I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Revenge, Ice Cream, and Other Things Best Served Cold by Katie FinnSeries: Broken Hearts & Revenge #2
Also in this series: Broken Hearts, Fences and Other Things to Mend
Also by this author: What\'s Your St@tus, Broken Hearts, Fences and Other Things to Mend
Published by Macmillan on May 5th 2015
Genres: Emotions & Feelings, Family, Friendship, Marriage & Divorce, Social Issues, Young Adult
Pages: 400
Format: ARC
Source: Publisher
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After the humiliating events on the 4th of July, Gemma's trying to grapple with the fact that Hallie knew her true identity all summer, and that she was the one who stole Teddy from her.Gemma vows revenge, but things immediately get more complicated than she planned.?Her dad forces her to get a job, and the only one she can find involves scooping ice cream all day. Ford, Gemma's longtime crush, has arrived in the Hamptons, and is cuter than ever. Josh is refusing to speak to her after finding out she lied to him. And to top it all off, Teddy is back in the picture, and closer to home than Gemma would like.Gemma and Hallie find themselves locked in an escalating revenge cycle involving everything from strawberry syrup to stolen identities. But just when Gemma thinks she has the upper hand, the biggest bombshell of all is dropped. And it's one that threatens to change her life forever.
I read Broken Hearts, Fences, And Other Things To Mend by Katie Finn last year, while I liked it, I wasn’t overly enthralled with it. It was a quick and entertaining read with a cliffhanger ending. Thanks to that cliffhanger ending through, I had a super strong urge to read Revenge, Ice Cream, And Other Things Best Served Cold, the sequel. I am about to get into spoilers for the first book so if you haven’t read it, it is best that you stop reading this review and go read that book. Anyways, this is one of the first times I’m saying this — I actually liked the sequel much better than the first book.
After Gemma finds out that Hallie has been playing her and knew her identity all along, Gemma decides to let things drop. In fact, she finds herself looking for a job and ends up hired at the same ice cream shop as Reid. Only, just when she’s prepared to let it go, Hallie comes in and gets red syrup all over her and states that she’s on the warpath. Gemma, however, is not about to go down without a fight. What ensues are pranks galore. Granted, the pranks are malicious but fun to read about. In fact, Gemma has her friend Sophie get involved and also has Bruce the producer’s teenagers Ford and Gwyneth get involved. Meanwhile, Gemma’s dad is writing the screenplay for this book that has taken the world by storm – Once Bitten. There is so much drama going on in Finn’s Revenge, Ice Cream, And Other Things Best Served Cold and I as a reader ate it up with a spoon.
I have to say that for as often as Gemma does the wrong thing and make mistakes, I liked her. She has moxie. Yeah, sure, Hallie does get the best of her a lot. However, I loved that Gemma tries to get her back and she’s smart about it. She’s got a different style from Hallie and that’s pretty okay. I loved that Gemma also learns from her mistakes. She’s got character growth going on and does not stay stagnant. In addition, her friendship with Sophie is quite the thing to behold. Those two really have each other’s backs.
Okay so there is significantly less romance in this sequel. You see, Josh knows Gemma’s true identity and is angry with Gemma because of what she did to Hallie and also her lies. Teddy is with Hallie and really happy with her, despite one of Gemma’s pranks. Gemma, however, can’t stop thinking back to a kiss that happened with Ford three years ago. However, he’s always been such a good friend, that she’s not sure she can think of him that way. With Ford kind of helping out with the pranks, at least the technological side, the two interact a lot. At this point, I ship them. Also! At this point there is like no kissing in this sequel, so if you’re expecting make out sessions and swooning, you won’t get it here. That’s fine though, hopefully that’s where book three will take us.
So, I actually really enjoyed Revenge, Ice Cream, And Other Things Best Served Cold by Katie Finn for the most part. I thought it was a good direction for the Broken Hearts & Fences series to go in. Yet, I thought the foreshadowing was a bit heavy handed. Maybe because I am older I could see some of the plot twists coming a mile away. Still, this was a very engaging and fast read. It’s one of those good books to de-stress and relax with. If you’re looking for a light read that is totally SUMMER, this is the one for you.
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I have this series waiting on my TBR for me. Now that I know you enjoyed you enjoyed this second one even though the first was kind of meh for you, I’m excited to read it 🙂 Maybe that will encourage me to get to it faster. haha
Great Review!
Michelle @ Book Briefs