review: Past Perfect

pub date: October 4, 2011
publisher: Simon Pulse
pages: 322
source: Simon and Schuster Galley Grab
format: digital
appeals: contemporary, romance, family, historical reenactment,
content: I don't remember...

thoughts:
This is one of those instances where I read the book over a month ago and just realized that I never wrote the review that I was going to write and that I thought I had written. So, um...yeah, I can't remember details anymore, so here are some broad strokes of what I think I thought way back in August.

I remember that I loved Chelsea. She had such a fun personality. Very easy to read, her story just flowed from one thing into another. I really wanted her to find her place and get what she wanted. I wanted her to succeed.

The plot was fun and wild and so wacky. I laughed out loud on more than one occasion by the situations she found herself in.

I liked the main love interest. Not the ex-boyfriend (blah!), but the crush. I liked him!

There was no pat, perfect, ending. Which is sort of annoying as a reader, but also rather refreshing.

There was a lot of insight in this book, about family, love, and life. You know what I mean? When you read a book and things happen and after these things happen a character will sum up everything they learned in just a few sentences and those few sentences apply to things in life as a whole, not just to that one character. I like books like that.

I loved the setting--two reenactment camps across the street from each other. Which made for a lot of fun.

I'm thinking this might have been a completely pointless review. But, there you have it. I did enjoy this book a lot when I read it. I just wish I remembered more detail.

summary:
All Chelsea wants to do this summer is hang out with her best friend, hone her talents as an ice cream connoisseur, and finally get over Ezra, the boy who broke her heart. But when Chelsea shows up for her summer job at Essex Historical Colonial Village (yes, really), it turns out Ezra’s working there too. Which makes moving on and forgetting Ezra a lot more complicated…even when Chelsea starts falling for someone new.

Maybe Chelsea should have known better than to think that a historical reenactment village could help her escape her past. But with Ezra all too present, and her new crush seeming all too off limits, all Chelsea knows is that she’s got a lot to figure out about love. Because those who don’t learn from the past are doomed to repeat it…