It Will Set You Free

by Caitlin Elizabeth Harper

Seventeen-year-old Ashling has always been a small-town girl, so when her home life blows up and her mother reacts by whisking her off to Brooklyn for the summer, Ash is forced to leave her simple life on a quiet street behind.

At first, Ashling refuses to leave the apartment – until her cute neighbor, Andy, coaxes her out of her solitude, taps into her creative side, and shows her everything the city has to offer. Ash has no sooner decided to give the city (and other people) a chance when she’s burned again: this time by both her father and Andy.

Just when Ash is ready to give up, her favorite community art space is faced with closure. Will Ashling be able to devise a plan to save it before it’s too late?

http://amzn.to/2jFPM7j

Genres: Fiction

164 pages, Paperback

Published January 20, 2017

About the author

https://www.caitlinelizabethharper.com/

Reviews

[Skip · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ashling and her mother are summering in Brooklyn, as an escape from boring Palm Springs. Ashling is miserable, and is determined to be a hermit while her mother is out taking advantage of her new urban environment (although she did graduate from NYU.) Eventually, we find out why they left and Ashling makes a friend while walking the dog, who slowly gets her to explore and engage. Harper does a good job with interpersonal relationships in the book. The only problem I had with this book (besides too many colors in the beginning when nothing was happening yet plotwise) is Ashling's virulent championing the local community space, which felt really out of character to me. Probably closer to a 3.5.

[Sheralee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very well written beach type read. I have not read many self published books without getting bored, disappointed and wishing the author had an editor. Ms Harpers book has a good story line that moves right along without boring dead spots. It also has good character development, the personalities are very likable and real. The only thing that was hard to overlook was Ashlings age, college age would have been more believable. The story does leave Ashling's relationship with her father unresolved.
This is a 3.5 - 4 book

[Ren · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such a nice, lighthearted book to read. Most of the books I read and shows I watch have things going from bad to worse, so it was nice to read something mostly happy for once. Ashling starts off at the lowest point of her life, but slowly rises from there. Harper does a great job of capturing the insecurities that come with being a teenager. Although I related to Ash's mom more than to Ash herself (mostly because I have always been in love with NYC), I still cared about Ash and wanted things to go well for her.

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book. It was a perfect summer read ❤

[Anu Sunil · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a very satisfying read. I've been reading a lot of dark fantasy and action books lately and I needed something on the lighter side to get into. This book definitely hit the spot. The story flowed well and the characters were very realistic and easy to relate to. Ashling's mom made a very interesting point when she said "there are no soul mates. It's just a matter of the right person at the right time, meeting you." I really liked that because it just adds to the realistic aspects of this book. There's no "we're meant to be together" or "fate brought us together" cringeworthy romance in this. It was cute and light yet still managed to give me andyflies in my stomach. The only small issue I had with this was that some of the side characters, like the different readers on that first night at SquareOne, were overly described. We didn't need to know what every single one of these small characters were wearing in detail. But other than that I loved everything about this book!

[Emily Casey · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is great to read a book with strong female characters. They are not perfect but when life throws them challenges they rise to the occasion.