Blog Tour: The Whole Thing Together by Ann Brashares – Review

The Whole Thing Together

Author: Ann Brashares

Publisher: Delacorte Press

Publication Date: April 25th, 2017

Source: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review – Thank you!

Synopsis: Summer for Sasha and Ray means the sprawling old house on Long Island. Since they were children, they’ve shared almost everything—reading the same books, running down the same sandy footpaths to the beach, eating peaches from the same market, laughing around the same sun-soaked dining table. Even sleeping in the same bed, on the very same worn cotton sheets. But they’ve never met.

Sasha’s dad was once married to Ray’s mom, and together they had three daughters: Emma, the perfectionist; Mattie, the beauty; and Quinn, the favorite. But the marriage crumbled and the bitterness lingered. Now there are two new families—and neither one will give up the beach house that holds the memories, happy and sad, of summers past.

The choices we make come back to haunt us; the effect on our destinies ripples out of our control . . . or does it? This summer, the lives of Sasha, Ray, and their siblings intersect in ways none of them ever dreamed, in a novel about family relationships, keeping secrets, and most of all, love.

Some Nifty Book Links:

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My Review

I am probably the only person who hasn’t read The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series (seriously, never read it – don’t know why, either), but when I got the invitation to read and review Ann Brashares’s newest novel, The Whole Thing Together, I jumped on it, because I have heard nothing but amazing things about her books.

When I first started reading The Whole Thing Together, I’m not going to lie – I was kind of overwhelmed with all of the names and characters in the book, especially when it came down to remembering which character was a part of which family (as the parents for some of the characters were divorced and had married others, and had more kids, etc.).  It was a bit rough, but there’s a family tree in the beginning of the book that was incredibly helpful in remembering.  I highly recommend bookmarking this page when reading the book so that you can keep track, at least at first, until you remember who is who.

While I found myself not really caring about some of the characters in this book, I absolutely loved the two main ones – Ray and Sasha.  It was interesting to see how their lives intertwined without actually ever meeting – they traded the cabin every other week, meaning Ray’s family would stay there one week and Sasha’s the next, and the two of them essentially shared the same room, and had since they were kids.  It was cute to see how they kind of grew up together, and more or less called each other imaginary friends – for example, they built a Lego city together, each one of them adding something to the city every week and surprising the other with what they built.  I honestly haven’t read anything like this, and I loved the fact that it was not only so different, but so touching as well.

I absolutely love how much emphasis is put on family in this novel – I always find myself drawn to books that feature strong family bonds and relationships over everything else.  This book might have a lot of characters and a lot of family relationships going on, but it’s so worth getting to know the families in this book.

This book would be a perfect summer read for pretty much everyone – and it’s coming out right in time for the summer season, so you need to pick a copy of this one up, even if you aren’t familiar with Ann Brashares’s writing (like me)!

About the Author

Ann Brashares is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series, The Here and Now,

3 Willows, The Last Summer (of You & Me), and My Name Is Memory. She lives in New York City with her family. Visit Ann’s website at AnnBrashares.com and follow on Twitter @AnnBrashares.

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Tour Schedule

March 20: Bookhounds YA
March 21: Butter My Books
March 22: Here’s to Happy Endings
March 23: Fiction Fare
March 24: A Midsummer Night’s Read
March 27: Emily Reads Everything
March 28: In Wonderland
March 29: The Reader Bee
March 30: Books, Music, And All Things Written
March 31: YA Book Nerd
April 3: Peace Love Books
April 4: Tales of the Ravenous Reader
April 5: Sarah’s Nightstand
April 6: Novel Ink
April 7: Fangirlish
April 10: The Fandom
                Page Turners
April 11: Liz & Lisa
April 12: Gidget Girl Reading
April 13: Art, Books, & Coffee
April 14: Leslie Lindsay
April 17: Swoony Boys Podcast
April 18: Ramblings of the Perpetual New Girl
April 19: YA Wednesdays
April 20^th: Rainy Days Coffee and Books
April 21: I’d So Rather Be Reading
April 22: Adventures in YA Publishing
April 24: Adventures in YA Publishing
April 25: A Dream Within A Dream
April 26: Lost in Literature