BLOG TOUR: The Whole Thing Together by Ann Brashares



SYNOPSIS:

Ann Brashares, beloved author of the bestselling The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series, which has sold over 8.7 million copies in all formats, is back with another unforgettable story about fractured families, first love, and loss in her latest novel, THE WHOLE THING TOGETHER, which carries a first printing of 100,000 copies. Readers will feel the sand between their toes and smell the salty air of Brashares’s Long Island beach town setting, which serves as the backdrop for Sasha and Ray’s unusual and budding relationship.


Summer for Sasha and Ray means the sprawling old house on Long Island. Since they were children, they’ve shared almost everything—reading the same books, running down the same sandy footpaths to the beach, eating peaches from the same market, laughing around the same sun-soaked dining table. Even sleeping in the same bed, on the very same worn cotton sheets. But they’ve never met.
Sasha’s dad was once married to Ray’s mom, and together they had three daughters: Emma, the perfectionist; Mattie, the beauty; and Quinn, the favorite. But the marriage crumbled and the bitterness lingered. Now there are two new families—and neither one will give up the beach house that holds the memories, happy and sad, of summers past.

The choices we make come back to haunt us; the effect on our destinies ripples out of our control... or does it? This summer, the lives of Sasha, Ray, and their siblings intersect in ways none of them ever dreamed, in a novel about family relationships, keeping secrets, and most of all, love. Booklist hailed THE WHOLE THING TOGETHER as “quintessential Brashares,” and fans of Brashares’s work as well as new readers will dive wholeheartedly into this original story that is a love letter to romance, summertime, and family—no matter how unconventional they may be.


ABOUT THE AUTHOR:




Ann Brashares is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the The Sisterhoold of the Traveling Pants series, The Here and Now, 3 Willows, The Last Summer (of You & Me), and My Name Is Memory. She lives in New York City with her family. Follow her on Twitter -- @AnnBrashares.

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DETAILS:
  • Title: The Whole Thing Together
  • Publisher: Delacorte Press
  • Publishing date: April 25, 2017
  • Author(s): Ann Brashares
  • Series: Standalone
  • Rating: Sour Apple

QUICK REVIEW:
Brashares can hook her readers in even with multiple POVs and scenery stealing locations. Characters usually do not get overwhelmed by her stylized and switcheroo narration. However, in The Whole Thing Together, plotting that otherwise seems pretty ideal for romance gets lost in the shadowed, and loosely developed storylines -- of which there are many perspectives. Maybe that's why the entire book felt off. As someone who adored Brashares 'Traveling Pants' multiple narration, her lack of cohesive, readable narrative here stood out to me. Comparison can breed contempt, and that could be why The Whole Thing Together fell flat. Overdramatic, a tad stereotypical, some distressing racist and sexist content that younger readers might not quite understand in the context and a definite confusion as to why this book is classified YA and not New Adult or just Fiction; I had a hard time completing this one without thinking how much better Ann Brashares' other books have been and how more worthy of a reread they are than forcing myself to like this one.

BLOG TOUR STOPS:

March 20: Bookhounds YA
March 21: Butter My Books
March 23: Fiction Fare
March 28: In Wonderland
March 29: The Reader Bee
March 31: YA Book Nerd
April 3: Peace Love Books
April 6: Novel Ink
April 7: Fangirlish
April 10: The Fandom Page Turners 
April 11: Liz & Lisa 
April 14: Leslie Lindsay
April 19: YA Wednesdays
April 26: Lost in Literature

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