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It Started With Goodbye by Christina June is a touching story about a girl who is falsely accused of a crime and tries to strengthen her relationship with her stepmother and stepsister. I loved the main character’s independence and the focus on family and friendship instead of romance. Fans of authors like Sarah Dessen will definitely enjoy this book!
Title: It Started With GoodbyeAuthor: Christina June
Also by this author: Everywhere You Want to Be
Publisher: Blink
Genres: Contemporary, Young Adult Fiction
Publication Date: May 9, 2017
Rating:
Sixteen-year-old Tatum Elsea is bracing for the worst summer of her life. After being falsely accused of a crime, she’s stuck under stepmother-imposed house arrest and her BFF’s gone ghost. Tatum fills her newfound free time with community service by day and working at her covert graphic design business at night (which includes trading emails with a cute cello-playing client). When Tatum discovers she’s not the only one in the house keeping secrets, she finds she has the chance to make amends with her family and friends. Equipped with a new perspective, and assisted by her feisty step-abuela-slash-fairy-godmother, Tatum is ready to start fresh and maybe even get her happy ending along the way.
A modern play on the Cinderella story arc, Christina June’s IT STARTED WITH GOODBYE shows us that sometimes going after what you want means breaking the rules.
❃ I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. ❃
Review: It Started With Goodbye by Christina June
❀ Modern Cinderella
This book is kind of like a modern version of Cinderella. Tatum is falsely accused of a crime that her best friend helped commit and is placed under house arrest by her strict stepmother. She must earn $500 by the end of the summer to pay her fine, so she decides to start a graphic design business to keep her busy when she’s not doing community service. I loved the use of emails in the book and the mystery identity of a certain client named S.K. If you like your contemporaries a little more on the serious side with less of a focus on romance, you will enjoy It Started With Goodbye.
❀ Tatum is a Great Main Character
I loved Tatum’s character in the novel. I felt so frustrated just reading about her sentence for a crime that she didn’t even commit. Despite all this, she still stays strong and agrees to work hard for forgiveness. Tatum is also an avid graphic designer, which I found really interesting. I loved the fact that she is able to become an entrepreneur at such a young age because of her talent. Strong and independent female characters are my favourite, so Tatum really hit the bullseye for me.
❀ Family Focus
One of my favourite aspects of It Started With Goodbye is the strong focus on family and friendship. Tatum doesn’t have the best relationship with her stepmother and stepsister, but she really bonds with them throughout the book. It was so touching to see her prim and proper stepsister open up to her. Tatum also spends a lot of time trying to connect with her friend (the one who assisted in committing the crime), who has been shipped off to a boarding school. Romance isn’t the priority in this book, which I really enjoyed. We need more YA books like this one, about friends and family.
❀ Perfect for Summer
It Started With Goodbye by Christina June is a modernized version of Cinderella with a main character who is strong and self-reliant. The focus on family and friendship is really touching, and much better than a story all about romance. Definitely pick this story up this summer!
Book Quotes: It Started With Goodbye, Christina June
Book Beginning:
“Tatum, they have you license plate on camera. This is as good as it’s going to get.”
Friday 56:
My first official summer outing under Bélen’s reign was pretty much how I would describe torture. McIntosh, being the school for special snowflakes, held a monumental final performance-slash-exhibiton-slash-culminating gala-slash-evening of celebration for its students. Which felt like a huge slap in the face by artistic professionals, showing me the kind of work I’d never be capable of matching, since they’d rejected me two years ago.
About Christina June
Christina June writes young adult contemporary fiction when she’s not writing college recommendation letters during her day job as a school counselor. She loves the little moments in life that help someone discover who they’re meant to become – whether it’s her students or her characters. Christina is a voracious reader, loves to travel, and hopes to one day be bicoastal – the east coast of the US and the east coast of Scotland. She lives just outside Washington DC with her husband and daughter.
About The Candid Cover
Olivia ❀ Canadian YA book blogger, Starbucks lover, & professional bibliophile.
Great Review !, sounds interesting 😊
Awesoem review! I am actually thinking of reading this book. 🙂
I think that you will really enjoy it! 🙂
This one sounds cute! Putting it on my list for the summer. 🙂
Enjoy!! 🙂
Great review😊 I finished reading this book about an hour ago and I completely agree with what you said about family. I’m always moaning about the lack of family members in YA so I really liked that about It Started With Goodbye
Right?! I mean families still play a huge role in YA lives as well. 🙂
Exactly!
So glad that you enjoyed this one! It sounds like such a sweet summer story (and I’ve been in the mood for these right now!), so I’m definitely going to be picking this one up. Amazing review!
I have been reading contemps forever these days! I think that they are always a perfect summer fit. I hope that you like it as much as I did. 🙂
Aww! This one sounds sweet, and emotional and fun! I love that the romance is swept aside for relationships between family members.!
It is so refreshing and I loved that aspect about this one so much. 🙂
Thank you for the rec. This sounds very good, I’ll have to push it up the TBR.
Thank you for your review. This sounds like a really good book.