It seemed only natural to nickname them the ‘Onslow Boys’. Every time they swaggered in the front door of the Onslow Hotel after a hard week’s work, their laughter was loud and genuine as they settled onto their bar stools. I peeked through the restaurant partition, a flimsy divider between my world and theirs. I couldn’t help but smile whenever I saw them, saw him ... Toby Morrison.
Quiet seventeen-year-old Tess doesn’t relish the thought of a summertime job. She wants nothing more than to forget the past haunts of high school and have fun with her best friends before the dreaded Year Twelve begins.
To Tess, summer is when everything happens: riding bikes down to the lake, watching the fireworks at the Onslow Show and water bomb fights at the sweltering Sunday markets.
How did she let her friends talk her into working?
After first-shift disasters, rude, wealthy tourists and a taunting ex-boyfriend, Tess is convinced nothing good can come of working her summer away. However, Tess finds unlikely allies in a group of locals dubbed ‘The Onslow Boys’, who are old enough to drive cars, drink beer and not worry about curfews. Tess’s summer of working expands her world with a series of first times with new friends, forbidden love and heartbreaking chaos.
All with the one boy she has never been able to forget.
It will be a summer she will always remember.
My Thoughts
I must admit I was wary about starting this book. I had got to the point where I thought I was completely done with all the new adult, self published books coming my way mainly because I've read a lot of them and while the odd one has been good the majority have bit quite samey. However luckily for me this was one of the titles that deserves to stand out from the crowd.
So why did I love this book?
I loved the main character Tess, she cool without being a bitch, clever without being irritating and quite honestly the sort of girl I could stand to hang around with on a daily basis. I therefore loved following her story and rooting for her along the way as things went along.
I loved that this was an Aussie title. I love Aussie titles. In this case it made it stand out for me from all the hundreds of self published American NA titles that are flooding the market at the moment.
I loved the friendship group at the centre of this book. It was interesting to see the dynamics between three teens, two female/ one male, and seeing how their friendship worked. I loved seeing the ways in which they bonded and liked the slightly different take the author had taken as often in these books it's main protagonists and her best friend.
The best thing about this though has to be the boys. Oh those Onslow boys. The boys in this book are actually young men into their early 20s and all completely gorgeous. There is actually a bit of an age gap between Tess and her friends and the Onslow boys which I really loved and meant I could happily swoon away without feeling guilty. Admittedly this probably did appeal to me more than most as I know for a fact at age 17 I wasn't interested in boy my own age either so it felt a bit more realistic as a story to me. I loved seeing how this affected the relationship between Tess and the boys and I loved seeing how the romance in this book played out.
A fab read which I would highly recommend
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