Blog Tour: Sass & Serendipity by Jennifer Ziegler

Summary/Cover Image from Publisher's Website:

For Daphne, the glass is always half full, a situation is better managed with a dab of lip gloss, and the boy of her dreams—the one she's read about in all of her novels—is waiting for her just around the corner.

For Gabby, nothing ever works out positively; wearing any form of makeup is a waste of study time, and boys will only leave you heartbroken. Her best friend, Mule, is the only one who has been there for her every step of the way.

But when the richest boy in town befriends Gabby, and Daphne starts to hang out more and more with her best and only friend, Mule, Gabby is forced to confront the emotional barriers she has put up to stop the hurting. And for once, her sassiness may fall prey to her definition of stupidity.

Review:

Sass & Serendipity possess a cute and eye-catching cover, but what is inside is where the gold lies. It contains family as well as sister drama, unpredictable romantic subplots, and best of all two realistic main characters you cannot help but adore and root for.

Sass & Serendipity begins the story of two sisters- Daphne and Gabby- who could not be any more different. Gabby has always been the girl most likely to succeed, the girl that makes her decisions with her head not her heart. She does not let love get in the way, because the last time she did it ended horribly. Daphne, on the other hand, remains a romantic to the bone. She believes in true love, and most often than not, she lets herself be caught up in it all, though everything changes when Cole enters the scene. He seems to be the perfect match for her. However, after a surprising development in their home life, the girls and their mother are left homeless. Left to salvage what remains, Daphne and Gabby are left to rely on each, switching everything up once again. They will find love, heartbreak, and will begin to see what it truly means to have and be a sister in this new fantastic addition to contemporary YA.

Daphne and Gabby are my favorite type of characters. Not only because of the way they are flawed and realistic but also in the way they evolve as the novel progress. I especially loved the way in which Sass & Serendipity allows the reader to get a view into each of their heads through switching third person narratives.

My favorite aspect of this novel would have to be the bound between Daphne and Gabby, though. I always love reading stories about sisters, especially ones in which the girls are incredibly different, and this one was no different. At the start of the book, the relationship between Daphne and Gabby is tense and full of hate in some ways, but as the novel progress and the characters evolve, the more the two begin to see eye-to-eye on situations they couldn’t have before. Secondly, this novel is one about family as a whole as well. Gabby and Daphne come from a broken family so it was also interesting to see how the girls come to understand why it is the way it is and begin to come to terms with it as well.

I also enjoyed the romantic subplots in this as well. They never went exactly as I thought they would- in a good way of course. I really enjoyed reading about Mule, Gabby’s best friend, as well as Prentiss, the boy Gabby loved to hate, because not only where both boys sweet and adorable, but they ended up surprising me in more than ways than one.

Ziegler’s writing was also fantastic. She seamlessly switched between Gabby and Daphne point of views, and she doled out plenty of sad moments as well as heartwarming and funny ones. She truly wrote a novel that shows sisters at their best, and more importantly a kind of family that is often found in today’s world.

Romantic, sweet, and witty, Jennifer Ziegler’s Sass & Serendipity is the perfect summer read to say the least. Moreover, I have to say that while this was my first book by Ziegler, it’s certainly not going to be my last. I have How to be Popular, her previous YA, in my TBR pile, and I cannot wait to get started on it.

Grade: A+

Sass & Serendipity is now out!

Source: Publicity firm- thanks Barbara at Blue Ship Media!

Side Note: Sass & Serendipity is a modern retelling of Sense and Sensibility, which is celebrating its 200th anniversary of publication this year. I've never read Sense and Sensibility, but after reading this one I really want to now. I think it would be interesting to see how the two are alike and different...

Check back later today for an interview with Jennifer!