Tried to listen to this audiobook but didn't get far.

I should have stuck with it as I think it was going to bounce to Lara when grown up. ( )

I liked this book. I found it quirky in a good way and the characters are people that I would want to meet and hang out with. Although, I have to admit that it took me a while to warm up to Lara. She did come off as a bit aloof but at the same time she did have a kind heart. For instance, when she was left penniless, she did still give what little money she had to spare to a person in greater need.

Thalia Island is an intriguing place. I could see it being a real place with the way we as America are moving to a more eco-friendly environment. Finan has a good sense of humor. The romantic sparks between Lara and Finan was nice. I like that it was not the main focal point of the story.

While the story seemed to move a bit slowly for me in the beginning, I found the latter half to pick up speed. It is also where the mystery kicked in. What a cliffhanger. I look forward to reading book two to see what happens next. The only one complaint I have is the way Rupert aka Number Two was spoke about in the story. In one breath Lara would use Rupert's name and the next she would call him Number Two. I would have liked to see more consistency in either using just Rupert or Number Two. ( )

Lara J. Clarke is a tween in a thirty-something body. Having had no identifiable father and a mother who seemingly was a mix of social activist, hedonist and global wanderer, she has been raised and pampered by her brilliant, but eccentric grandfather and his personal assistant. Family wealth and privilege have allowed her to behave rudely and selfishly to pretty much everyone, and she has an extremely shallow and greedy boyfriend who fancies himself as an actor.
When her grandfather dies, she’s caught off guard by the terms of his will. She can continue to be a selfish twit and receive $30,000 a month, of clean up her act, put on her big girl panties and assume responsibility for running Thalia Island, the place her grandfather has been developing for years as a self-sufficient ecological community off the coast of British Columbia.
Unfortunately, those big girl panties are a couple sizes too big and even after Lara has her Come to Jesus moment that involves revoked credit cards and the threat of going to jail after a drunken hissy fit in a fancy department store, she still has a very hard time assuming responsibilities that come with her new job. Add in sabotage, a very hot and attractive engineer, a scare when her late grandfather’s personal assistant has a medical crisis, and a couple pother events I can’t reveal without spoiling the plot and you have a fine read that ends with a bang, setting up the next book which comes this fall. ( )