Anise had her summer plans locked down. She was going to spend her days surfing and lazing about the beach with her best friends, as this was the last summer they all would be together. All her plans are destroyed, when Anise's aunt is in an awful car accident, that leaves her with two shattered legs and three pre-teen children to fend for themselves. Anise and her father heed their family obligation, and jet off to Nebraska to help as her aunt recovers. Being far from home sets Anise a drift as she attempts to navigate this new life away from everything she knows.

"But maybe that's part of what family is -- loving people you have nothing in common with."

I pretty much plowed through this book. I found the story interesting, amusing, touching, realistic, and relatable. I fell in love with many of the characters, and found that it was terribly important to me, that Anise resolve her various issues before the end of the book. Or, at least resolve some of them. I needed her to move towards healing, so that she could get out from under that cloud and shine. Bottomline: I was totally invested in her.

"I wonder if, when you have children, your DNA mutates so that you'll do anything to make your kids happy........I wonder if my mom's DNA forgot to mutate."

Anise was a pretty great person. She was athletic, competitive, a good friend, a great cousin, a wonderful daughter, but she struggled with several issues that held her back. First, she grappled with her abandonment issues. Her mother apparently had some serious wanderlust, and would drift in and out of her life. This gouged a huge hole in her heart, and made Anise afraid of leaving her home and her friends. She feared that she was just like her mother, and that if she left, she would just disappear, never to return. This robbed her of experiences, and planted a lot of doubt in her mind, which later complicates things with her friends.

"The irony doesn't escape me that my mom's favorite sport is running."

Not to fear, though. Silverman filled this story with some stupendous characters, who were there to help Anise wade through these difficult waters. Her best friend, Tess, is very different from Anise, but compliments her in so many ways. She is steadfast and forgiving, but also very honest. Everyone needs a BFF like that, who will keep them centered and dust them off when they've fallen down. Anise also had a wonderful father. His world was also shaken when his wife deserted their family, and she left him to care for their young child on their own. He rose to the challenge, and provided Anise with a great upbringing. He was open and was able to face those difficult topics with his daughter. He was just a wonderful dad. I saved the best for last - Lincoln. Lincoln was so, so special. Every page he inhabited sparkled and shined. His personality, his smile, his dimple, his lust for exploration -- it was all so infectious. When he was with people, he always made them a better version of themselves. Lincoln knew when to approach and retreat when dealing with Anise. He helped her dig deep and face those hard truths that she needed to confront in order to move on and free herself. He just called himself a
"skateboarding evangelist", and there was definitely some truth in that statement. In addition to simply being an amazing human, he represents people with disabilities and adoptees and so much more. He was by far my favorite character in this book.

I sort of love all the ways you can interpret this title with respect to Anise and her story. There is the literal, that when Anise has to leave her beloved beach and go to Nebraska, she finds herself more or less landlocked. I am not a beach person, but the way Anise waxes about the ocean, the feel, the sounds, even made me sort of wistful for it. The ocean was her comfort zone. There she had mountains of confidence and could easily navigate the waters. She was also able to carry this confidence onto the sand, but this was all stripped away in Nebraska. Without the ocean, the beach, and surfing, Anise seemed to lose her identity and her confidence. She was unnerved as she was thrust into new situations, and was slow to acclimate.

I was so happy with how Silverman allowed Anise to grow and find her way. It was a rocky journey, but she was definitely in a better place at the end of the story, than at the beginning, and that is what I expect in a good YA book.

Overall: A charming coming of age story filled with character who pop off the page and touch your heart.

I was really looking forward to reading this one but in the end, it just wasn't for me. I could not get into nor could I connect with any of the characters. Quite the opposite actually. Anise annoyed me. The entire portion of the book I read was extremely repetitive and full of a whiny teenager. I decided to DNF at 56%. Because I chose not to finish I will not be rating this book because I honestly have no idea what I would rate it anyways. 1 star is too low and 2 stars is too high.

As a fan of contemporary novels, I knew I couldn’t pass up the chance to read Silverman’s debut. While I know approximately nothing about about surfing, a “fish out of water” story is always intriguing.

Anise is used to living near the ocean, surfing daily and spending time with her friends. When her mom’s sister has an accident that breaks her legs, Anise and her father leave Santa Cruz for Nebraska. Anise misses her friends and the last summer she’d get to see some of them, and taking care of her smaller cousins is not something she’s used to. But she quickly finds that she can take her family to the park, and in the process meets Lincoln. As the summer continues and her relationship with Lincoln grows, Anise has to confront whether she’s that different from her mom, who flits from place to place and forgets who she has left behind. Girl Out of Water is a take on the classic “fish out of water” story in a truly original way.

I really enjoyed reading about Anise’s journey, and I can tell that Girl Out of Water is a novel perfect for the summer as the vivid descriptions of surfing and summer heat will make you itch to read near a cool breeze.

Anise’s characterization was definitely well-written, and it was great to see her grow and change throughout the novel. I also loved all of the other characters, especially the love interest, Lincoln, who teaches Anise how to skateboard. Anise’s family was also great to read about.

I also loved the way in which Anise’s world was so diverse, as it reflects the reality of our world. If you’re tired of contemporary novels that feature an all-white straight cast, Girl Out of Water will definitely be a refreshing read.

Overall, Girl Out of Water takes a classic trope and crafts a truly unique story. I highly recommend it for those looking for a unique and refreshing contemporary novel, perfect for the spring and summer.

Girl Out of Water doesn't take the easy way out. The character of Anise is not 100% easy to love right away, but that it because she is dealing with change in an honest way. The author also doesn't choose to tie everything up into the neat bow that it seems like Anise might desire by the end of the book. This is okay, too, since life doesn't often end up that way either.

The book is a quick read, starting with the life I know I wished I had as a teen - sunlight bouncing off of the ocean water, hanging out with true friends in the sun and surf - but transitioning to the reality of moving to the (decidedly ocean-free) Midwest due to the health needs of a family member. Throughout the book Anise wrestles with love, family, loss, willingness to step out of one's comfort zone and try something challenging and new, not wanting history to repeat itself... many of the issues that teens may face in their own lives. Much of Anise's growth is gently guided by the character of Lincoln.

Nice debut by Laura Silverman. I look forward to her next novel.

I am so thankful to be given an e-ARC of this book from NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire. I was highly anticipating this book from Laura Silverman, an author that I was following on Twitter, and I'm so glad that I read this book at this time of my life when I could relate the most.

We have Anise, a Santa Cruz local and surfboarder converted to skateboarder who has to spend the summer in Nebraska to take care of her aunt's children after her aunt had a near-fatal accident that injured her legs. So she has to leave her senior year summer behind and temporarily live in a foreign place to me.

I've been hearing this being pitched as a unique and different idea. And I was beg to disagree, this seemed to have a typical contemporary romance premise and plot. However, what makes the book shine in my eyes was the diversity of the side characters and the way that this author handles teenager relationships realistically. The dynamic between the “single parent”-her father was extremely well-developed, it wasn’t exactly the stereotypical relationship that tends to come to mind when you think about that parent-child relationship.

The number one thing for me was to my perspective accurate representation or different cultures and ethnicity that were just casually embodied by the friends and side character of Anise. She has a Polynesian best friend, a black boyfriend who has one arm, and it was by no means a focus of the story, just something that was normally adding into our colorful world.

Also it was so adorable to see her interacting with her younger cousins and really caring about them. What didn’t happen was that she got so caught her in her summer romance that she completely forgot that there are three younger people under her responsibility. Emery seems like an extremely mature tween/pre-teen who went through the real emotions that should happen when such a tragedy like this happened.

It was doubly adorable to see her relationship with Lincoln. He was honestly just a gentlemen and motivator, and just to see the care that he took to make Anise feel happy and comfortable was extremely touching. I was basically screaming “relationship goals” throughout the whole romantic subplot, swooning, and walking around like a heart eyes emoji.

My only minor complaint that wasn’t even a big deal, was that at some points in the book Anise started getting extremely whiny and complaining constantly about not being at the physical place that she wants to be in life. At other parts she acted so immature that I just wanted to cringe at the way that she was treating some people in her life. Another little thing is that I wanted the car accident to be more of a factor, or the actual incident explained the scene in detail.

The best element that I thought the author captured in a glass bottle was your heart being torn between two places. The escalating excitement, joy, regret, loneliness, and want to go back “home.” While Anise started slightly adjusting to her new environment, I was really rooting for her transition and the start of her new relationship.

I’ve not seen many authors successfully accomplish painting this clear picture of the idea of home is where your people and family are. That sounds really cliche describing that way, and the reason why readers can approach that with such hesitation is maybe because it hasn’t been done all that well previously; this is the exception.

~

Anise Sawyer plans to spend every minute of summer with her friends: surfing, chowing down on fish tacos drizzled with wasabi balsamic vinegar, and throwing bonfires that blaze until dawn. But when a serious car wreck leaves her aunt, a single mother of three, with two broken legs, it forces Anise to say goodbye for the first time to Santa Cruz, the waves, her friends, and even a kindling romance, and fly with her dad to Nebraska for the entire summer. Living in Nebraska isn’t easy. Anise spends her days caring for her three younger cousins in the childhood home of her runaway mom, a wild figure who’s been flickering in and out of her life since birth, appearing for weeks at a time and then disappearing again for months, or even years, without a word.

Complicating matters is Lincoln, a one-armed, charismatic skater who pushes Anise to trade her surfboard for a skateboard. As Anise draws closer to Lincoln and takes on the full burden and joy of her cousins, she loses touch with her friends back home – leading her to one terrifying question: will she turn out just like her mom and spend her life leaving behind the ones she loves. (via Goodreads)
I received an eARC from Netgalley and the publisher, Sourcebooks Fire, in exchange for an honest review!

I don't remember when I started following author Laura Silverman on Twitter. I do remember the first time she locked her account because nazi's were sending her death threats and horrific images. I also remember when I first added this book to my TBR. It was September, and some of the same people were rating this debut author's book with one star, trying to tank it. In protest, and to help stabilize Girl Out of Water's rating, I rated it five stars.

Now that I've read the advanced reader copy, it gets the exact same rating. This was absolutely a five star read. Prose like this filled the book. It was a complete joy to read.

For a second, I'm transported back in time, born once more into the water, everything fresh and new, yet also filled with an overwhelming sense of home.
I loved the family relationships in Girl Out of Water. It's rare to see a good relationship between a parent and a child in young adult books, but Anise's relationship with her dad was like a breath of fresh salt air. Her cousins were completely normal cousins, with a great relationship.

I had the luck to grow up alongside my extended family - it was fun, messy, and full of weird moods, like Anise experienced with her cousins. Family relationships are weirdly complicated, but incredibly rewarding, and that's what we see in Anise's experience here.

One of my favorite things about this book was Anise's large group of friends, with each person having a distinct personality despite the fact that we barely spent any real time with them. I also loved that they held Anise accountable for not keeping in contact with them all summer, while allaying her fears about being what she's terrified of.

I'm also a little bit in love with Lincoln, which is strange for me. I don't usually fall in love with book boys, but here I am, in love with him and his worldview. Lincoln was honest and warm and upfront about everything in his life, whether it was about his arm, his family or his future.

Like I said earlier, this was absolutely a five star read for me. I highly recommend this to anyone looking for a fun, beautiful family-oriented romance. I can't wait for you guys to read this once it releases on May 2! You can pick up a copy through Amazon, Indiebound or your other favorite bookseller!

Disclaimer: All links to Indiebound and Amazon are affiliate links, which means that if you buy through those links, I will make a small amount of money off of it.

THIS BOOK. wow, I definitely did not expect to love this book as much as I did. I went into it kind of blind, only knowing that it has been compared to the works of Sarah Dessen, who I absolutely love. The beginning was a bit of a slow start, but picks up fairly quick. The book follows protagonist Anise, who is a sassy, foul-mouthed surfer who is forced to spend the summer taking care of her cousins in Nebraska after her aunt gets into a car accident that leaves her bed ridden for two months. To Anise, being away from the ocean and her friends is her actual definition of hell. Just when she’s at the end of her rope, she meets Lincoln. The quirky, HOT, one armed skateboarder who is determined to teach her that skating can be just as great as surfing, contrary to her stubborn beliefs.

Something I loved about this book is how well rounded all the characters are. I actually felt like I really knew who these people were and found myself wishing they were real. I also really loved the underlying messages of life is about having the ability to choose your own path, and that it’s better to embrace your fears rather than succumb to them. Throughout the novel, I found myself jotting down notes on what I enjoyed about this book, which is something I never do unless I really want to remember the points being made. I know I’ve already mentioned two important messages the book portrayed, but I have to say that one of my absolute favorite messages Silverman utilizes in this story, is that in order to have a friend, you have to BE a friend. While in Nebraska, Anise struggles to stay in touch with her friends because she feels like she’s missing out and the longer she goes without contact, she finds it harder to reach out again. I have utilized way too many cliches in this review, but I think that they are so important and can sometimes get overlooked in literature.

The relationship between Lincoln and Anise was wonderfully realistic. I find that a lot of young adult novels tend to go for the “love at first sight” kind of thing, but Silverman opted to make this relationship more of a slow burn. It actually reminded me of the type of actual relationships I witnessed and experienced in my own high school years, sweet and relatively naive. When I was in high school, whenever someone started “talking” to someone new, we would label it as having a thing with someone, which was that awkward stage of kind of dating but not really boyfriend and girlfriend. (Which honestly having now just reread that I realize that’s the actual definition of casual dating…awe high school).

This story is the perfect mix of romance, friendship and family values. So, in conclusion I highly, HIGHLY recommend this book.

I'm kind of torn on how to rate this book. One one hand, it was a fun, easy, young adult read. On the other, it just seemed to lack something. I don't know what it was missing; excitement, passion, conflict... just that WOW factor. Don't get me wrong, it was enjoyable! I flied through it and really liked it as I was reading it. The characters were likable and the plot was fine. I just feel like I didn't really connect with any of the characters. And the end just felt a little too unresolved. Once I finished I was kind of asking myself "that's it"? What was next for Lincoln and Anise? Sure, she made up with her friends and it ended in a positive note, but what else? I guess I just wanted more from this book. Not bad for a young adult, light read, but not really impactful either.

"I float in the Pacific Ocean.

As I straddle my longboard, cool water lapping around me, I watch surfers up and down the coast take on baby waves, thee and four-footers that will carry them a short distance before breaking into froth and foam.

I'm waiting for something better."

Anise has spent her whole life in Santa Cruz, California, living with her father (and at times her gypsy-like mother who can't stay in one place or make much of a commitment to anything) and also enjoying a great life as a surfer with a close group of friends. I love this first quote about her, as it says so much about her drive... and yet is contrary to what she thinks about herself. She is someone who never wants to leave Santa Cruz. She never wants to leave her friends. She never wants to leave the ocean. Anise isn't even sure she wants to go to college. At her age, I think these are super relatable feelings when we are happy and not ready to move on. She has stalled in her life.

We come into Anise's life when she is 17. Several of her friends have graduated from high school and are preparing for college or the military; she and a couple of friends are rising seniors. They have titled this "Last Summer" and aim to make it as epic as possible, spending days upon days together, surfing, playing in the sun, bonding by bonfires, and going to their favorite end of summer festival.

Almost immediately, Anise is yanked out of her summer bliss when her Aunt Jackie, a widowed mom with three young children, is struck in a car crash and needs not only multiple operations, but the love and support of Anise and her father Cole to help their day-to-day life continue and make sure the kids are looked after. Cole packs them onto a plane and they travel to Nebraska, thousands of miles from an ocean. He knows how devastating it is to Anise, but also knows that she understands that family comes first.

Anise's story is interesting because she is confronted with her feelings about her wayward mother, especially as she is in her mom's childhood home in Nebraska, and also because her new temporary home is challenging her very feelings about what she knows about herself, what she feels for her friends and love interest, and what it means to be family.

This was a great contemporary read which I enjoyed in two or so sittings. Having been to both California and Nebraska, I felt Anise's pain in leaving the ocean, but was happy to see her journey unfold in unexpected ways. Some portions of the story were predictable, but it didn't detract from this sunny summer tale. I think it is a great beach read. It is summer, you can feel the warmth in each page. A lovable book!

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks for the opportunity to read this highly anticipated release in exchange for an honest review.

Girl out of Water

by Laura Silverman

SOURCEBOOKS Fire

Sourcebooks Fire



Teens & YA

Pub Date 01 May 2017

I am voluntarily reviewing a copy of Girl Out of Water through the publisher and Netgalley:

Anise is looking forward to spending time on the beach and in the Ocean the summer before her Senior Year, but her Aunt is an accident and her family must go to help care for her and her Children, Anise has never been out of California. She is angry about having to leave the life she knows.

Despite not wanting to be in Nebraska Anise realizes she needs help her Aunt, and her cousins.

I give this book four out of five stars.

Happy Reading!!!

When die-hard surfer Anise has to spend the summer away from her beloved ocean, and in a land locked state to boot, she doesn't think anything good will come from it. In fact, Anise is almost certain that this will be the worst summer of her life; especially since she and her best boy friend shared a kiss the night before she left. But once she is introduced to the charismatic Lincoln, Anise begins to wonder if life isn't so much about sticking with what you know or exploring things you don't know.

It was okay. Not great, but not bad. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. The storyline was nothing you haven't heard before, girl taken away from her home during summer vacation due to a family emergency. It could have been much better, but the characters were superficial and overall unbelievable. The author tried to make it a very deep emotional book, but it was long periods of nothing, then 5 seconds of an emotional moment. It felt forced and fake.

Girl out of Water is a beautiful coming of age novel that I became instantly invested in. The writing style, plot, and characters as a whole are sub par for the genre and I couldn't recommend this novel more to fellow readers!

** FULL REVIEW TO COME CLOSER TO RELEASE DATE ON ALL MEDIA CHANNELS **

I can't believe this is Laura Silverman's first novel. Her FIRST. It's incredible. Girl out of Water is unique, funny, heart-warming, touching, and definitely one of the best contemporaries I've read for some time. Maybe ever.

Girl out of Water is about a girl called Anise who is planning on having one last perfect summer with her friends before most of them move away for college. That is, until her aunt gets in a bad car accident and she has to go to Nebraska for the summer to take care of her cousins. Anise has a hard time being away from home, her friends and the ocean, until her cousins take her to a skate park where she meets Lincoln, a very cute one-armed guy who challenges her to a skating competition.

While Girl out of Water seems like your typical summer romance novel at first, but it's also about family relationships, change, loss, acceptance, and so much more.
I didn't dislike any of the characters in this one. NOT A SINGLE ONE. They are all very three-dimensional, loveable, and wonderful. I fell in love with every single one of them, and I'm certain they will stay with me for a long time.
Another thing that I really appreciated is that while Lincoln has a disability, the book doesn't focus on it. Often, when a character in a book has something about them that's 'different' they become that thing. They become their disability. But with Lincoln, that's not the case at all. He is everything every other character is, and just thinking about it makes me incredibly happy again.

Besides all of my gushing about the characters, I guess I should also say something about the writing. Laura Silverman's writing was absolutely brilliant. It pulls you in from the start, and won't let you go. It's hard to describe exactly why I loved it so much, but let's just say that reading Girl out of Water felt like a hug. A hug by a giant cuddly teddy bear on a sunny afternoon on the beach while you can hear the waves crashing down on the sand and the sun in shining gently on your face. Does that make any sense? Oh well, you probably get what I'm trying to say.

***I received a free e-arc from the publisher through Net Galley in exchange for an honest review***

I had given this book a preemptive 5 star rating to try and combat the disgusting attack on the author after literal Nazis started trying to tank her book's ratings. Now that I've actually read it, I see that I don't have to change my rating at all.

GIRL OUT OF WATER follows Anise during her last summer before senior year. She expects it to be a summer like any other- spending time with her friends and surfing- until a family emergency sends her and her dad to Nebraska to care for her 3 younger cousins. This is sold as a romance, and while there is definitely some romance in the book, it's more of a lesser told love story of a family coming together.

There wasn't a character I despised in this entire book. All of them were well fleshed out and had depth, including the side characters which is something we usually don't get in YA novels. All of Anise's friends were distinct even though they might have only been mentioned a half dozen times. I loved how Silverman included mixed families throughout the story.

The romance between Anise and Lincoln (OH MY GOD, LINCOLN!!!!) wasn't overplayed and I like that Silverman didn't rush their feelings or include sex in this book. YA has a problem with the trope of "We just met but I love you so let's have sex" but Silverman did a wonderful job in avoiding that.

I only had two problems with this book and they tie in together. The first was that I felt the last few chapters lost the characters. It almost felt like I was reading an entirely different book and I'm not sure if that was on purpose (to show Anise slipping back into her Santa Cruz life) but it was disorienting and really almost made me drop the rating down to 4 stars. In those finally chapters, I had another problem- underage drinking. I'm totally aware that teenagers drink but it felt very out of place in this book. The "drama" it caused could have totally been rewritten. Honestly, the last few chapters just don't feel right in the book, period.

However, I did love this book. I loved Anise. I loved Lincoln. I LOVED LINCOLN.

Would definitely recommend this to anyone who wants to enjoy a sweet, summery, coming-of-age story.

First of all I'd like to thank Laura & Sourcebooks Fire for their support and kindness. Thank you.

This book talks about Anise who lives in sunny beautifal & wave-filled California. She has surfed most of her life and it truly is her one passion. Her summer didn't turn how quite as she expect but I can assure you it was a rollercoaster summer. Up and down, just like how ride a wave. She is moving from Santa Cruz to Nebraska. Plot twist right?

With moves come new people & new boys but old people remain quietly in their usual place. This is a story about the essence of friendships and how your friends can deeply impact your life. Not only friends but family too, if you're close to your family you will for sure enjoy reading this piece of art.

I've never gotten so emotional reading a book before, this reminded me of how amazing & precious the existence of books is. I'm really thankful for these words put onto these pages. Call me dramatic but this was one of the best books I've ever read in my life, it planted seeds in my brain and now i'm going to grow along with this story everyday.

My review will be published on release date on goodreads, Youtube and Twitter.

Thank you to Netgalley and Sourcebooks Fire for allowing me to read this in exchange for an honest review.
Very readable...great flow. I read this in an afternoon and was pleasantly surprised that the characters were outside even when it was hot. They exercised! They had problems, but they worked them out and worked them out together! Not a fan of the inappropriate language, but understand that it it common with young people. As a librarian, it makes it hard to recommend to everyone.

I had no expectations going into this book, but a came out very happy and somewhat surprised with how much I enjoyed the read.

The Plot…

First off, let me say that I was shocked that Silverman is a debut author. I thought the way she put together the plotline, characters, everything, was fabulous. The basic plot of the story is that a surfer chick named Anise leaves the home she promised she would never leave to go help out her family in Nebraska. Needless to say, this is hard for her, since she’s a senior and it will be her last summer with her friends, not to mention the fact that she NEVER EVER left California. It’s her home and she doesn’t feel the need to go anywhere else. Complicating matters is the fact that Anise’s mother constantly flies in and out of her life, with no need to tell anyone where she is and when she is coming or going. And Anise HATES IT.

Overall, I think Silverman did a great job of incorporating everything into the plotline without making it overly boring, or anything seem too dramatic. The plot was moving and changing enough so that the reader was constantly interested, but yet it slowed down at all the right moments. The way the plot moved made everything seem realistic in a book where just one thing being a little more exaggerated would have sent it from great to cheesy and dramatic.

The Characters…

There were quite a few characters in this book, but I think it’s most important to point out the fact that all of them felt real, and were relatable. Anise, the main character, was literally perfect athletically, but she had flaws in other ways, and although she didn’t admit them to others, the way the book was written gave you an in depth look at them, and I think that helped make her relatable. Plus, she’s tall, so #TallGirlClub (yes, yes, that did actually make me way too happy when I read about it).

The other characters in the book were equally as relatable and fun to hear about. Parker and Nash (Anise’s little cousins) were SUPER energetic, and reminded me of all of the children I have to babysit. Lincoln, the black, one armed skater boy, made me fall in love the second I heard about him. All of Anise’s friends from Santa Cruz (especially Tess)– LOVE!

The one character I had a slight problem with was Emery. Emery is Anise’s 13 (14 maybe?) year old cousin, and I thought she acted wayyyyy too old for her age. I mean, 13 puts you in middle school, and I’m 90% sure she was in 8th grade. The fact that she was always locked in her room and hung out alone with her friends at the park seemed unrealistic given her age. But maybe that’s just because I’m a nerd and don’t have friends. That being said, regardless of the age-reality issue she was still well developed.

Reasons I loved It…

Anise was such a badass, relatable character that she pulled me through the entire time. It was fun to read about her, and basically I want to be her.

Of course, no YA book review is complete without mentioning the relationship– Lincoln and Anise were SO FREAKIN’ CUTE TOGETHER!! I laughed out loud so often, and awwwwed equally as much because it was just one of the cutest relationships ever, and I would totally recommend the book just because of that.

Ugh Moments…

This is hard, because there were no standout “Yuck” parts of the book. However, there’s a reason that it didn’t get 5 stars, and so I need to include this part for completion’s sake. Sometimes, I felt like there was too much going on with Anise to keep track of. I mean, you could easily keep track of it, but she just had so many conflicting emotions and although that drew me in for a lot of it, at other times it sort of pushed me away because towards the start-middle (aka the ⅓ marker) I was feeling “oh no, here we go again, Anise complaining about her shitty life” but I didn’t feel that way a lot, and I think there was great character building going on.

The main reason that this didn’t get a 5 is because it wasn’t a can’t-put-down read until about halfway through. I mean, it was amazing the whole time, but I wasn’t walking around with my book pressed to my nose until then. And for a book to really be deserving of 5 stars, it needs to do that for me.

Diversity Rating…

So obviously I don’t think I could give it a 5 star diversity rating without a minority protagonist, but I think I’ll have to go with 4 stars on this one. Lincoln was black and had one arm and his father was Vietnamese, Wendy (very very small part) was Asian, and Marie and Cassie (Anise’s friends) were lesbian. Although the majority of these people were not main characters at all, I think the book community should appreciate Silverman’s effort to at least represent these people and make sure that everyone knows they exist. It’s especially important that it was never a big deal that these people were different. It just was. And that’s how books with diverse characters should be, in my opinion.

Summary…

I highly recommend to anyone, especially lovers of YA. There was a strong kindling-teen-romance and emotional teen theme throughout, and for me that’s what made it so relatable. The characters were real, and I think everyone can see that while they read.

Laura Silverman's debut novel is fresh and summer-y. Girl Out of Water is also sweet and funny; there is friendships but also family (the family aspect is A+, I love the cousins so much and her dad and aunt). There is a cute boy that became my new book crush definitely.

Also I really related to the main character Anise because right now I'm in college in another state while my best friends and childhood friends are in Cancun, back home. It was really hard at first to move and not see them every single day. I started to see pictures of them going out and wished to be there with them. Now I'm on my third year in college and I go back home on holidays and to be honest, it's like I have never left. And Anise is starting to see this, in the book, and learn that while she might go and leave her town, that doesn't mean her friends and family won't be there when she comes back.

It's a great story. I had a bit of trouble with Anise at some point but overall, this book is definitely one to look out for.

This book was just up my alley.
I loved the writing style, The character development, the plot and the uniqueness of having a male lead with just one arm.
Even do I found Anise kind of conceded and spoiled on the first few chapters she redeem herself by the last half of the book. I really dislike how she was so close off about get out of her cocoon. I understand that we all have our comfort zone, it can be a place, a thing or a person and I understand is hard to un attach us from them. But she grew as she stayed more with her family and she meet new people. Specially meeting Lincoln.
Lincoln is another story I love him since the beginning. He was so open minded and fun. I love how he took everything in a positive way. I think that meeting someone like Lincoln was just what Anise needed.
I loved all the secondary characters too. Her dad was amazing, super chill dad. Her dad, her cousins and friends were amazing too. Anise was such a lucky girl too have all those people around her.
The romance part was super adorable and cute. Not many hot scenes just a few kisses and make out sessions. The story was so interesting that I really didn't miss any sex scenes.
I would of giving this book Five stars but I felt the ending left me wanting more. Like an inconclusive ending. I wished the author would of given us something more about the mom. Did Anise get to see her mom in the future? What about Lincoln and Anise relationship? Did they breakup? Did they stay together? What about Eric? Did they kept their relationship status as friendship? What about when Lincoln leaves would Eric jump at the opportunity?
Now I want to know is the author going to gives us a sequel to this book? I want more lol.