ARC Review : Last Year's Mistake by Gina Ciocca

Title : Last Year's Mistake
Author : Gina Ciocca
Genre : YA contemporary
Release Date : June 9th, 2015
Publisher : Simon & Schuster

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Before:
Kelsey and David became best friends the summer before freshman year and were inseparable ever after. Until the night a misunderstanding turned Kelsey into the school joke, and everything around her crumbled—including her friendship with David. So when Kelsey's parents decided to move away, she couldn't wait to start over and leave the past behind. Except, David wasn't ready to let her go...

After:
Now it's senior year and Kelsey has a new group of friends, genuine popularity, and a hot boyfriend. Her life is perfect. That is, until David's family moves to town and he shakes up everything. Soon old feelings bubble to the surface and threaten to destroy Kelsey's second chance at happiness. The more time she spends with David, the more she realizes she never truly let him go. And maybe she never wants to.

Told in alternating sections, LAST YEAR'S MISTAKE is a charming and romantic debut about loving, leaving, and letting go.

*I receive an arc from the publisher through Edelweiss in exchange of honest review. Thank you Simon & Schuster for the book

For a book that's on my most anticipated list, Last Year's Mistake was a bit disappointing. Yes, it's still about best-friend-turn-romance, but it didn't reach my expectation.

Basically, this book has two stories. One before Kelsey move to Rhode Island, and the other one is Kelsey's life in Rhode Island (if you have read Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson, it's pretty similar like that). Before Kelsey move to Rhode Island, she only has one close friend--David Kerrigan. After a certain events (which I think pretty ridiculous), her friendship with David ended and she moved to Rhode Island with her family.

Personally, I think Kelsey has two personalities here. Before she moved, she's pretty tomboy, and didn't really care about friends (I mean, she only has ONE friend there). After she moved, though, she became more girly, attend parties, and basically more popular. I actually have no problem with Kelsey--in fact, I like her--but toward the ending, she kinda irritates me. I can't write exactly why she irritates me without spoiling it, but it has something to do with the love triangle. On the other hand, David is the typical popular boy, minus the 'hook-up a lot' things. Usually, I'd have no problem with a character like him. But because the romance (yes, again), I kinda didn't like him.

My main problem with this book is the romance. There's a super complicated love triangle. Basically, Kelsey already has a boyfriend, Ryan--who is pretty sweet at the beginning--and David already has a girlfriend too, Violet. But since Kelsey and David obviously like each other, it makes Ryan really hates David and Kelsey and Violet friendship fell. Somehow, Kelsey and David drifted apart, but not a chapter later, they're okay again. Confused? Yeah, me too. There's too much dramas going on at the same time, not to mention it end too sudden without a proper explanation. Also, I feel like the ending was forced because all those dramas. It's actually could be a good ending, but sadly, I didn't feel it.

In the end, though, I still give this book 3 stars since a) I enjoy the plot, especially in the beginning where the super complicated love triangle haven't start yet b) Even though the romance is disappointing, it still give me some feels and c) I like the friendship between Kelsey and Candy, they're funny together. Overall, I'm not sure everyone will enjoy this book, but if you have zero problem with drama, you might want to try to read this.