Second to No One by Natalie PalmerMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Source: Received to Review
Genre: YA contemporary
Book description: “Things change. People change. Jess and I weren’t above it.”
Gemma’s first year of high school isn’t starting out the way she hoped. Jess is back from California and before she can memorize her class schedule their summer romance comes to a screeching halt. To add to her misery the gorgeous new girl in school also has eyes for Jess and despite Gemma’s unfailing attempts to win him back she keeps finding herself alone.
But when a late night car crash lands her a three month grounding and twenty hours of community service she discovers that there’s more to life than just romance and boyfriends.
Unpredictable and heart wrenching, Second to No One is the perfect continuation to the magical beginning of the Gemma and Jess romance.
My thoughts: This book follows Second Kiss. The story picks up three months after the end of the first book. Gemma has lived through the summer with Jess working in California. She is excited to have him come home and spend time together as boyfriend and girlfriend. Misunderstands occur and her dream of a happy sophomore year of high school come to a screeching halt.
At the beginning of the book, Gemma is a very self-centered teen. She worries only about her happiness. She has an accident and her father has cancer. Through her trials she learns that there is more to life and that she can be happy without Jess. I enjoyed seeing her personality evolution.
Her friends are an interesting group of kids. They play a large role in how she views life and moving along the plot. I can now see why Natalie Palmer titled the book Second to No One. The ending left me dumbfounded and looking forward to reading the next book.
This book is fairly clean, there are kissing scenes and teens talking about sex.
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It sounds like Gemma really grew throughout this book! I'm glad you liked it. Awesome review, girly! :)
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