Review: Broken Hearts, Fences, and Other Things to Mend

Broken Hearts, Fences, and Other Things to Mend by Katie Finn
Grade: A-
Release date: May 13, 2014
This e-galley was provided by NetGalley and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group in exchange for an honest review. A physical ARC was gifted by Stacee of Adventures of a Book Junkie.
Summary: Summer, boys, and friendships gone sour. This new series has everything that perfect beach reads are made of!

Gemma just got dumped and is devastated. She finds herself back in the Hamptons for the summer—which puts her at risk of bumping into Hallie, her former best friend that she wronged five years earlier. Do people hold grudges that long? 

When a small case of mistaken identity causes everyone, including Hallie and her dreamy brother Josh, to think she’s someone else, Gemma decides to go along with it.

Gemma's plan is working (she's finding it hard to resist Josh), but she's finding herself in embarrassing situations (how could a bathing suit fall apart like that!?). Is it coincidence or is someone trying to expose her true identity? And how will Josh react if he finds out who she is? 

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Since there's still snow on the ground here in IL when I'm writing this review, this was definitely a perfect read.  Overall, I quite liked Broken Hearts.  Gemma is a great character - she acknowledges that she made a really stupid mistake and she tries to fix it.  I'm not sure her ways of fixing it are all that smart, but the point is, she wants to make amends, even if it's been 5 years.  She tries so hard and is so sweet.  Gemma is definitely a main character I can back.  Oh, and can we talk about Josh?  He is the sweetest love interest I've seen in awhile (okay...maybe just a few months, because I can't forget Better off Friends' Levi).  He's definitely swoonworthy, and I was constantly rooting for him and Gemma (EVEN THOUGH THEY KEPT TRYING TO SAY THEY'D RATHER BE FRIENDS).  The setting was lovely; like I said, this was the perfect book to read during this cold weather.  I really felt like I was at the Hamptons in the summer.  I could picture my toes in the sand and feel the sun beating down. (It probably didn't help that I had a couple friends who were at the beach and tweeting about it while I was finishing the book; hi, Summer and Shae!)  The only bad part was the ending: I was not expecting it at all (okay, that makes it partially good) and I wasn't ready for the book to end.  There are several things I can't discuss because they're spoilers, but I wasn't a fan of things Hallie did (boy, she could be a brat).  I'm totally on Gemma's side of the argument.
Oh, and more pluses: romance, language, and violence were totally clean.  Major points for that.

The Verdict: Really, this book would be an A+ read, if it weren't for that ending.  It felt too abrupt, and I wasn't ready for the story to be done.  Still, it's a very enjoyable read, and I CANNOT WAIT for the sequel, Revenge, Ice Cream, and Other Things Best Served Cold.  I've heard the final copy is supposed to have an excerpt in it, but I only have an ARC, so I'm dying to see what will happen next for Gemma and Co.