
Catch the Sun by Jennifer Hartmann
TROPES: friends to lovers, virgin heroine, found family, slow burn
REVIEW:
This book didn’t speak to my soul as Jennifer Hartmann’s books usually do. I just couldn’t feel it.
It was a struggle to get through for a number of reasons. Very much of a slow burn and very wordy. Overly dramatic in a lot of ways, a little far fetched, and stuffed with super cheesy scenarios. I won’t read an YA again coming from this author.
But if you love her you should read it, I am definitely the minority here. You might feel differently than I did.
“You didn’t have to do that. I don’t need someone to rescue me.” He’s silent for a beat as we traipse toward the lake. Moonlight paints a shimmering path across the water like a mirror speckled with stardust. “Nobody ever really needs rescuing,” he says, our footsteps slowing. “But it feels nice sometimes.”
“Why We Should Be Friends 1. I want to be. 2. I have a hunch you secretly want that, too. —Max P.S. Shouldn’t everything in life be that simple?”
“Forgiveness without love is one thing. But love without forgiveness? That’s like a tree without roots; it can’t stand for long. It can never truly live.”
“Kissing you feels like catching the sun…”
At seven years old, Ella Sunbury and Max Manning were inseparable—until life scattered them in different directions, forcing Ella to abruptly leave town. A decade later, she returns for their senior year of high school, moving in across the street from her childhood best friend.
But she’s not the same girl Max once knew.
She now lives in the shadow of her brother: a notorious felon on death row, convicted of a crime that shook the nation. Reeling from the fallout and shunned by her peers, all Ella wants is to fade into the background.
Max has little room for distractions, juggling responsibilities for a disabled father and a distant twin brother. But Ella’s return reignites something within him. He wants to be close to her again, to understand her…and to turn their friendship into more.
But as their relationship blossoms, new tragedy strikes, and darkness threatens to tip their delicate balance. In order to find the light, they’ll have to navigate the shadows.
And to catch the sun…they must first endure the flames.


2 Comments
Alison
I loved her earlier books. That’s too bad 😪
shesaidyestobooks
Me too Alison 🥺