Book Review
Title: When Life Gives You Lemons Instead of Lattes
Author: Rayna York
Genre: YA/Family/Contemporary
Rating: *****
Review: I didn’t know anything about this book going into it, but the synopsis sounded interesting. We are introduced to Kylie and her younger sister, Harlow as the F.B.I. turn up at their home. Their father is wanted for fraud and embezzlement and has seemingly fled that very morning; however, this isn’t good for the family as their mother doesn’t have anything more than $500 and the rest of their assets have been frozen. Kylie is your typical moody teenager, but she does manage to smuggle out her laptop which would be very unlikely in reality and constantly blames her mother for the situation even though she is trying her best. Their mother does try to contact their grandparents for help, but they refuse and with days to leave the house and only the great-grandmother’s home in Ohio to go to, they have to use a donated car which promptly breaks down in Utah. The family are helped by an elderly couple who house them for the night and Frank even offers to take the girls riding on their horses the following morning. So far, the opening to Lemons Instead of Lattes was interesting but I didn’t really like Kylie as a character, I am hoping she develops over the course of the novel, but I shall wait and see.
As we approach the ¼ mark in the novel, the family arrive in Ohio and Kylie is immediately disappointed by the difference between her old life and this new one that has been forced on her. She doesn’t like the town or the people since they aren’t the people she is used to and reflects on how her father lavished money on her as a child while her mother refused to, hoping to make her a more well-rounded adult rather than a stereotypical rich kid but that is exactly what she has become. However, Kylie does have some good in her as she takes care of Harlow and tries to get along with her mother for her sake. In a trip into the towns he meets some local guys who invite her boating and then to a party which is more like the lifestyle Kylie is used to, so she dives in. I did like Otto, who is the same age as Kylie and their mother used to be best friends before Kylie’s mother left and never came back. Kylie is also offered a job by Charles, the grumpy old man that runs the General Store, who knew her great-grandmother and Kylie reminds him of her a lot with her sass and attitude which is something her mother also suggested but I have the feeling she is going to get a rude awakening when she realises what it is to work for a living and how much she is actually going to earn. Even between her job and her mother’s new job, she isn’t going to have a lot and definitely not enough to attend the university she wants to.
As we cross the ¼ mark in the novel, Kylie foes to the party and drinks far too much and finds herself in a compromising position but she is rescued by Otto from making some extremely bad decisions and from that point on Kylie endeavours to form a friendship with him and I can smell the romance coming. The following morning, she has a conversation with her mother specifically about her past, where she tells Kylie that she grew up extremely poor and both of her parents were dependent on alcohol. Her father was also abusive and eventually her grandmother, Kylie’s great-grandmother took her in and raised her until she met Kylie’s father at 16 and moved away with him. Kylie is beginning to see what her mother tried to do for her when she was younger and tries to be nicer to her despite the anger she is holding, although I think this is directed more at her father than her mother. Kylie also starts her new job with Charles at the general store which surprises everyone in town as Charles has always worked alone and he even defends her against some boys who comments about her performance at the party, and while Kylie doesn’t appreciate this at first they do form a good friendship going forward. This is proven as Charles trusts her to make changes to the way the store is run and she also introduces him to the local coffee shop but she does slip up here asking how his wife died and it turns out she and his daughter were both lost in childbirth but I think they will get past this. The more time Kylie spends in her mother’s hometown the more she is growing as a character and while I still don’t like her, I think she does have potential.
As we approach the halfway mark in the novel, Kylie is beginning to like the small town life but she still finds herself thinking about her old life and snapping at people whenever they try to make assessments about her and her character, which are mostly true. Otto does this on more than one occasion but in his defence, he has been bullied by Chase and his friend purely because they have more money that Otto’s family and the rich lifestyle Kylie used to live isn’t easily removed for her character, especially when she is constantly dreaming of her dad and returning to their old life. However, we do see Kylie making an effort to learn more about her family and the town itself, she learns that her mother’s nana was once in love with Charles although we know that relationship didn’t work out and it might have something to do with him enlisting in the Second World War. I didn’t really like the set up for the love triangle between Kylie, Otto and Tristan, while I do agree that Tristan is the kind of boy Kylie would normally go for, she is making an conscious effort to be friends with Otto despite their difference in upbringing and she can’t stop thinking about him. When Otto’s mother invites her for dinner, Kylie bakes a pie especially for it and Joanne offers to pay her for supplying to coffee shop, Jojo’s with the delicious baked good and Kylie reluctantly agrees. Kylie does have some self-image and self-esteem issues as she mentioned always being “on” and not knowing how to switch off that part of herself anymore and she is extremely conscious of her weight and appearance, although this is slowly changing.
As we cross into the second half of the novel, Kylie is trying to develop a relationship with Tristan and has to ask Otto if he is ok with them just being friends and while he says yes, we knows he isn’t. During their “date”, Tristan and Kylie go shopping and he invites her to his friend lake house party with Otto and she agrees but remembers what happened last time and decides to be carefully. However, Chase shows up at that party and tries to forcibly make a move on Kylie, but Tristan and Otto come to her rescue. After the party she tries to kiss Tristan, but he pulls away and I have the feeling that he might be gay and just wants to be a good friend to Kylie, but this hasn’t been confirmed yet. Between these events, Kylie has been reading her great-grandmother, Grace’s diary and learnt a lot more about her relationship with Charles. It appears the pair were in love and he went off to fight in the WWII and while we know Charles returns home, we don’t know what caused their relationship to break down. Kylie is also building a strong relationship with the old man and he seems to be teaching her and Harlow to take over the store since he has no children of his own, which would be a really emotional moment. Kylie also come to accept the truth about her father when she is confronted with the amount of money he stole and the evidence the F.B.I. can tell her about. They are also informed he has fled to Mexico and he hasn’t even contacted them to make sure they are alright which is causing Kylie and her mother to become closer since it was her father who drove the wedge between them in the first place with his emotional manipulation. The scene where Kylie talks to Otto about this when they go flower shopping was beautiful and heart-breaking since we know it is hard for Kylie to open up to others but it is some relief for her having someone she can talk to about that part of her life.
As we approach the ¾ mark in the novel, it turns out I was right about Tristan, but he wasn’t out and didn’t know how to tell Kylie as he believed she wouldn’t want to hang out with him anymore. I really like the dynamic between this pair but when he mentions Otto, Kylie becomes defensive as she believes that he kept the secret from her to hurt her when in reality keeping Tristan’s secret from her hurt him too as he likes her and Tristan urges her to give him another chance. In the time where Kylie isn’t speaking to either of the boys, she finishes Grace’s diary and learns that Charles was MIA for a long time and presumed dead when they couldn’t identify the bodies found. After two years of waiting Grace got married to Richard and fell pregnant but then Charles returned home ready to make her his wife and was devasted to learn the truth. While Grace and Charles were relatively happy with their partners they didn’t get together after their deaths because there were resentments and bitterness that neither could truly let go of, even if it meant being together. Two things happen in quick succession here, first Kylie spots her father and informs the F.B.I. he is in the area as she is afraid for her mother, but he hasn’t approached them yet and Charles collapses and ends up in hospital. There Kylie informs him about the diary and knowing his past with Grace and he explains from his perspective why they never got together even when they were able to do so and Kylie understands that type of guilt as she has it with her mother and Charles tells her to make amends while she can. While he is in the hospital he basically has her running the store as he doesn’t know how long he is going to be there and I have the horrible feeling that he might die before the end of the novel, which would be terribly sad as he is the closest thing Kylie has to a grandfather. She also repairs her relationship with Otto, and it seems like they are going to give being in a relationship a go as it is something, they both obviously feel and want, despite how much Kylie likes to look at Tristan.
As we cross into the final section of the novel, I was right about Charles too as he passes away and the girls are devasted especially Harlow, since she was the closest to Charles but Kylie loved him too even if she never said it in as many words. In the aftermath of Charles’ death, Kylie feels like her life is falling apart all over again but when Charles’ lawyer visits and tells them that he left them the store including his living accommodation, they are all stunned. Kylie agrees to teach her mother everything she was taught by Charles so they can run it together and she even convinces her mother to hire help when she goes away to university as she doesn’t have to worry about money as Charles set up a trust fund for her and Harlow. However, her father comes into the store one day when her mother is working, and Harlow is playing with a friend and convinces Kylie to meet with him and hand over her laptop. We know her father is a manipulator and he is manipulating Kylie into getting what he wants, this sends Kylie into a tailspin as she lashes out at her mother, Otto and even Harlow. That night he breaks into their home for the laptop and Kylie realises he was lying to her and that he hid the access to his offshore account on her laptop and refuses to hand it over. He threatens to hurt Harlow if she doesn’t hand it over and when she threatens to break the laptop, he hits her, bruising her face badly but the F.B.I. have been informed and come in gun blazing and take him away. Afterwards, her family can finally move on with their lives now her father is heading to jail, but Otto also realises why Kylie lashed out at him and they make up. Overall, When Life Gives You Lemons Instead of Lattes was an emotional rollercoaster and Rayna York is definitely an author, I will be keeping my eye on.
Buy it here:
Paperback/Hardcover: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
I received this review copy from YA Bound Blog Tours.
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