I'm rather conflicted about this book. For the most part it's a cute, light YA rom-com. However, there's one character in particular that exhibits highly manipulative/emotionally abusive behavior and consistently gaslights another character. While that behavior is portrayed as negative, it's never really called out as more than just vaguely bad. It really left a bad taste in my mouth and distracted me from the rest of the story. The plot wasn't particularly intense or propulsive, but it was enough to keep me reading. It took me a while to connect with Ashley, but at some level the nerd in me could relate. A highlight of the book was how well Rockaway was able to integrate and explain the various technical work Ashley was doing.

This was a lovely YA romance with a perfectly flawed main character, coding talk for my programming friends, and plenty of heart.

If I could only mention one thing that I loved about this book, it would be the main character, Ashley. Specifically, I love that she was a flawed character. She makes numerous mistakes and bad decisions throughout this book, but she’s real. We see a lot of growth in Ashley as she tries to figure out what she really wants in life and the future she wants to work towards. Sometimes, the teenagers in YA books don’t quite act like teenagers, like they make one bad (small) mistake and then the book ends. I think Ashley is more real and more telling of what teenagers might be thinking when making the decisions they do. I loved that!

The whole thing with Jason was kinda interesting to me. Jason is an interesting character in general. He kinda seems like this prankster kid that doesn’t care about much at the beginning, but slowly develops into someone more as we get to know him. I’m still undecided on whether I like him or not. I think he was a good character and a great person to be in Ashley’s life, but he wasn’t my favorite.

My biggest issue with this book was the quick pace of Ashley’s feelings for Jason. I think it would have made more sense if she would have been in love with Jason like her whole life, but only realized that during the book (or something along those lines). Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. It just kinda moved from, “Jason is just Jason” to “I’m in love with Jason.” There was no in between of her liking or having a crush on him. She just decided she loved him after he brought her on a “non-date” in Brooklyn. I didn’t love that, but they had some cute moments so...

Overall, I enjoyed this book. We see some great character development, especially in Ashley, and I loved she was a STEM kid. A good summer/spring break read!

Disclaimer: I voluntarily read and reviewed a gifted and advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thank you so much to Netgalley and Random House Children's for an ARC of this title in exchange for an honest review.

This book was just fun! I loved the friends to lovers dynamic of the two main characters, the references to pop culture and music (I love you, Taylor Swift), and the coding, all set against the backdrop of New York City. You can see the author's writing really shine in the romance. It felt real and self-aware of its teen audience in a way that's not condescending. Love triangles can be a bit iffy for me personally, but I think this one was so true to the teenage experience, that it actually felt authentic.

I wished there was a little more character development, specifically for Ashley, who sometimes felt pushed along by the story instead of driving it herself. I also wished Jason and Ashley had been given more page time to develop their relationship, instead of having it pushed to the end. However, the book was fun and easy to read. I think it's a great summer book for teens interested in rom-coms and contemporary.

My Epic Spring Break (Up) is a super cute YA read. While I really do like YA books this one definitely felt like it was more for the younger crowd. That’s not a negative at all though. It’s perfect for any young adult in your life. The characters were lovable and I think the story touched on several issues facing high schooler students these days. I think a lot will relate to characters in this book. It was a fast, funny, enjoyable read.

Thank you Random House Children’s for the ARC.

3.5 stars

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I read a previous adult book by Kristin Rockaway and enjoyed it, so was interested in her upcoming YA title, My Epic Spring Break (Up). It didn’t blow me away or anything, but it’s fun and sweet, with elements that ultimately appealed to my id.

I don’t know a ton about coding, but it was presented in a way that wasn’t overwhelming. And it was fun to see a competitive event more related to science/tech featured, as I feel like I don’t see that too often.

I didn’t find Ashley to be super well fleshed out, and she did lean into some teen stereotypes. However, I don’t think that’s a mark against it, due to it being appropriate for the target audience.

The romantic elements are where the book really shines for me. Love triangles can be a bit hard to invest in, but Rockaway writes one that is interesting and worth investing in. I can remember being a similar age to Ashley and aspiring to date the hot guy, and that is a common aspect of wish-fulfillment in many properties made for teens. But I like that the story explores that, having Ashley make bad decisions because of Walker, and then over time come to that realization that he’s not right for her. It may not be the only story with this outcome, but I appreciated the level of self-awareness. And the fact that her relationship with her childhood friend Jason is also changing and bringing up questions…it just made me so happy to see how things resolved between them.

I did think it was interesting how at one point, Ashley is at a Taylor Swift concert, and the music plays a role in her epiphany. But that also really calls into question the weird time-warp contemporaries have been in since the beginning of COVID. I understand not wanting to acknowledge it. But I also find it interesting the way it handled it, referencing songs up to Lover, when surely at some point in production, Folklore at least had come out? Although the circumstances of the making of Taylor Swift’s two quarantine records does make it a bit contradictory to the goal of the scene. However, it did mess with my head and I ultimately read way too much into it, given this is a YA contemporary romance, and it’s probably not that deep.

Weird overly analytical nitpicks aside, this is a fun book. Maybe not something that will cross over to adult readers well, but that’s totally fine! I think teens will like this fun romance, especially if they like coding.

My Epic Spring Break(up) by Kristin Rockaway is a young adult contemporary novel about a teenage girl who is determined to make the most of her Spring break. As Ashley tries to get out of her comfort zone by dating a mysterious fellow student she gets further away from her mother’s rules, alienating her childhood friend Jason and not prioritizing what she needs to do to win Hackathon, a 24 hour coding contest with a huge prize.

I really enjoyed reading about Ashley’s Brooklyn neighborhood and what it takes to be an ambitious student with dreams of working in Silicon Valley. Her interactions with Walker are instant nostalgia for anyone that suffered through dates with someone they put on a pedestal only to discover that they were seriously flawed and not a good fit. Her difficult relationship with her dad and feeling alienated from his new family is a topic that readers from separated parents can relate to and sympathize with. But the parts that brought a smile to my face were any of the conversations with friend-zoned Jason and the angsty and confusing feelings a girl can have when she starts to see a childhood friend in a romantic way.

I really loved this cute contemporary YA romance and recommend it to anyone looking for a lighter read that still tackles some important topics, has a sweet love story and a hopeful message about pivoting after plans fall through.

4 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

My copy of My Epic Spring Break(Up) by Kristin Rockaway was provided by Netgalley and the publisher for review purposes

Another sweet, soft, feel good, coming of age is story fresh from the oven, ready to be served immediately! I read author’s previous adult romance novels which were also good! As like her occupation as software engineer she created a new genius coder character! ( a little younger and inexperienced version of How to hack a heartbreak’s Melanie)

This time she targeted younger readers with Say yes summer meets I heart series ( just a little Booksmart vibes) kind of a young girl’s experiencing different things, self discovery story !

Ashley is a planner: she’s very at maths, prodigy at coding, planning to move to Silicon Valley from NY as soon as she gets accepted by internship program from Zig-Zag company ( YouTube meets Instagram kind of tech app.) But nothing goes as it’s planned. She gets rejected! After her big shock Ashley starts questioning everything about the choices she’s made!

She never had fun for a long time! She has never been kissed. She has never had a proper relationship with a boy! She hasn’t gone to Taylor Swift ( I could tease this decision but I enjoyed Folklore a lot! Who am I kidding? I also went to her concerts! Yeah Ashley, you gotta do something about it ASAP! ) She hasn’t had any tattoo! She has to learn living fulfilled life!

But when it comes to romance, saying yes to new things make things more complicated! Because her long time crush Walker seems like interested with her. They start to date but why she isn’t chanting, jumping up and down to show her true happiness. Isn’t he the one?

What about her longtime friend Jason? Why does she have complex feelings about him ? He is immature prankster but isn’t he always there for her when she is in trouble?

Quick confession: Jason is my favorite character of this book! His back story is developed so much better. He’s lovely, interesting, easy to connect! If he wasn’t in this book, I could give this story solid three stars but I loved the dynamics between him and Ashley and added half more star! ( as a silly romantic I loved to read about unresolved feelings- childhood sweethearts- friends to lovers premises)

Overall: it was soft, easy to read, exhilarating feel good, quick paced, entertaining, clever spring break read I truly recommend!

For my love to Jason, I’m rounding up 3.5 stars to 4 self discovery, seizing the life, having more fun stars!

Special thanks to NetGalley and Random House Children’s for sharing this digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest opinions.

My Epic Spring Break (Up) follows Ashley, a coding whiz and math overachiever who faces a massive blow when she is rejected from a prestigious internship program with ZigZag, an Instagram/YouTube mash-up. To deal with the rejection, Ashley tries to have a little more fun and say yes to things she would never have dreamt of, like going to a Taylor Swift concert and getting a tattoo. These decisions end up in her learning to move past failure, seek new relationships, and be overall happier.

This book was simple and easy to follow, but a little light on character development or complexity. Ashley was fine, if an amalgamation of traits that didn't add up to a person. She was defined by what she liked to do, not any sort of tangible emotions or qualities. I liked Jason so much more, even though the whole prank thing is enormously stupid to me. He had a genuine story with conflict and emotional stakes in his friendship with Ashley, I almost wish he was the protagonist instead of her.

As well, I thought the plot was too wishy-washy with points. Ashley did a number of different things that amounted to a plot, but very few things were consequences of one another. Her teacher sets up the premise of the Hackathon being the majority of the plot, and then she didn't even make it there till the last 85-90% of the plot. I wish the plot solely focused on that instead of meandering with a character that had no relevance to the endpoint by 60% of the way through. Also, there was so much Taylor Swift talk that I absolutely could not bring myself to care about.

Still, I thought this book was light and quite fun, if unmemorable. This book would be well-suited for emerging YA readers, like 13-14 years old. However, there are several other books that fit this criterion (spring/summer young contemporary) that do it better; Say Yes Summer by Lindsey Culli comes to mind.

“But I’m still gonna give it my all. And whatever happens, I’ll never give up on my dreams.”

My Epic Spring Break (Up) is Kristin Rockaway’s new YA contemporary novel and it's a sweet and fun coming-of-age novel with a light-hearted romance. How would you spend your spring break? Ashley, the main character of this novel, had it all figured out: she would go from NYC (where she lives) to Silicon Valley to take part in an internship with a famous tech company. Her main goal is to become a software engineer so she is very strict about what she focuses on. However, when her plans fall through, she starts to question everything. She decides that maybe it’s time to let loose a little bit and have some fun, have that epic spring break she was hoping for—even if it looks a little different than she first planned: dating, hanging out with friends, and prepping for a coding competition.

Ashley is a driven and intelligent high-school junior student. It’s great to see a girl that is into coding and part of the school STEM team. Her passion is contagious and so much so that even her best friend Jason becomes interested in it and even joins her team! He is a prankster and is interested in showcasing what he does on social media, but thanks to Ashley, he is willing to learn a new skill.

All her life, Ashley thought she could control her future if she worked hard enough. However, when her plans fizzle out, she sees that she actually has no control over anything. So she let’s go a little bit. Her crush starts to take an interest in her so she is ecstatic about it and they sort of start dating, something she has never done before. But is he really the guy of her dreams? What about the boy who she’s been friends with all her life? She keeps getting confused but you’ll have to pick up the novel to find out how the story pans out! On top of everything, all the realizations she has in many different aspects, along with a sweet cast of friends, bring some funny moments throughout the novel.

This new found spontaneity and (light) rebellious side that Ashley begins to explore is that of your average teen. And with that comes questionable and naïve decisions. She makes mistakes but she has a lot of heart, and a good conscience and so she questions herself and thinks if her decisions are right, and what would her mum think. Even if more mature readers will develop a motherly side and want to scream at her that she isn’t making the best decision, those readers who are closer in age with her will definitely relate a lot more to her antics. It’s quite endearing to see her change and find her path and strength to stand up for herself. To see her realise that even if her dreams change a little and are not exactly as she expected, they are still achievable.

Rockaway’s writing is good, it has a great mix of witty and more emotional dialogues. There are also a ton of Taylor Swift references, since the main character is a Swiftie, so if you are one too, you’ll definitely enjoy this part. It’s nice because it offers the main character a soundtrack that accompanies her experiences. The coding aspect of the story was also a very interesting point and the author included all those technical terms (binary code descriptions, API, how to code apps…) in a way that is easy to understand for those who may have no clue about anything code related, which makes sense since Rockaway herself used to be a software engineer!

However, the characters, though mostly lovable, sometimes feel one-dimensional. We do not get to learn much about the side characters, for example Ashley’s friends and fellow coders, which would have been nice. The romantic relationship between Ashley and Walker had quite a few flaws, but that is quite true to what teens go through. On the other hand, Jason and Ashley’s relationship was great, they have a lot of chemistry and it’s sweet to see them be clueless about their feelings for each other. The ending of the book felt a bit rushed though. Another thing about Jason is that his development was great. I think maybe he is one of the characters that changes the most.

All in all, My Epic Spring Break (Up) is a light-hearted novel about finding your path. Smart, fun, and fast-paced it’s the perfect spring break read! If you enjoy coming-of-age stories and friends-to-lovers romance, this is your book and you will devour it in one sitting.

I was excited to read thiscas I enjoy a fun YA rom-com occasionally, and this promised a sweet fluffy read!

I was slightly disappointed in this one, as it took a while to connect to the MCs, and so the story felt a bit stiff and stilted to me at first.

That said, once I warmed up to the story and characters, I found it to be a delightful read, and perfect for fans of the genre!

Thank you so much to Netgalley and Underlined publishing for the opportunity to read and review this book.
I needed some fluff after reading a tough book and this did it for me. A quintessential high school romance with someone trying to get out of their comfort zone for an epic spring break. There's a love triangle involved, New York, computer coding, there's a ton of social media both from a consumer point of view and a creator point of view which was very interesting, but a ton of Taylor Swift too. I think its the perfect read for high school girls who want to follow their dreams in STEM particularly in computer science. Because of these points, I have to give this a 4 out of 5 stars

I am now convinced that I HAVE to learn how to code. This was such a fun and quirky book! I too have discovered many things about life through Taylor Swift songs. I found this book to be relatable and empowering.

When I saw the cover of this book, I knew I had to get my hands on it as soon as possible. Though the cover and plot had all the elements I look for in a YA book, once I started reading, I could tell it would be an uphill battle. In the beginning Ashley felt a bit robotic. She was driven and intelligent, but she came off as cold. I couldn’t connect with her because it felt like she was just a one dimensional character. When Ashley decides to add more adventures and rebels, she really goes for it. Her defiance is laced with stereotypical teen antics. At times I enjoyed them, but the mother inside of me was screaming for the lack of maturity she exhibited.

There were characters that drove me absolutely nuts and situations that physically irritated me. I wanted more for Ashley. She was completely naive and let others walk all over her because she was too blind to see the truth in them. I think because there was a clear difference in Ashley’s situations, it was hard for me to feel empathy towards her when things would go wrong.

The writing is really dry and monotoned. I craved for layers of emotion or good character development, but I felt the only character who possessed this was Jason. You get to see the different aspects of his personality and watch him grow from when he started in the book.

What I loved was the coding aspect of this story. I found it interesting how well the author was able to fluidly include binary code description and API meaning into the book while making it easy to understand the technicalities.

Overall I wanted more from this book. I wanted more complex characters with substance. However there were moments where Ashley felt likeable and real when she was talking about code or just being herself around Jason. I felt like this book had all the elements for a great story but the execution fell flat. Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Children's for this ARC

**I received this book in exchange of an honest review.

My Epic Spring Break (Up) is a sweet novel about finding your path. I enjoyed Ashley's journey to a form of realization that you can't plan every single piece of your future. I felt that many teenagers will find this information helpful. I did not enjoy a lot of the story personally, but I can see that it will have it's readers.

The romantic relationship between Ashley and Walker did not feel genuine in any way. I found myself struggling to understand why Ashley would continue to give him second chances, but that probably has something to do with my age. It has been some time since I've had to realize a relationship wasn't going to work. I did feel that it was genuine to what teenagers go through in their lives.

Jason and Ashley's relationship was quickly pushed through to the end. I wanted there to be a little more development, but I did like how quick and easy it was to read the book. While there could be more fleshed out, I knew going into the book that it would be a fast paced read.

Ashley's love for coding was really what drew me in! I liked that she would do anything to get the internship she was after because it is what she wanted to do for her future. Her passion was definitely one of the best driving forces of the book for me. I love a teenager passionate in STEM!

This was such a cute story. I loved the friends-to-lovers story and the way that they depict the other male interest. The bad boys are not always the outgoing and crazy types. They can be the quiet ones too. The nerdiness was perfect. My only issue was how young the characters are. It’s hard for me to find falling in love that young super believable. But still a sweet story.

This was a great contemporary read for teens and adults alike. I would absolutely recommend it to people and will add it to our library YA section.

My Epic Spring Break (up) gave me some K.C West vibes.
I loved how Ashely was into coding and not just the "nerdy" girl that feels invisible. It was neat to see a snippet into the world of coding and how it's not just a hacker thing. I don't know much about coding but now I'm intrigued. There also were many current pop-culture references. I had to laugh at a few of them. Also Swiftie fans will love the references to her music.
I felt that the friendship between Ashley and Jason could've been deeper (especially since it says they've known each other since being kids). While they had sweet moments I just feel like we got the short story version of their friendship.
It's a fast paced book that I read in one sitting. I enjoyed the book and I feel like many will enjoy it as well. It reminds you of how it feels to be in high school and have a dream crush.

While I enjoyed the premise, the whole book felt underdeveloped for my tastes. I feel like Ashley didn’t go through enough of a transformation. Her relationships with Christine and Heaven were about the only believable ones.

Here’s what I liked:
Jason
Christine
Heaven
The Brooklyn setting
Girls writing code and participating in other STEM activities

Here’s what I didn’t like:
Ashley most of the time
Walker, though I know we’re not really supposed to like him
Ashley’s relationship with Jason - it felt SO rushed. There was very little foundation for them to just come out and say they love each other in the end
Ashley’s mother - why don’t we ever get an explanation for WHY she is so strict? Does it come from being a single mother? Something else?

I generally felt like this book asked more questions than it answered. It was sorta cute, but I expected a lot more.

I loved that the author gave us a STEM-focused main character who was high-achieving, but also flawed. The most popular, good-looking, studly boy asks her out and she thinks he's what she wants, but maybe...the popular guy isn't the guy of her dreams? Also, I loved prankster Jason so much! I agree with the other reviewer that this book is perfect for reluctant readers and for those looking for a lighter romance. Looking forward to reading more YA books from he author!

What a fun read! The clever plot, snappy dialogue, and sweet romance made this a "devour-in-one-sitting" book for me. Our protagonist Ashley is smart and driven, but, as spring break starts, she begins to worry that she hasn't allowed herself enough time for fun. Cue her overcorrecting by jumping into a relationship (of sorts?) with the handsome but entirely undeserving Walker, potentially ruining her chance to win the statewide coding competition ... and her chance at a satisfying relationship with a guy who appreciates her. Kristin Rockaway's books are consistently smart and funny, and always auto-buys for me!