Sip Story: “Before We Were Innocent” x Rum Punch
🌊 BEFORE WE WERE INNOCENT by Ella Berman 🌊
★★★★★
📖 About: Ten years ago, after a sun-soaked summer spent in Greece, best friends Bess and Joni were cleared of having any involvement in their friend Evangeline’s death. But that didn’t stop the media from ripping apart their teenage lives like vultures… Except now Joni is tangled up in a crime eerily similar to that one fateful night in Greece. And when she asks Bess to come back to LA to support her, Bess has a decision to make.
🍹 Drink Pairing: Rum Punch! Reading this story with a fruity cocktail while on vacation… on a boat… in bad weather, just felt so right.
🌟 Review: I loved this book, so so much. First of all, the settings were incredible and so descriptive that you could truly visualize everything from the rocky coasts of the Greek islands to the McMansions in Malibu and Calabasas. I do have a soft spot for both the Greek Islands and LA so obviously this made reading fun off the bat!
But there is so much more to this book that I loved - this is one of those stories where you get so wrapped up into it that you feel the emotions of the characters yourself. I went from being anxious, to sad, to numb, to relieved, and then back again - needless to say it was a rollercoaster.
I was expecting some giant plot twist and a ton of action but instead this story served up everything it needed to in just the nuances of the characters personalities and experiences. That’s how you know the writing is truly excellent!
I love stories that flip between timelines, and it was fun going back in time to the summer when everything went wrong, and I think anyone who was ever a teenage girl can relate to the core of what those three girls were going through that summer.
This is a story of attempting to find yourself, only to lose yourself before you ever get the chance to succeed. It’s a reminder that life is so very fragile and everything can fall apart and be derailed in under a minute.
Refreshing, and yet, suspenseful - this is definitely a new favorite and I couldn’t recommend it more!
Thank you to Berkley and Netgalley for my copy in exchange for an honest review! Get your copy here.
