looking for a good Contemporary YA read as well as to any fans of The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants. There were some similarities I found between that series and The Whole Thing Together.