Audre and Bash are just Friends by Tia Williams
“We sometimes don’t notice growth as it happens.."
Am I the only one who smiles nervously when they hear that their auto-buy author is trying something new? That was me when I heard that Tia would be trying her hand at YA romance.
It's been a while since the Internet was thrown into the world of Eva Mercy & Shane Hall in Seven Days In June. I think I speak for the majority of us when I say that Audre (Eva’s daughter) stole the hearts of many. Hearing that Audre would be our FMC definitely piqued my interests.
Audre is a budding therapist, one of her favourite pasttimes & side hustles is to therapise. But outside of therapising her peers, Audre just doesn’t know how to have fun. New & supposed wild boy, Bash, may be the person to help Audre take a walk on the wild side. Audre “employs” Bash to become her funsultant. There just one rule, things must remain strictly platonic…
I really loved the perspectives that Tia offered in this book relating to parent/child relationships. It offered me food for thought on the way in which we interact with our children, how our pasts impact the way in which we raise them & the expectations we have of them.
I was really taken aback by the first few chapters, not because they were bad, but simply because I couldn’t believe how much the dynamics of Eva & Audre's mother-daughter rship had changed. I really felt for Audre, especially realising how co-dependent & toxic their relationship was & how this had negatively impacted Audre's childhood & adolescent years.
Now, while Eva had the best of intentions, I couldn’t help but draw parallels between both Eva & Bash’s father. Bash’s father was extreme, but the way in which both he & Eva parented their children resulted in their children feeling both alienated & neglected.
Onto the lighter part of this novel. The romance was everything that I could have asked for. It was very cute, very swoon-worthy & a very accurate depiction of friendship & young love. I found myself smiling like a giddy teenager everytime I read the interactions between them both.
If you are after a feel good and cute YA romance with a sprinkling of real-life issues, then this is definitely one to add to your TBR and take with you on your summer holidays.
Release date: 20th May
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