Review of Broken Hearts, Fences, and Other Things to Mend by Katie Finn

Title/Author: Broken Hearts, Fences, and Other Things to Mend (Broken Hearts & Revenge #1) by Katie Finn
Publisher/Date published: Feiwel and Friends, May 13 2014
How I got this book: received it from the publisher through NetGalley
Buy this book at: The Book Depository

Goodreads summary: 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?

So while I did see some less than positive ratings on Goodreads before starting it, I've heard SO MANY people rave about Morgan Matson (Katie Finn is her penname) that I just dove in regardless. And I did end up liking Broken Hearts, Fences, and Other Things To Mend!

Gemma was maybe not the most savvy person in the world, she was way naive and I was really wondering how exactly you get yourself in a situation like this, BUT I did like her. Obviously she's done some hurtful things when she was younger, but she was 11 and though I found how everything went down a bit unlikely, it spiraled out of control. And I can see how a 11-year-old would overreact and plan something to try and keep her family together. But still, it was a really bad thing to do. I did think she was sincere in wanting to make it up to Hallie, even though she didn't really handle that all that well either. But she gets points for the effort from me.

And the boy! I totally liked the boy! He was sweet and there were moments between them that were just YES! But I'm also counting on another guy to come into the picture, maybe in the next book? The other guy actually sounds more like the guy I'd crush on. But anyway. Gemma just came from a break-up after a 2 year relationship and the guy ended it in TARGET. I mean COME ON! That is such a crappy thing to do. So her taste in guys has gone up at least.

But back to the plot. I did see it all coming from miles away and I was kinda wondering how Gemma didn't. I mean, COME ON, there were all these 'accidents' happening to her and she couldn't see what was happening? HOW? It was kinda obvious.
SPOILER ALERT, LIGHT UP TO READ
I mean, seriously??? How did she not see that it was Hallie from the beginning? I figured out that was the girl in the car with Teddy when she said she always wore her hair down. And the thing with the twins and the bikini was fairly obvious.
END OF SPOILER

But aside from the whole predictability factor, I was enjoying reading it and waiting to see how it would all come crashing down. So I was good right up until the end when I felt that Gemma didn't have the right to feel betrayed and how the message at the end isn't one I would want to broadcast. Because I'm a tiny bit worried about what she'll do next and how I'm cringing a bit at what I think will happen.
I did breeze through this pretty quickly and it's mostly a light read that I enjoyed up until pretty much the last paragraph. So I'm curious the see what the next instalment in this series will bring for Gemma and the others.

My rating: 3 stars