Review: Dashed by Amanda Quain

Dashed by Amanda Quain
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I was provided an ARC of this book via the publisher and Netgalley, all opinions are my own.

This was a cute YA romance.  It is super clean if you are looking for something a little more on the innocent side.  This has some hand holding and kissing but nothing more than that, so it is perfect for  younger readers despite the main character being 18.  This follows Margaret or Mags as people close to her call her on her summer vacation.  Her brother-in-law has landed a summer job as ship's chaplain on the Queen Mab and Margaret has decided to tag along for the summer with her older sister Elinor before she heads off to college in the fall.  Margaret has been emulating Elinor for the past few years, despite her personality traits more aligning to those of their middle sister Marianne.  Margaret isn't really sure who she really is because she is always trying to be care free, impulsive Marianne or practical, level headed Elinor.  Their family was rocked by a year of tragedy several years ago and to cope with her trauma Margaret has decided she is going to do everything Elinor does.  

Margaret has her entire cruise planned out, when Marianne crashes the cruise.  Margaret does what she thinks is best and develops an elaborate plan to create dates for her sister to make her happy.  While she is crafting this grand plan, she develops a friendship turned fake relationship with Gabe a member of the crew.  They hit it off immediately and he and Mags spend lots of time hanging out and planning dates for themselves and Marianne.  Margaret is determined to keep her feelings locked up tight, but Gabe is slowly breaking down her walls.  When a hurricane derails the entire cruise Margaret has to face her feelings not only for the boy she has gotten to know over the last few weeks but all of the feelings she has kept bottled up about her sisters and her place in their family.  

I really liked the character development in this.  Margaret was slow to figure out what she needed to, but she eventually gets there.  This read a little young for my tastes, but this will be perfect for younger readers.  I loved Edward (the brother in law) he gave great advice and was an unlikely sounding board for our girl when she really needed it.  

Overall this was a super sweet YA romance.  It is a perfect summer read!

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