Review: The Sum of These Things by Emily O’Beirne

Title: The Sum of These Things
Author: Emily O’Beirne
Series: A Story of Now #2
Genre: Contemporary Romance/LGBT
Publisher: Ylva Publishing
Publication Date: December 16th, 2015
Edition: Kindle Edition, First Edition, 400 pages
Source: Library
Purchase: Amazon US | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | BAM

Synopsis:

   What Claire hasn’t learned yet is that now comes the hard part: learning to trust in this new relationship. And that isn’t easy when no one has ever given you a reason to trust before.

   Then there’s the pressing question of what to do with her life. Claire’s new volunteer job working with kids offers a glimpse of a potential future, but it definitely isn’t something her pushy mother is going to like.

   Still, everything feels hopeful as she embarks on the next chapter of her life, armed with new friends and the warm and funny Mia. But Claire quickly discovers that negotiating this new terrain of adulthood isn’t easy. Over the rest of this momentous summer, the biggest lesson Claire must learn is how not to let anything get in the way of her happiness. Especially herself.

Review:

I feel like I would have liked this book more had I read it right after reading the first book, but since it's been three years and this book wasn't released when I had read that first book.

I liked this book, but with the time between reading the books, I lost the connection with the characters. When I read the first book I found Claire's sarcasm amusing, in this book it began to get annoying. Her uncertainty about things (school, her new understanding of her sexuality, and her family) are understandable. But, she ignores things a little too much. Her lack of wanting to deal with things, her reluctance to stand up to her mother for most of the book, was kind of off-putting for me.

The relationship aspect of the book was, oddly, not really that much of the book. Or not as much of the book as I think it should have been. The first book was about Claire discovering her new feelings for her new friend. And this book should have been more about them being together. But a lot of the chapters were cut up in weird ways, and Mia and Claire weren't together in many of them. Bringing me back to the complaining from Claire again. While she eventually voices her grievances, she doesn't do it until someone asks her what's bothering her. I know she's 19, but I feel like she should be mature enough to voice when something is bothering her without being asked to.