Review ‘The Sidewalk’s Regrets’ by Kate Larkindale

Author: Kate Larkindale

Genre: YA Contemporary

Publisher: Evernight Teen

ISBN: 9781773398709

Goodreads Rating: 4.00

Seventeen-year-old Sacha McLeod isn’t looking for someone to rock her world. But when she hears the boy in the music store play the guitar, the music thrills her and she falls hard for Dylan and his sound. Sacha finds herself spending less time with her violin and more time with this guy. Her plans for her violin-virtuoso future—and her self-confidence—are shattered when she screws up the audition for a summer music program. Failure isn’t something she’s had to face before, so when Dylan asks her to spend her vacation with him in the city, she lies to her parents, pretends she won a place in the summer school, and secretly moves in with Dylan. She’s expecting romance, music, and passion, but when she finds herself playing second fiddle to Dylan’s newly acquired drug habit, she realizes despite what the songs say, sometimes love isn’t all you need.

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A little while ago I received an review request for ‘The Sidewalk’s Regrets’ by the author. Although I hadn’t read a lot of YA Contemporary novels in a while now, there just was something about the cover of this book and the book description that made me want to read it. And I’m glad I did.

But this is definitely not an easy review to write. I finished reading this book last night, and it keeps going through my mind. And it’s just hard to write down what I really felt about this book. For one, it made me think back to my early teens, which isn’t a time I like to think about at all. Secondly this book made me angry, sad, laugh, overall confused. This book made me feel all sorts of emotions. When a book makes you feel so many different things, not only good things, and makes you want to keep on reading at the same time.. I can only say one thing.. Bravo to the author!

In ‘The Sidewalk’s Regrets’ we meet seventeen year old Sacha. Sacha is a musical prodigy who lives a very save and controlled life. All she ever wanted was to be a great violinist. So she practices every day for hours, her parents do everything they can to take her to every class and every event she needs to go, and she doesn’t party or just hangs out. Accept for the occasional girls night with her best friend, but nothing to bad. So when ‘naïve’ Sacha meets guitarist and rock band member Dylan her world changes instantly. Sacha soon finds out her world has been very small, and there is a lot more to figure out. For one rock music, love and bars.. but also drugs and lies.

From the moment I started reading I couldn’t put this book down. I just had to know what would happen to Sacha and Dylan. There where many moments while I read this book that I was almost screaming to Sacha, to make her take another decision and to let her see the so obvious signs. But I soon realized that the signs she missed about drug use etc. are probably all signs we wouldn’t see either as a seventeen year old in love. The writing in this book was easy to follow, and kept you hooked to the pages.

The romance between Sacha and Dylan was so relatable. I loved reading how in love they were, and how much they wanted to be together even though Sacha’s parents seemed so against it. There love was sweet and intense and I wished so many things for them.
And the drugs.. well I’ve never used drugs but as a nurse I’ve seen people with drug addictions. And it’s definitely something that is dangerous, and inviting and just something I wished people wouldn’t have such an easy access too. The author described the ‘high’ in an fascinating way. I could almost understand why someone would want to take another ‘hit’. Almost..

‘The Sidewalk’s Regrets’ is an intense read that will probably keep me thinking for a while. It’s a lot different from all the romance novels I’ve been reading lately. But this book is definitely a good one. And although I thought about this book as a 4 star read when I finished it.. I’m going for 5 stars! A book that still keeps me thinking about it so much, even after I finished reading it deserves 5 stars.

Having spent a lifetime travelling the globe, Kate Larkindale settled in Wellington, New Zealand fifteen years ago. A film marketing executive and mother to two sons, she’s surprised she finds any time to write, but doesn’t sleep much. As a result, she can usually be found hanging out by the nearest espresso machine. She is the author of contemporary YA novels The Sidewalk’s Regrets, An Unstill Life and Stumped along with several others that no one is allowed to see. Yet. She has also written one very bad historical romance, which will likely never see the light of day. She is working on several more YA novels that may or may not ever be finished. Her short stories have appeared in Halfway Down The Stairs, A Fly in Amber, Daily Flash Anthology, The Barrier Islands Review, Everyday Fiction, Death Rattle, Drastic Measures, Cutlass & Musket and Residential Aliens, among others. For more information please visit her website. Or visit her on Twitter.

* I received an ARC of this book in exhange for my honest review *

Maureen Bakker

Maureen is a mom, wife, nurse, and Ravenclaw living in the Netherlands. She spends her days juggling mom-life, reading, blogging, planning date nights with her husband and working as a nurse. Maureen also is a big Anglophile, loves cooking, Gilmore Girls, Bridgerton and Harry Potter.. Always!  Facebook | Instagram