The Weekend Bucket List by Mia Kerick: Book Review and Giveaway

I’m delighted today to be hosting author Mia Kerick as part of the blog tour for her LGBTQ coming-of-age novel The Weekend Bucket List, which was released on April 19th from Duet Books. Read on to check out my review and enter the giveaway, and be sure to follow the tour!

About the Book

Blurb

High school seniors Cady LaBrie and Cooper Murphy have yet to set one toe out of line—they’ve never stayed out all night or snuck into a movie, never gotten drunk or gone skinny-dipping. But they have each other, forty-eight hours before graduation, and a Weekend Bucket List.

There’s a lot riding on this one weekend, especially since Cady and Cooper have yet to admit, much less resolve, their confounding feelings for one another—feelings that prove even more difficult to discern when genial high school dropout Eli Stanley joins their epic adventure. But as the trio ticks through their bucket list, the questions they face shift toward something new: Must friendship play second fiddle to romance? Or can it be the ultimate prize?

Buy on Amazon

My Review

I do love a good romance, but it was quite refreshing to read a young adult novel that celebrates the value of friendship. In so many YA novels, romance is the be-all-and-end-all, and yet how many of us are lucky enough to meet our perfect match in high school? For most teenagers, love interests come and go, but a good friend will be there through it all. The concept that a true friendship can be every bit as strong and important as romantic love, is something Mia Kerick brings across so well in this story.

It was no surprise to me, being familiar with this author’s work, that the characters are both relatable and authentic: likeable but with their share of flaws. First there’s Feisty tomboy Cady, who has a big heart but a tendency to be malicious. Then there’s Cooper, geeky and awkward and far too easily influenced by Cady. Eli completes the trio, and with his sweet nature, troubled home life and unwillingness to part with his trust, he fast became my favourite of the three.

I thoroughly enjoyed following the interactions between these characters as they completed the items on Cady and Cooper’s bucket list and sorted through their tangled feelings for one another, before settling on a dynamic that worked for them. Overall, The Weekend Bucket List is an entertaining read that subtly explores bisexuality, and which is every bit as well-written as I’ve come to expect from this author. So long as you don’t mind that it isn’t a romance, I can certainly recommend this novel.

For a light-hearted story that explores the value of friendship, The Weekend Bucket List by Mia Kerick gets 7/10 rainbows.

About Mia Kerick

Author Bio

Mia Kerick is the mother of four exceptional children—all named after saints—and five nonpedigreed cats—all named after the next best thing to saints, Boston Red Sox players. Her husband of twenty years has been told by many that he has the patience of Job, but don’t ask Mia about that, as it is a sensitive subject.

Mia focuses her stories on the emotional growth of troubled men and their relationships, and she believes that sex has a place in a love story, but not until it is firmly established as a love story. As a teen, Mia filled spiral-bound notebooks with romantic tales of tortured heroes (most of whom happened to strongly resemble lead vocalists of 1980s big-hair bands) and stuffed them under her mattress for safekeeping. She is thankful to Dreamspinner Press for providing her with an alternate place to stash her stories.

Mia is proud of her involvement with the Human Rights Campaign and cheers for each and every victory made in the name of marital equality. Her only major regret: never having taken typing or computer class in school, destining her to a life consumed with two-fingered pecking and constant prayer to the Gods of Technology.

Connect with Mia

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

Giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tour Hosted by YA Bound Book Tours