This review does not contain spoilers for Float.
Waverly is spending a month in Florida with her aunt -- a month away from Alaska and her professor parents -- when she is introduced to the brooding boy next door, Blake. She finds herself basically thrown into a new friend group almost immediately and has to navigate their dynamic while adjusting to Florida.
This book is in first person, and since I normally try to stay away from first person POVs, I had to adjust my thinking when reading this book, but it actually reads pretty well in Waverly's perspective and I found myself quickly encompassed in her narrative.
At first, Waverly gives off this "not like other girls" vibe that is not completely in your face, but definitely comes out of the woodwork on occasion. It may be because she is in a new environment and does not know where she stands in sunny Florida compared to the Arctic, but she abandons that attitude about one third of the way into the book. She definitely becomes more of a "girl's girl" throughout the book, and with only a few mildly misogynistic comments about romance books and bathing suits, we really see her grow.
Waverly and Blake's banter is actually pretty well done, and I liked the way that the author would have them banter in front of other people and turn it into some type of game between them -- it really suited the characters and amplified that "enemies to lovers" trope they had going on with one another. They have a lot of cute moments in addition to them fighting over swimming lessons or trying to be discrete in front of their friends.
I really liked the way that the author included Blake's relationship with his father and stepmother, and how we were able to see their dynamic more in depth rather than it just being side commentary throughout the book. It was nice to give the romance a bit of a break to see what Blake was experiencing -- yes, it was from Waverly's perspective, but the author allowed us to see multiple family dynamics as the story progressed and it complimented the romance nicely.
Some aspects of the book are a little cliché -- Waverly's mantra, for starters -- that make you question the book in the sense that it feels like the author wanted to make some things more relatable, but actually just dated the book a bit. Waverly has foot-in-mouth disease, I swear. At the most inconvenient or inappropriate times, this girl will blurt out the most insane string of words I have ever read.
Overall, this was a sweet and quick read that showed a rather quick summer romance blossom between two people who at first could not seem any more different. Waverly was able to form a number of relationships throughout her stay in Florida, and the author wrapped up everything quite nicely in the end.
Float definitely gives off some of the same vibes as The Summer I Turned Pretty trilogy by Jenny Han -- and this is me going off of the Amazon series alone, as I have not read the books. If you are looking for a quick, summer beach read, Float is for you.
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