Chasing Spring is a standalone romance by R.S. Grey. This review will be spoiler-free.

I thought I’d left Blackwater, Texas behind for good. I didn’t belong in the small town, but my dad wouldn’t listen. He dragged me back home in his beat-up truck and dropped a bomb along the way: Chase Matthews was moving in with us. He was the golden boy of my high school, my former best friend, and the last person I wanted sleeping across the hall. His presence was too great a reminder of the ghosts I was trying to forget.

I didn’t ask for a hero. I don’t want to be saved.

To me, Lilah Calloway meant late nights sneakin’; out, moonlit hair, and sparklers in July. She was my best friend until the day she left and I’d assumed Blackwater had seen the last of her. Then, like a tempest, she rolled back into town for the final half of senior year. The chopped hair and dark devil-may-care attitude warned most people away, but I knew if I fought hard enough, I could find the lost girl.

I didn’t want to be her hero. Some girls don’t need to be saved. (Synopsis from Goodreads)

A sweet young adult romance with heartbreaking subplots. 

This book is very different than most of R.S. Grey’s books. She usually writes adult romantic comedy, but this is a young adult contemporary romance. That distinction might not seem like a big deal, but it completely changed the tone of the book. Grey has a very specific voice and writing style, which I love, but I did not see it in this one. I was pretty disappointed by the loss of her signature writing style.

With that said, I don’t think the writing was bad. The writing was still good. It just wasn’t what I had grown to expect. I was also disappointed in the pacing of this story. I felt like this book would have benefited from being a tad longer. The ending felt very abrupt. It all came together too easily.

Lilah and Chase. Lilah has a lot of issues. She struggles with the fall out of her mother’s addiction and death. She is extremely intelligent, but she doubts herself. Chase is the star. He is on the baseball team and he is the prom king. He is popular and beloved by everyone. They don’t seem like they would work very well, but their shared history bonded them on a much deeper level. However, I did not feel the chemistry between them. They felt more like friends than two people in love. I just didn’t feel it.

I did love the concept of this book though. The idea that Grey had for this book was really interesting. The way Lilah and Chase are tied together and the events that tore them apart are so different than anything else I’ve read.

I also really loved that this was a multiple POV book. I loved being able to get a glimpse into the past through Elaine’s point of view. I think this might have been my favorite part of the book. It brought everything together and showed the truth behind Elaine and Hannah’s relationship.

Overall, I struggled with rating this book because there were numerous disappointing aspects, but there were also aspects I loved. So I settled on 3 out of 5 stars.

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