Review: Golden Hour

It seemed like I had been waiting forever for the next book in Chantel Guertin's Pippa Greene series. But now that Golden Hour is finally here, I'm a bit sad. It's the fourth and final book in the series and I'm not sure I'm ready to say goodbye to Pippa.

Here's the synopsis:

It’s senior year, and the college countdown is on. But instead of getting accepted to Tisch’s photography program, Pippa’s been waitlisted. Without a backup plan, and with the pressure from everyone around her to live up to her father’s legacy, Pippa sets out to prove herself worthy of the program by doing the opposite of everything she did to try to get in. But when she runs into her ex, and first love, Dylan McCutter, Pippa has to finally decide if she should follow her head or her heart.
Written with the same humor and heart that made Chantel Guertin’s first three Pippa Greene novels instant favorites, Golden Hour offers a fresh and charming perspective on friendships, family, and first love.

The book had a bit of a Jenny Han feeling to it. I think it reminded me a lot of Always and Forever, Lara Jean because Pippa and Lara Jean aren't too different in character. Also, both of the final books in each series had the main characters figuring out what life after high school was going to look like. So, basically, what I'm saying is: if you like Lara Jean and Jenny Han's books, you'll also like Pippa.

Pippa is a smart girl but she's still a teenager so she makes some questionable choices. I put myself into a mindset of a grade 12 student (a senior for you Americans) and went along for the ride. She knows what she should be doing but that doesn't necessarily mean that's what she wants to be doing. Pippa figured out a lot about life in this one and how being true to yourself is going to make for such a better life than trying to be someone or something you think you should be.

I kind of laughed at myself when I realized I was questioning the motivations of the adults and wondering where the hell they were when they didn't realize that Pippa had only applied to one college. But then I remembered that I'm supposed to be an "adult" and I probably would have trusted Pippa too and moved on to worrying about my own life. But, seriously, Pippa? One school?

I almost wish Dylan hadn't reappeared because I wanted Pippa to focus on her own life and figuring her stuff out. I know that's not what life is like sometimes (hello, I started dating someone two weeks before graduation and decided to try the long distance thing so clearly I was doing both the romance and life figuring out at the same time. We're still together, btw.) but I do wish that novels didn't always have to have some sort of love story. Is it really necessary to sell books?

All in all, I liked Golden Hour. I adore Pippa and kind of really want to find out what she'd be like as an adult because I'm pretty sure we'd be friends. I'm looking forward to whatever Chantel Guertin writes next even though I'll be missing Pippa for awhile. Now that the whole series is out, it's a perfect time to read all of them back to back. And they'd make a great gift for any teen readers in your life for a summer reading project!

PS Definitely check out my friend Jess' review of this book as well over on her blog, The Paper-Trail Diary. She has a lot of the same thoughts I did and puts them together much better than I think I did.

*A copy of this novel was sent by the publisher, ECW Press, in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*