Synopsis:
Set in Los Angeles and Nashville over a long hot summer, Becoming Mila shimmers with friendship, family frictions and romance. It’s the first book in an exhilarating new trilogy from Estelle Maskame.
Meet Mila. Sixteen years old, an ordinary LA girl . . . except for her A-list actor dad. With his next big movie premiere on the horizon, the media spotlight is intense – and when Mila’s antics make headlines, something must be done.
Exit Mila. Dispatched to small-town Tennessee to cool off. It’s summer, she’s off-grid in the middle of nowhere, but Mila’s no sooner arrived than she falls out – in spectacular style – with local mayor’s son, Blake.
Blake knows just how to rattle Mila. He also knows just how she feels. He gets the drama, the dynamics, the tricky parents. Perhaps they have far more in common than either of them cares to admit.
Review:
I basically only picked this up because it was available through Audible Plus and wouldn’t be available in a few weeks. My plan was to get around to it at some point, as I took photos for the first two books in the series a while ago, but this gave me the push to listen.
Becoming Mila was a very entertaining read. I listened to the majority of this book in one sitting, which I wasn’t sitting for as I was doing house work, and it kept me entertained the whole time. I wouldn’t say this was a revolutionary YA read but if you take it at face value it’s fun.
I was half expecting Mila to be an unlikeable, entitled brat, but I actually really liked her. She wasn’t thrilled about having to go to Nashville for the summer but she never took that out on the people around her. Well other than her dad and Reuben but they deserved it.
I loved how her aunt wasn’t like ‘your parents set these rules so you have to follow them’. She trusted Mila to be responsible, something her own parents didn’t do, and let her have a good time. All she asked was to let her know where she was and what was going on. This is how you have a good relationship with your child/person in your care. Harsh rules create teens that are very good at sneaking out and hiding things from you.
There was a lot more to Becoming Mila than just the budding romance. There were family secrets and friendships new and old. The family drama was pretty easy to guess very early on but this didn’t make the book any less entertaining. It’s also obvious where Mila and Blake’s friendship will go but it was pretty cute seeing them get closer. Especially when Blake shares his love of music with her. There’s always got to be a guy with an acoustic guitar at the party.
I’m actually about to start the second book in this series very soon. Hopefully it’s just as good, if not better than the first. Although I am only rating this 3.5/5 stars, I would recommend checking it out if you’re looking for a clean YA romance with a little mystery twist.
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