A Walk in the Sun - Review

A Walk in the Sun

By: Michelle Zink

Published: May 3rd 2016 by HarperTeen

336 pages

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary

Source: Publisher via Edelweiss (Thank you!!)

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Goodreads description--In this Bridges of Madison County for teens, Michelle Zink weaves a magnetic tale about summer love that stays with you long after the seasons change.

Rose Darrow never wanted to spend her life working on her family’s farm. But when her family is rocked by an unexpected tragedy she has no choice but to put her plans for the future—and dreams of escaping her small town—on hold.

Bodhi Lowell left home as a kid and hasn’t looked back. Years of working farm jobs has given him the one thing he wants most: freedom to travel without answering to anyone. He’s already looking past his job at Darrow Farm and plans on leaving in September—until he meets Rose.

Neither Rose nor Bodhi can deny the sparks flying between them, but with the end of summer looming, they must decide if it is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all....

So I've been watching this show on Netflix called Heartland (which is based off a book series). Surprisingly enough, my mom recommended it to me. And it's about this family that lives on a farm/ranch in Canada. The main girl has this unique ability to work with horses. It's a great show. Anyway, I said all of that because A Walk in the Sun reminded me of Heartland a lot. There's the main girl who's mother recently passed away. There's the cattle and horses and other ranch/farm work. There's the ranch hand that a relationship begins to develop with. Several similarities. I, personally, liked Heartland better, but A Walk in the Sun was pretty good.

I found myself hooked pretty easily and quickly. It was easy to relate to Rose. She's still grieving the loss of her mother, but as her father has pretty much checked out she has to step up and essentially take care of the farm by herself. She's getting up at 4:00 am to feed the animals, goes to school, and then brings the animals back in after school. It's a grueling schedule. Thankfully, Rose's aunt has hired summer help.

Bodhi pretty much walked out of his life at fourteen years old. And he's been on the road from place to place ever since. Bodhi hasn't found anywhere that he's wanted to settle down, but he has found that he enjoys working on farms. And Bodhi sees something in Rose. Things were a bit insta-y on his part, but they don't jump in too quickly.

A Walk in the Sun was going really well until unfortunately some easily fixed problems sneak up around the 75% mark. The conflict was so easy and obvious (as well as the fix) that I found myself rolling my eyes a bit. But I didn't dwell too much.

Ultimately, A Walk in the Sun was a quick and enjoyable read for me. It wasn't earth-shattering, and I did find that the main conflict took away from my overall enjoyment. But it was still a decent book. I also really enjoyed the lack of potty mouth. I'm giving A Walk in the Sun 3.5 Stars. Have you read A Walk in the Sun? What did you think? Let me know!