ARC Review: Fade to Us by Julia Day

Summary

Fade To Us is a story about found families, the bond of sisterhood, and the agony and awe of first love.

Brooke’s summer is going to be EPIC–having fun with her friends and a job that lets her buy a car. Then her new stepfather announces his daughter is moving in. Brooke has always longed for a sibling, so she’s excited about spending more time with her stepsister. But she worries, too. Natalie has Asperger’s–and Brooke’s not sure how to be the big sister that Natalie needs.

After Natalie joins a musical theater program, Brooke sacrifices her job to volunteer for the backstage crew. She’s mostly there for Natalie, but Brooke soon discovers how much she enjoys being part of the show. Especially sweet is the chance to work closely with charming and fascinating Micah–the production’s stage manager. If only he wasn’t Natalie’s mentor…

When summer comes to an end, will Brooke finally have the family she so desperately wants–and the love she’s only dreamed about?

Sourced from Goodreads

Review

My rating:

Hi, everyone! Another review coming your way and this one’s on Fade to Us by Julia Day! I got this book recently from Raincoast Books and I knew that I had to read it ASAP! If you’ve been following my blog for a while, you probably know that I have a love of reading books about the entertainment industry, and this book has that in spades (in creating a musical for a summer theatre program)! There’s also the bonding I wanted to see between the two sisters that this book definitely did not leave out!

Now, to be honest, I did have trouble reading the first few chapters… There was just something about the exposition that seemed kind of odd. In the first few chapters, there would be a lot of facts given about Brooke and her life, to the point where it would contrast with the way the story is being told. Like you’re already thrown into a story where it seems as if you should know all the facts (more of an immersive read), only to be given a bunch of facts out of nowhere. Those first few chapters were jarring, to say the least. But once I got into the actual story, I really liked reading it and could not put it down!

I also really liked reading about Brooke and Natalie getting to know each other. To me, that was the essence of the book: Brooke and Natalie bonding over the course of the summer. Sure, there were other characters that were pretty great as well – Brooke’s mother, Natalie’s father, Lisa, and Micah – but I was really focused on how the sisters got along till the very end! If there was one character I didn’t like, though, it would have been Brooke’s friend, Kaylynne, not only because of her personality, but also because she seemed like a much more flatter character in comparison to the rest of the characters. It seemed that her only role in this story was to be a lesson more than anything else…

Well, that’s about as much as I can say about Fade to Us without giving some spoilers away! 😉 I thought that this was a pretty great book once I made it through the first few chapters. If you have any other comments or questions about this book, feel free to leave them in the Comments Section below. And for anyone who’s excited for Fade to Us, it comes out next month on February 6th, 2018! Have a wonderful day!

– Sumaya

I received an advance reader’s copy from Raincoast Books in exchange for an honest review.