WITH YOU ALL THE WAY By Cynthia Hand

I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

With You All the Way by Cynthia Hand
Published by HarperTeen on 3/30/21
Genres: Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult
Pages: 329
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
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Ada’s life is a mess. She just caught her boyfriend cheating on her after a humiliating attempt at losing her virginity, and she’s had it up to here with her gorgeous older sister’s unsolicited advice.

But things really hit the fan during a family vacation in Hawaii, where Ada discovers her own mother is having an affair. Apparently, everyone is falling into bed with people they shouldn’t. Everyone except Ada. But when Ada decides she’s going to stop trying and start doing—sex, that is—her best laid plan overlooks an inconvenient truth:

Feelings, romantic or not, always get in the way.

Short and Sweet Review

Ada’s a sixteen year old and in her mind her life is a mess. She was about to go all the way with her boyfriend but changed her mind and then regretted changing her mind so she decides to surprise him. While going to surprise him Ada finds him with another girl. On the bright side her family is going to Hawaii for her mother’s work conference. But what should be a fun time turns into a nightmare when Ada finds her mom having an affair. Now Ada thinks that she should just forget her plans and go with the flow.

So the book starts off with Ada and her boyfriend Leo about to have sex, but Ada realizes that she’s not ready and Leo was understanding. After getting some advice from her older sister, Afton, Ada decides she’s ready to try again but she ends up finding Leo inviting another girl to his house. Ada doesn’t have too much time to dwell on it because she finds out her family is going to Hawaii, actually it’s just her mom, and her sisters Afton and Abby while her stepdad stays behind. Afton and Ada had a fight so they have some awful tension throughout the whole trip (but we’ll get into that later). The rest of the book consists of fun activities that Ada does while on the trip, dinners with her moms colleagues, Ada finding a rebound, and Ada trying to figure out how her mother could be having an affair.

I felt for Ada because she loves her family so finding out her mother is having an affair was like a shot to the heart. But that’s the only time I felt for Ada because over the course of the book I realized that Ada is not a likable character she lashed out, she’s dramatic, and she was always doing the most. Afton and Ada fighting throughout the whole book didn’t make things any better, at one point they would forgive each other and then the next they were fighting again. I honestly found it ridiculous and would roll my eyes every time they would have an interaction.

As for the romance aspect I don’t think there was much. During the trip Ada hangs out with Nick and decides that he’s the one she wants to have sex with, it was out of nowhere and I don’t think she knew what she actually wanted. Nick and Ada were better off being friends.

When I read the synopsis I thought, “Wow this is going to be a good book, and it’ll be deep and heartwarming.” I felt none of that while reading this book. It was just too much fighting between everyone, a main character I couldn’t relate to or stand, and a main character who was obsessed with trying to lose her virginity that she decides she’s going to bang a cute guy that she sees at the conference. I liked Abby and Pops but other than that there is nothing that is special about this book.