Remind Me Why I’m Here | ARC Review

Summary

An Australian to-do list. A broody host brother. A disaster in the making.

When Maya leaves Chicago armed with an important Aussie must-do list, she assumes she’s heading to Barangaroo with its beautiful Sydney Harbour views—NOT Barangaroo Creek, a fly-ridden, wi-fi dead zone hours from a decent body of water. Like that’s not bad enough, her home-stay host brother Gus clearly wishes she’d landed in somebody else’s sheep paddock.

Gus has important plans this summer— plans that do NOT involve helping an animal-phobe from the States tick off items on her seriously clichéd must-do list. So he devises a list of his own—one guaranteed to send Maya packing, allowing him to enjoy the last of his freedom before he trudges off to agricultural college.

But Maya doesn’t scare that easily and soon sparks fly. Before long, Gus and Maya discover hidden depths to clichéd bucket-lists and secret summer plans. Because sometimes it takes someone half a world away to remind you why you’re really here.

Review

My feelings for this book are pretty neutral. I wasn’t completely entranced by it, but I didn’t hate it either. I enjoyed parts of it and didn’t enjoy other parts. It was just kinda there.

The beginning started off okay. There was a good set-up for an enemies-to-lovers trope which I was excited about. The story is told in 3rd person POV and it focuses on Gus and Maya, alternating each chapter. They both have things they want to get out of the summer and feel that the other is standing in their way of those things. I liked that aspect of the book.

Also, there was a decent amount of mystery at the beginning. There were quite a few things we, as the readers, had to figure out about both the main characters’ pasts. The author hinted at a few demons both Gus and Maya had but didn’t come right out and say them. At least right at the beginning. It was nice to know everything wasn’t just laid out from page one. From there, things just kinda happened.

There didn’t really seem to be a rise in action, although there were plenty of things happening. I didn’t feel the excitement I usually feel when there are fun things happening in a book. It was nice to read about and there were even a few surprise adventures along the way, but I didn’t feel the thrill I had hoped for.

Along with this, I didn’t feel the spark I had hoped for between Gus and Maya. They’re at odds with each other throughout the book so I expected that tension to build and finally explode at the end, but it really didn’t. It was just lightly diffused leaving the relationship feeling a little bland.

Overall, the book was good, but I wouldn’t read it again. I had definitely hoped for more excitement and sparks in general, but didn’t really receive that. Maybe next time.

Disclaimer: I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Rating

To check out my other reviews, click here. Or to check out more books by Kat Colmer, go to her GoodReads profile or her website.

This book is only 99cents right now for the Kindle version. If the synopsis spoke to you, now would be the time to buy this book on Amazon!