As a whole, this book was cute, but if you know me, cute doesn't quite cut it.

Let's start with the Cinderella idea - I honestly wouldn't have instantly thought this book was a modern day retelling, but don't worry! If you forget, the book will beat you with that fact repeatedly.

Tatum isn't a helpless Cinderella per say. She is absolute piss at defending herself, but she manages to start her own freelance business which helps her make her own money. That's like the the equivalent of teenage success. However, she was at the wrong place at the wrong time and she gets punished for being in the driver's seat of a car. And honestly - I get it. When your parents need to pick you up at the police station, you know there's a punishment at the end of the car ride home. She ends up grounded and her travels are limited to baby sitting, her community service, and her sister's school events. Colour me surprised...

I get it though - some of the rules that were implemented were a little much, but I've heard of those punishments before in other books. Maybe it's 'cause my parents are more restrictive than most, but I didn't find the whole thing that weird or restraining. I get why she thought it was unfair, but her defence on the matter sucked. She barely stood up for herself and I wouldn't have sided with her either if I'd been her parents.

With all that being said, I really liked the idea of Tatum being independent and earning her own money from baby-sitting and freelancing. She took something she excelled at and pursued it. I really like that this part was in the book as it's the gate to a lot of what comes later, but also because it shows that if you enjoy something you should explore it and see where it leads!

The character development in this book was also pretty great. There are a lot of lessons to be learned here and I really liked how the characters grew with the story and how more and more is revealed about each character as time goes on. It's so easy to judge people and I enjoyed seeing how the characters grew and changed from the MC's perspective.

As a whole, this was a cute, light story that is fairly conservative when it comes to the romantic aspects of the novel. With all the more graphic romance books out there for teens, this was a breath of fresh air!

Plot: 4/5
Characters: 5/5
World Building: 4/5
Writing: 5/5
Pacing: 4/5
Overall: 4/5
GoodReads Rating: 3.82/5

eARC obtained via Blink via NetGalley.

It Started With Goodbye tells the “Cinderella” story of a girl named Tatum who is grounded all summer for an unfortunate situation that happened between her best friend and her best friend’s boyfriend. She played an unknowing part in a crime and had to pay a hefty fine and community service for her trouble. Like a Cinderella story, she has a step-mother whom she calls her “step-monster”. Her step-sister is quiet and cold to Tatum. So naturally she feels isolated regularly except her new punishment has heightened that feeling. The role of “fairy godmother” is played by Tatum’s step-grandma who is staying for the summer to help monitor Tatum’s daily actions while her dad is out of the country.

She sends a lot of emails with people over the summer, including her mystery “prince” named SK, and each time this happens we aren’t alerted to the switch between email and story line. This might seem minor but it really interrupted the flow of reading the story. A different font, or italics would have been nice here. I was a little surprised that we didn’t see more text message dialogue in this story of teenage juniors in high school.

The story is fairly predictable. 🙁

Once you tell someone it will be a Cinderella story you pick up on who is who in the story very fast. It isn’t hard to determine who in her family also has a secret. Also too easy to guess what the secret would be. The mystery boy “SK” was an obvious one. I know that was a little unavoidable in a book. It was also obvious as soon as she lost her key chain (the glass slipper in this case) that she would be getting it back in the end of the story, as well as how it would be returned to her.

I enjoyed following Tatum around through her troubled summer. I related to her days of manual labor because I spent one day at a wildlife reserve pulling plants for a college project requirement. The one day was enough, so I sympathized with her story of a whole summer in this labor. The moment she meets SK is sweet and just the right level of teen summer romance. I could remember being a teen and that innocent fun when getting to know your crush. That is about where I started to lose interest though. Being a mother myself, I didn’t believe the makeup moment between Tatum and her dad. Without revealing the story, I’ll say that it didn’t feel realistic in the way it happened. Also unrealistic (in my opinion) was the turnaround of the step-monster. It was too much and too quickly for a real person. Overall, the adults and their methods of parenting just weren’t quite realistic to me. Perhaps I need to broaden my parenting horizons. 🙂

All in all, a good read for the teenage audience.

I think they could relate to Tatum and her angst. I’m sure several teens will identify with her. Hopefully they’ll appreciate her growth and maturity toward the end of the story.

It Started with Goodbye is a modern spin on Cinderella, a story with solid and substantial themes, and told in a spirited, genuine voice. The main character Tatum is believable and worthy of a reader's interest. She’s stuck in perpetual battle with her too-strict stepmother, but the author carries this off without making Tatum appear to be a whining teen. Tatum is under "house arrest" after a brush with shoplifting leaves her with a summer of community service and a fine to pay off. To earn money, she starts taking on a few design clients, including the enigmatic SK, who is on vacation with his family in Ireland but needs her help with a website for college applications. The story unfolds with just the right mix of humor, angst, romance, and revelation.

Terrific debut novel!!! This was such a fun & refreshing read. A modern day Cinderella story!
Sixteen-year-old Tatum Elsea gets into trouble for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Tatum is arrested for shoplifting and has to pay a hefty fine. Tatum’s dad grounds her indefinitely as punishment. Tatum’s best friend Ashlyn (whose boyfriend had done the shoplifting) is shipped off to a private school. Tatum’s father has to travel for work so she is left alone at home with her stepsister Tilly, and her super strict stepmother, Belén.
Tatum must deal with community service & her father’s house arrest, without getting under Belen’s or Tilly’s skin. An unexpected ally arrives in Belén’s mother, Blanche. As Tatum completes her community service and opens a secret freelance graphic design business, she realizes that there is more to each member of her family than she realized.

Thank you NetGalley, the publisher & author for this advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

I have to admit, I was really curious to start reading Girl Out of Water. I follow Laura Silverman on Twitter, and all her tweets about the book made me really interested to check it out. I'm glad I did. This book would be perfect to add to your Summer TBR list!

There were a lot of interesting characters in the story, including the main character, Anise, who wanted nothing more than to spend her summer hanging out with her friends and riding the waves. When all her plans changes, she takes them in stride, even when she totally doesn't want to, because.. family. They're everything, right? Anise has a pretty awesome family; her dad, aunt and cousins were all really great. She has some pretty great friends as well, both at home, and the new ones she meets along the way. And, of course, Lincoln is totally awesome as well.

The storyline for this contemporary novel was fun and very entertaining. (I am a sucker for contemporary novels, so this book was right up my alley. *wink*) While the book had a few serious moments in it, it was mainly a really light-hearted read. I loved the summer setting, and though it's not the summer Anise expected to have at the beach, Nebraska still sounds pretty cool. All the descriptions of Anise's home in California totally made me want to BE at the beach. It sounds like an awesome place to live. Laura did a great job with the descriptions.

Overall; Girl Out of Water was an interesting summer themed read, and I'm glad I had the opportunity to check it out! Definitely add this to your TBR if you're in the mood for a fun summer read.

Happy Reading!

This one is a cute, modern retelling of Cinderella. I enjoyed it for the most part and it was a really fast read but it just wasn’t very deep and everything wrapped up very nicely and quickly. I wanted to feel so much more from the MC and all I really got was her frustrations from living with her strict step-mother over the summer. If it hadn’t been for Blanche, her step-mother’s mother, I’m not sure the MC really would have changed at all over the summer. She told us that she’d changed by the end of summer but with everything happening so quickly in the end, we don’t really get to see it. And I would have liked for the chance to see some real development from her over the course of the book and know more about her struggles because a lot of it just seemed to touch the surface and therefore made her seem a bit spoiled instead of truly mistreated. So I was a little disappointed. But if what you’re looking for is a cute, updated, and quick fairy tale retelling, this one definitely fits the bill.

It Started with Goodbye. Goodbye to Tatum's father on an overseas business trip. Goodbye to her BFF after an argument. Goodbye to the handsome stranger at her sister's art show. Goodbye to her keys. And goodbye to her freedom.

It all started when Tatum's BFF got mixed up with a shady boydpfriend. It ended with the boyfriend being incarcerated, the BFF shipped off to a stuffy private boarding school, and Tatum with a permanent mark on her record and 100 hours of community service. What a summer this is going to be.

It Started with Goodbye is a contemporary teen romance and comping of age story, with a bit of Cinderella added to the mix. Tatum is a normal teen who unknowingly gets stuck in a bad situation. She has to face the consequences, and she does not do so gracefully. She feels like the entire world is against her and, instead of accepting the overbearing rules her step-mother lays down, she gripes, complains, and disobeys. It would be frustrating to be blamed for something you didn't do, but still, acting rationally would have helped Tatum's cause. So she learns, one painstaking mistake and conversation after the next.

It is definitely a Cinderella retelling also. You can see it in the family situation (though her step-family isn't that awful), the handsome stranger, and the hip grandma coming to visit. And I'll try not to give too much away by adding that the emails exchanged as part of the romance were absolutely hilarious. Definitely not a "true love at first sight," these characters get to know each other before falling in love.

It Started with Goodbye is a cute Cinderella retelling and coming of age story. I recommend it to fans of such tales.

I received a complementary copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

*I received a finished copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*

Not a lot of people know this about me, but I am a sucker for Cinderella retellings - whether they be movies or books. Some that I've read or seen have been really good, and others have been pretty cringe-worthy. This one, thankfully, fell under the "really good" category. 

I'll be honest, this book took me a little while to get into, and the first little bit of this book had me worried that I would dislike it, or give it three stars or less, but I stuck it out, and I am so glad I did because this book did not disappoint. 

One major thing that made me love this book was that there wasn't a huge focus on the love story. A lot of times in YA books, our main character is so focused on getting the love interest to fall for them, and it gets a bit boring to read that over and over and over again. This book dove into deeper, more meaningful topics; and one of the main conflicts was between Tatum, and her best friend, Ashlyn. I loved the organic nature of their fight, and how they worked through things. It wasn't a quick fix and then everything fell into place, they had to work for where they ended up.

Another thing was the integration of the wicked step-mother and step-sister(s) and the fairy godmother. In this retelling, there is only one step-sister, and if I'm honest, I think I preferred it that way. I loved how things ended between those two and Tatum, and I think that it was very realistic as well. Also, can I just say how much I love the fairy godmother in this story?! She is a blessing from the Lord above, and I think that she is one of my top fairy godmother characters ever. 

Another thing, this book is such a quick, fun read - but it also packs quite the punch. There are so many underlying themes of family, friends, and forgiveness (alliteration yay!), and I think the way in which the various topics were handled was very realistic. 

Although I said this wasn't a love story, I have to admit that I really did like the love interest - he was pretty cute. And I love in the end when the title of the story made perfect sense. Honestly, there is nothing more satisfying than that. 

Overall, I give this book 4/5 stars, and I loved how real this book was. I strongly suggest checking it out if you haven't already. Thank you so much to NetGalley for this great read!

Tatum is engaging and I liked how the Cinderella framework pieced together parts of the story.

It was an unexpected story. I enjoyed the build up to the conflict and the process of overcoming the conflict. It was an interesting scenario that the main character found themselves within. I like the variety of relationships the main character had and each felt very real, each relation had a nice depth to it. Compliments to the author for creating such real and relatable characters in It Started With Goodbye.

Honestly, I'm surprised I enjoyed it this much. The blurb was interesting and I was excited to read what happened to Tatum. This story really got my summer started. It was the perfect amount of innocent love and ya emotions that got my feeling stirring as well. The problems experienced were familiar and it made the character relatable. Definitely a read I would recommend..

It Started With Goodbye is a sweet young adult romance that also address the complexities of teenage friendships and the relationships involved in blended families. I enjoyed Tatum's snarky commentary and seeing her attempt to repair and better her relationships with those around her. 

Also posted on iTunes, Kobo, and B&N

Netgalley actually granted one of my request wishes! Which was a fun summery themed contemporary YA novel. There was nothing startlingly original about the plot. Tatum is an average snarky teenager with a larger than life spoiled rich girl best friend, a dad who works far too much and is often out the country on business, a stepmother who’s way too strict and a step sister who is a goody two shoes.

At the start of the novel Tatum and her best friend whose name I have already forgotten get big trouble when the BFF and her sleazeball boyfriend are caught doing some major shoplifting. Of which Tatum was unaware, she was in the car waiting for them when the police showed up and was lumped in as the getaway driver.

While her BFF gets off with practically no punishment other than transferred to a snotty boarding school miles away, Tatum gets stuck with community service, a fine, grounded all summer, a mass of chores and lecturing from her parents. Her dad has to go out of the country on business so she’s been left with her stepmother to met out the punishment. The sister is a brilliant dancer and goes to some snooty art school, Tatum has a secret graphic design business she’s trying to get off the ground. After a show at her sister’s school, she leaves some of her business cards out, and starts getting some responses.

For the most part Tatum was actually quite a likeable character, she was easy to relate to and understand as she moaned about her situation, it’s no fun being grounded during the summer! Doesn’t help when her stepmother announces that her mother, Tatum’s grandma is coming to stay for the summer as well. Thankfully, Grandma turns out to be really cool, and actually listens to what Tatum has to say, doesn’t automatically dismiss her as a grumpy teen.

She ends up trading emails with a music student interested in her graphic design service, and they get to know each other throughout email. It’s delightfully cute and entertaining, the guy is a cellist and he introduces her to new artists and music she’s never heard, including some of his own pieces. There’s some wonderful descriptions and emotions brought out as Tatum listens to the pieces. It was quite surprising and incredibly moving in parts.

She’s made some friends with some of the kids on her community service team that she knows from school, and a guy in a band. She’s gets some escape from her monotony of community service then chores from a baby sitting job she’s supposed to be doing, which gives her a breath of freedom. Turns out that the step sister isn’t actually as bad as she’s made out to be, and later on in the novel through conversations with the grandmother she learns some things about her stepmom that explain why she’s the way she is.

Some nice scenes of the family coming together towards the end as discussions are held, after many many arguments, tears and tantrums throughout the summer.

A decent read, with a cute romance, family drama and likeable characters.

Thank you to Netgalley and Blink for granting my wish to view the title.

It Started with Goodbye has a really good story and a really relatable main character, with hints of Cinderella. The novel follows Tatum, a teenager who got herself in trouble at the beginning of the summer, and is now relegated to spending her summer under house arrest, completing community service and answering to her (unreasonable?) stepmother while her father is away on business. She's also sharing the house with her stepsister (who she never talks to) and her stepmother's mother, who is somewhat of a breath of fresh air for Tatum. Due to the trouble she got into, she's also lost her best friend. For her, it's shaping up to be a really bad summer, despite her secret graphic design business she's started.

Tatum was what made this book for me. From the beginning, you sympathized with her account of how she got into trouble, and realize (or at least feel) she is being treated unfairly. Granted, that is because the book is from her point of view, but even from my now adult perspective, I had a hard time sympathizing with anyone else in the book until she did. As Tatum fights and rails against her lot in life, it's easy to feel her pain and try to hope with her for an improvement in her fate. However, Tatum grows and her perspective changes throughout the novel, and your estimation of the other characters grows alongside Tatum's, which was skillfully done by the author.

The story was also good, if a bit predictable. The love story was endearing, and the guy was likable. Many relationships grow and change throughout the course of the book, and you find yourself rooting for the changes that occur. As Tatum's relationships to the characters change, you find yourself learning more about them, and opening up to them a little. There are also lots of positive female friendships here, which I love to see. By the end, you've finished a feel good contemporary novel that has evolved throughout, and you've gotten a complete story out of the deal. It's full of teenage angst and a little drama, but it's wholly relatable for anyone who is a teenager or who has been a teenager.

I recommend this novel to anyone looking for a  quick, easy contemporary read that features strong characters and a good story arc. The little bit of romance doesn't hurt. It Started with Goodbye is out today, so go ahead and pick it up.

Note: I received this book from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I thought there were some parts i would change, but I honestly really enjoyed this.

This is my favorite kind of book to reading during the summer because it's a fast read with characters that are likable. Tatum did what many would do for friends, being there, watching over. Little did she know that would end her up in trouble. This story has a strong family plot in it. I love that; I'm a family person and most of the YA books I've been reading has been a bit weak in that field.
To my surprised this has a dash of a Cinderella re-telling feel to it. I enjoy a good Cinderella re-telling. (I've seen every Cinderella re-telling movie out there!) A Cinderella fell as stepmother and stepsister, with a bad dash of luck that turns to a happy ending.
Tatum starts her own business, that is something I relate to the starting, running, and the feelings that come with that. I haven't read many books where a young adult is starting her own business (That's not babysitting.) that sanded out to me because of the world we live in I know many young adults who have their own business and runs it all themselves.
This story is bold, bright and perfect for the summer!

Net Galley has a section where you can “wish” for a book — it’s not readily available for request or to all audiences. Well I wished and got this one – and I’m so happy I did! While this is billed as a “Cinderella story”, I found it to be a well-written and insightful YA novel about a teen girl dealing with coming of age issues. I’ll be recommending it to my 14 year old and to my middle schoolers.

Description

Sixteen-year-old Tatum Elsea is bracing for the worst summer of her life. After being falsely accused of a crime, she’s stuck under stepmother-imposed house arrest and her BFF’s gone ghost. Tatum fills her newfound free time with community service by day and working at her covert graphic design business at night, which includes trading emails with a cute cello-playing client. If Tatum is reading his emails right, her virtual Prince Charming is funny, smart, and talented—and he seems to think the same about her. Too bad he’s spending his summer across the ocean in Ireland…not that Tatum would be allowed to go on a date anyway.

But over the course of the summer, Tatum will learn that sometimes going after what you want means breaking all the rules. And when Tatum discovers she’s not the only one in the house keeping secrets, she finds she has the chance to make amends with her family and friends. Equipped with a new perspective, and assisted by her feisty step-abuela-slash-fairy-godmother, Tatum is ready to start fresh and maybe even get her happy ending along the way. A modern play on the Cinderella story arc, Christina June’s IT STARTED WITH GOODBYE will appeal to fans of Sarah Dessen, Stephanie Perkins, and Jennifer E. Smith.

Thank you SO MUCH for making me part of the “wishes granted” group. I feel like Cinderella!

I passed this one off to our school librarian to read. She is always looking for new books for our high school library Even tho it was a bit young for me I knew what its purpose was and who it would fit.YOUNG ADULT. Well she ordered 30 of them last week.

This book will appeal to the misunderstood 16yo in all of us. I loved the characters and how much Tatum grew in the story. It's a tale of finding yourself. Just fabulous.