Though I haven't actually read the first book in this series, I requested this book because the premise sounded exactly like the kind of light, fluffy read I wanted right now. And I was right! Gemma's Not Sure isn't exactly fluff but it is a well-written, enjoyable YA contemporary story centered around a romance. Our two main characters are Gemma, a shy girl struggling to decide what she wants to do when she finishes school, and Jamie, a guy who has started uni and is struggling massively with it. They meet, they start a friendship and our story goes from there.
You couldn't really tell this was a sequel which was something I appreciated. I believe the first book is focused around Lily (a secondary character in this one) and I'm kind of glad I skipped it because she is a pretty unlikeable person. She's not awful but she's not really a good friend to Gemma and I'm not sure I would be invested in a whole book about her. But apart from the odd character not being explained/introduced, this book stands alone pretty well.
The plot is good and it actually goes a bit deeper than I was expecting from the blurb. It's still a light and easy read, but it does deal with several topics not usually covered in YA fiction in terms of life choices and academic struggles. The characters are well-developed and grounded in reality. It doesn't suffer from a lot of the negatives of 'fluffy' YA but has a lot of the positives.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It definitely works as a standalone and I imagine if you enjoyed the first one, this will give you more of the elements you liked. I hope the next book in the series will focus more on Rosie as that was a plot thread left dangling (though I suspect Sarah will be the protagonist). All in all though, this was a great read.
Overall Rating:
.5
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