Synopsis

Don’t judge a name by its colors.

MacKenzie Hamilton has the unique ability to see letters and numbers in colors. Her synesthesia seemed almost useless until she decided to start categorizing people based on their names’ color combinations. For instance, her parents’ names are pretty, so they’re destined to reconcile. And David Shaw, the boy next door, has an ugly name, so of course, she had to push him away.

For three years, she’s lived with a false sense of security until senior year, when her color theory is put to the test in the worst way possible. David Shaw doesn’t understand why MacKenzie ghosted him. One minute, they were BFFs, and the next, it was like he never existed. But with money being tight, he has bigger problems to worry about.

College may not be in the cards, especially music school. When David is paired with MacKenzie for a class mock-marriage project, he hopes she’ll finally tell him what went wrong. He would love to be friends again… maybe even more.

The more they work together, the closer they become, causing MacKenzie to question her rationale for ditching David in the first place. Perhaps David’s name isn’t so ugly after all. As long as he never discovers why she shunned him, everything will work out. Famous last words.

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Review

Teenage angst is the worst! But this new novel reminded me of the drama I dealt with as a teen and how it impacted my life.

This story is told from two points of view – Kenzie and David. They are paired together for a project at school which is a problem for Kenzie just because of David’s name. She has synesthesia which allows her to see letters and numbers in color. However, Kenzie has permitted this to cripple her and how she sees people, including David. There are times when she acts like a spoiled brat because of this, which is all wrong. After all, who decides what colors are good or bad?

David has his own issues. His mother passed away when he was younger, his dad works hard, but they don’t have a lot of material goods (which isn’t a bad thing), and he has a younger sister, Fiona, that can be quite a handful. That hasn’t stopped how he feels about Kenzie and loving her from afar.

I wasn’t quite sure how to feel about Kenzie. She seemed very childish when it came to her synesthesia, and expected her visions of color to be 100% accurate. Nothing could be further from the truth. It takes time to be proven incorrect in her thoughts about names and numbers.

I admired David and his desire to improve his life. This included applying for a full scholarship to the college of his dreams. He enlists Kenzie’s help, but more as a bribe to complete their class project on his own if she will help him with part of his scholarship application. I chuckled when Kenzie thought this would be a slam dunk, yet something kept happening to the website that she was creating for David as part of his application. Turns out there were other factors at play, but I won’t spoil that for you, so read the book to discover that for yourself.

I enjoyed the interactions between David and Kenzie as they both learned to let down some of their walls with each other. I chuckled many times during the conversations between Kenzie and her twin brother Michael. There is something about emotional blackmail from stupid things we do as kids that is funnier years later.

This YA novel was a delight to read and we give it 4 1/2 paws up.

About the Author

After several decades of writing medical research documents, Cindy decided to switch gears and write stories where the chances of happy endings are 100% and the side effects include satisfied sighs, permanent smiles, and a chuckle or two.  She writes romance novels with a slice of humor that ranges from historical romance to southern fried romantic comedies. Her young adult debut novel, Tuned Into You (BookFish Books) was released in June 2016 and her adult sweet romance, Left Hanging (Red Adept Publishing) was released in March 2017. In A Jam (Red Adept Publishing) was released summer of 2018.

Cindy was born in Texas and raised in Georgia.  She received her Bachelor’s Degree from Kennesaw State University and her Master’s Degree from The University of Georgia.  Cindy enjoys gardening, reading, bodybuilding, and a whole bunch of movies.  She can be overheard quoting lines from her favorite movies… a lot.  But her favorite pastime is spending time with Mark, her bass playing husband, Maddie Rose, the coolest girl on the planet, and fur child Daisy Mae.  She currently resides in Nashville, TN where live music can be heard everywhere, even at the grocery store.

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