ARC REVIEW: She's Up to No Good by Sara Goodman Confino

Book Review

"𝑫𝒐 π’šπ’π’– π’˜π’‚π’π’• 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 π’Œπ’Šπ’π’ˆ 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 π’˜π’π’“π’π’… 𝒐𝒓 𝒏𝒐𝒕?" 𝒉𝒆 π’‚π’”π’Œπ’†π’… 𝒄𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒐 π’Žπ’š 𝒆𝒂𝒓.

"𝑰'π’Ž π’ˆπ’π’π’… π’“π’Šπ’ˆπ’‰π’• 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆."
⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻
"𝑰 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 π’šπ’π’– π’†π’π’π’–π’ˆπ’‰ 𝒕𝒐 𝒍𝒆𝒕 π’šπ’π’– π’ˆπ’. 𝑨𝒏𝒅 π’Šπ’‡ π’šπ’π’– 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 π’Žπ’†, π’šπ’π’–'𝒍𝒍 π’ˆπ’."
"𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 π’‚π’Ž 𝑰 𝒔𝒖𝒑𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒐 π’˜π’Šπ’•π’‰π’π’–π’• π’šπ’π’–?"

"𝑩𝒆 π’‰π’‚π’‘π’‘π’š."



Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Spice: πŸ”₯
Tropes: Second chance at love, small town love, first love, forbidden romance

*Check triggers before reading*

🚨Out on August 1st, 2022🚨

I am in love with this book. I can already tell this is going to be one of the books that sticks with me and one I think about all the time. This is the first time I've read anything by Sara Goodman Confino and now I plan to read everything else she has written. Her writing is beautiful, clear, and attention grabbing. I could easily visualize this book from start to finish and it truly played like a movie in my head. Sara did a great job of making me feel every emotion while reading this book. The true highlight of this book, besides Evelyn, is the dual storylines that took place. This is not the case with this story. The storylines flowed well and intertwined beautifully. 

Evelyn is easily the best character in this story. I loved everyone else (minus Evelyn's mom), but Evelyn stole the show. She was funny, charming, full of love, and I couldn't not help but love her. I thought she was great in both storylines. Evelyn is a better person than I because I would've never talked to my parents again if they didn't let me marry the love of my life. She's an even better person than me because she didn't let her life suffer or hold herself back. She understood her parents weren't going to let it happen and that Tony would not let her ruin her life, so she made herself pivot her life plans. I think she knew she'd make her way back to Tony one day.

As much as I loved this book, I'm also mad at it, but in a way that shows how great it is. I was upset at how beautiful and heartbreaking the storyline was from the 1950s. I knew from the beginning that Evelyn did not end up marrying Tony, yet I couldn't help root for them and fall absolutely in love with them. My favorite part of their storyline was when they said 'I love you' for the first time in the car.

A majority of the notes I have for their storyline are sad and made me cry. I know there is beauty in how their story unfolded and that Jenna wouldn't get to have her storyline, but it still makes me sad. Sara really came for my emotions with Tony being such a stand up guy. When he told her "I love you enough to let you go. And if you love me, you'll go," I lost it and was a sobbing mess. It was hard to watch Tony break his own heart and especially hard to watch the fierce and wonderful Evelyn break down. I did enjoy that they got to be together again, but also found that to be heartbreaking in a way. They had to wait all that time, over seventy years, to be together in the way they always wanted to be. Sure they each had full lives, but the fact that they didn't get to have them with each other hurts my heart. I understand her mom's perspective given her history, but she's on my list of people I'm mad at.

Let's talk about Jenna and Joe. First, I liked Jenna and found her to be similar to Evelyn in some ways. Sure she was stuck on what her ex did, but not necessarily on him, which could come across as annoying. But honestly, I found it relatable and understood where she was coming from. She learned about herself and realized she was holding back her own happiness to stick to a "timeline" and present the idea of happiness. I enjoyed her growth and her connection with Evelyn.

Joe, Joe, Joe. I cannot express how much I love him. Joe was so effortlessly himself and you can feel how genuine he is as a person. Everything Joe did made me love him. You could tell that he cared about Evelyn and would probably do anything she asked of him. I enjoyed how he took flirted with Jenna in a way that she was comfortable with and he followed her cues. He never pushed her and just wanted her to be happy. They fit together well and it was like seeing Evelyn and Tony seventy years later.

Sara, if you are reading this, I need you to know I screamed at the scene in the woods when Joe took Jenna's photo. To me, it felt intimate with how he posed her and how he told her he just takes photos of what he sees, And what he saw was a beautiful woman and the photo he took showed just that. They hadn't kissed or even held hands, yet this felt more intimate than if they had. SWOON. When he took her photo again at the Inn, I was melting. Especially when he got her to smile at him the way she had before when they were talking.

In my reviews, I typically rate the spice level in books. While I do love heavy spice, I don't believe it is necessary for a book to be great. I love tension and build up just as much as I love heavy spice. Sara did a great job of giving the readers the tension and build up to implied/off page spice. The flirting, holding hands, leg touching, kissing, etc., between Joe and Jenna was perfect. It elevated their relationship and had me so giddy. I enjoyed how Sara used intimacy through hand holding or secret smiles to show the dynamic between the two.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sara Goodman Confino for the ARC!

Book Information

Release date: August 1st, 2022

Description:
*The description comes directly from Amazon's website*

For two women generations apart, going home will change their lives in this funny, poignant, and life-affirming novel about family, secrets, and broken hearts by the author of For the Love of Friends.

Four years into her marriage, Jenna is blindsided when her husband asks for a divorce. With time on her hands and her life in flux, she agrees to accompany her eccentric grandmother Evelyn on a road trip to the seaside Massachusetts town where much of their family history was shaped.

When they hit the road, Evelyn spins the tale of the star-crossed teenage romance that captured her heart more than seventy years ago and changed the course of her life. She insists the return to her hometown isn’t about that at all—no matter how much she talks about Tony, her unforgettable and forbidden first love.

Upon arrival, Jenna meets Tony’s attentive great-nephew Joe. The new friendship and fresh ocean air give her the confidence and distance she needs to begin putting the pain of a broken marriage behind her.

As the secrets and truths of Evelyn’s past unfold, Jenna discovers a new side of her grandmother, and of herself, that she never knew existed—and learns that the possibilities for healing can come at the most unexpected times in a woman’s life.

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