The Book Barbies: |Review| The Lifeguard by Deborah Blumenthal

Title: The Lifeguard
Author: Deborah Blumenthal
Expected publication: March 1st 2012 by Albert Whitman & Company
Genre: YA contemporary, fantasy & romance

Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥
Goodread's summary:

It's an unsettled summer for Sirena. Back in Texas, her family's splitting apart, but here in Rhode Island, at the cottage of her aunt, it's a different world. There are long days at the beach and intriguing encounters with Pilot, the lifeguard with shamanic skills. Sirena explores her obsession with Pilot and discovers his mysterious--almost magical--gifts.

Racquel's thoughts:
I'm not a car or a plane reader, whether print book, reading off of my phone or Kindle, if am in a moving vehicle while reading I will get a headache immediately. I mean it happens so fast where I'll read only two sentence then the pounding start and I have to put that book down. But with The Lifeguard as I was on my way home from school I said to myself, "So what if I'll get a killer headache? keep reading, Racquel!" So yeah, I was engrossed!

Despite the fun looking cover and summary, this book had absolute depth to it. Sirena, our pleasant main character was growing up and viewing the world with new eyes due to her parents divorce that really hit her hard.

Sirena's vacation and coming in terms with everything happening to her was handled completely realistically and I absolutely adored that! She was definitely a great narrator and I didn't want to let her go at the end of the book. Pilot is another character I didn't want to let go off, I wish we saw more of him throughout the book but in end I was happy with him. Some might argue that the romance was insta-love between Sirena and Pilot but I say (and I definitely hate insta-love!) it wasn't. To me it started out as lust and curiosity on Sirena's behalf before growing to something more, even if it happened quickly.

Another thing that I enjoyed while others didn't is the fantasy element of the book. Some people I noticed were bothered it wasn't fully explained but I- and again, this is coming from a person who isn't the biggest fan of the paranormal genre- actually liked that! There wasn't anything paranormal of evil about the 'magic' and I didn't really need an in depth explanation because the the fantasy element was just so, it just existed and that was enough for me because it was a spiritual and natural element rather then a paranormal one. It was mysterious yet even believable and I enjoyed that. It reminded me of The Secret Sisterhood of Heartbreakers by Lynn Weingarten because it also had the magical element that was never explained because it just was. There was magic and you had to believe it, something that I find intriguing. Overall, this is a hard book to resist! It's a beach read with depth and I absolutely enjoyed every page of it.

Rating: 5 hearts~ with a cast of characters you will love, humor and realism despite initial doubts people might face, this book is a fantastic read that I know I will reread again!