Trusting You and Other Lies by Nicole Williams
Phoenix is going to a summer camp with her whole family to "bond" and have a special experience. She has been going through some rough times because her father has lost his job and has been unemployed for a couple of months and they are running out of money, but her parents never seem to tell her and Harry about their current situation, which makes Phoenix start distrusting her parents and begins to have trust issues with people. So, she is left as a connector in her family because she has too many things to worry about, her parents seem to be going through a divorce and Harry, her younger brother seems to start realizing that maybe their family is going to separate, which means that she has to stay strong and protect Harry.
When they are traveling to the camp, Phoenix is so angry at her parents and she is sure that she will hate it and that her summer is going to be awful. But once she gets there, she starts realizing that maybe summer camp isn´t that bad and that she might actually start enjoying her time there and her experience as a counselor.
On her first day, she meets a very hot guy that goes by the name of Callum. Soon, he asks her for her help to teach campers how to use a lifejacket. After that, she gets to know that Callum is actually the head counselor and he will be giving her instructions during her session.
But before she realizes it, she starts finding him very cute and starts taking an interest while trying to be strong and protect herself and Harry from her family.
In general, I loved the story and I was immediately charmed by Callum (and his name because it reminded me of Calum Hood, my husband), he seemed to be the type of guy that was going to make the reading very pleasant with that charming smile of his. Also, his comments completely made my life complete during the reading. In a sense, he did have a similarity with Jude Ryder, a character by the same author, because he had a very boyish charm to him. Besides his smile, his freaking flannel made my heart race every single time! Callum ended up feeling like a very mature and strong male character because he had so many things going on because he had all these crazy stories about his life, but at some point, those were it, like I was expecting more from him, I guess something more easy to grasp onto, and I will admit that I may be feeling like that because I had a book hangover with Peter Kavinsky from To All the Boys I´ve Loved Before by Jenny Han, my hangover lasted like three days and it was like the only thing that I could think of, just like when you get out of a relationship that you treasure and have absolutely no grudges over (I have never been in a relationship, but I think that is probably what it feels like), but in the past story where I was living, Kavinsky had such a clear background that readers could pin point that is was weird to see a character without a past so clear, but I do understand because this is a single novel and not a series like Kavinsky and I do realize that I have mentioned Kavinsky TOO many times, I apologize but I just love him so much. Aside from the background thing, I loved how unique he seemed. I mean, he was the character that was able to bring out the best side of Phoenix and he was probably the only reason why I ended up accepting her. Also, he rides a motorcycle, which reminded me of Jude and Travis Maddox. Oh, and he liked crazy-flavored ice creams. He sounds ADORABLE, I KNOW and HE IS!
On the other hand, Phoenix seemed like a very cool main character, she is one of the strongest female characters that I have encountered in my whole bookworm career. The way she always protected Harry was very nice to read about and it reminded me of my own siblings. Also, the way she was able to adapt to different environments so easily was something I liked about her. As much as I loved her, the one thing that made me hate her was the way she was so quick to judge and she only knows opposite sides, like she has no idea that in betweens exist in life and that made me be so angry at her, but I guess everyone´s different. Other than that, I loved how much she tried to keep it together and be responsible for her actions and to make everything better. It was very interesting to see how Phoenix´s point of view started changing throughout the story while summer was going by because it happened like anything happens in life, you don´t notice until one page you realize that she is different and that things have changed, this characteristic of hers made her much more human and interesting to read about.
Another thing that I loved about the novel was the way that the family problem was portrayed because it was realistic. I mean, we do read a lot about teenagers that are experiencing a breaking family, but this novel included something that not all of them include and that was the perspective that her parents had. The book doesn´t contain other points of view, but it included a very different ending, where you were able to notice the story from other character´s eyes and I believe that this shows how great Williams´writing is.
I loved the story and the way the novel was written, but there was something that bothered me besides Callum not having a background and that was the way that other characters appeared. I didn´t like the way some characters were included, like Naomi, Evan, and Ethan, but they never really appeared that much. In my perspective, these characters were used more as the extra characters that were created and only used when they were needed, like when someone needed to come to the room when Callum and Phoenix were having a hot making out session or a counselor´s name they needed. So, I would have loved to read more about those characters as well.
In general, Trusting You and Other Lies by Nicole Williams was a very pleasant reading for the summer because it was fun and it included different themes that definitely made me realize new things and I fell in love with Callum. I highly recommend this novel and believe that many people will enjoy them.
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