A Love Hate Thing by Whitney D. Grandison #YA #NetGalley #BookReview

When they’re stuck under one roof, the house may not be big enough for their hate…or their love.

When Tyson Trice finds himself tossed into the affluent coastal community of Pacific Hills, he’s ready for the questions, the stares and the feeling of not belonging in the posh suburb. Not that he cares. After recovering from being shot and surviving the mean streets of Lindenwood, he doesn’t care about anyone or anything. He doesn’t even care how the rest of his life will play out.

In Pacific Hills, image is everything. Something that, as the resident golden girl, Nandy Smith knows all too well. She’s spent most of her life building the pristine image it takes to fit in. After learning that her parents are taking in a teen boy, Nandy fears her summer plans, as well as her reputation, will go up in flames. It’s the start of summer vacation, and the last thing Nandy needs is some juvenile delinquent from the ’Wood crashing into her world.

Stuck together in close quarters, Trice and Nandy are in for some long summer nights. Only, with the ever-present pull back to the Lindenwood streets, it’ll be a wonder if Trice makes it through this summer at all.

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Biography

Whitney D. Grandison is an American young adult fiction writer. Some of her works can be found on Wattpad, one of the largest online story sharing platforms, where she has acquired over 30,000 followers and an audience of over fifteen million dedicated readers. Her success on Wattpad has awarded her not only the title of Wattpad Star, but also the ability to work professionally for promotional campaigns for feature films such as Beyond the Lights and The Glass Castle. Outside of writing, she is a lover of Korean dramas, all things John Hughes, and horror films. Whitney currently lives in Akron, Ohio.

My Review

What happens when the poor kid finds himself living the dream?

When Tyson Trice’s father killed his mother, injured Trice, and turned the gun on himself, it rocked the foundation of Trice’s world. Suddenly he found himself staying with a family in an expensive subdivision at his dying grandfather’s bequest.

The Smiths are good people, but they can’t possibly understand what it was like to grow up in an abusive household on the wrong side of the tracks. Trice tries to fit in, for the sake of the daughter, Nandy, who he’d played with as a child, but when the past comes calling, he realises he’s been dreaming-there’s only one way out for a guy like him.

Nandy remembers the kid their gardener used to bring with him, but Tyson has changed. He’s handsome, for one thing, but cynical and hard to reach now. She’s also worried he might reflect badly on her hard-won popularity- this was cotillion year, after all. But the bond they shared as children draws these two vastly different personalities together and creates issues neither could have foreseen.

This is a coming of age story filled with interesting characters and plenty of angst (which I loved!).

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What didn’t ring true for me was Nandy. She’s supposedly a sweet, kind girl who does all kinds of charity work in the community, but she came off as a spoiled, rich girl more worried about her image than the real-life issues Trice faced.

Other than that, this is an easy 4 lovely kisses read for me!