Siena is a new agey girl from California, which I thought might be a problem, but she's not a preachy vegan or anything like that. She wears flowy clothes, follows her horoscope, likes yoga, feng shui and the pagan origins of things. All simple things that don't get much of a focus, just a few throwaway lines every now and then. Siena's father died when she was young, so it's just been her and her mom running the family bakery. I connected with her, despite the new agey thing, because she's close with her mom and has a German family background. Her father had a Carpe Diem list that got almost completed except for one thing: travel to Germany and meet the man that helped him and his parents flee East Berlin. So Siena's off to Germany to connect with her German side and track down the man her father never got to meet.
The book is a good blend of the things I love about S.A.S.S.
There's plenty of study, but it's not overwhelming. Siena's got a film project that's the main thing she's working on.
There's a bit of romance, but the RAs are forbidden to date the students, so it's more does he like me or not romance angst until nearer the end.
There's a mean girl who gets her comeuppance. Always fun.
And there are German sites, food, discos and travelling. They visit Heidelberg, which was my first stop in Germany so many years ago, and Rothenburg, although I was mad they didn't describe it at all. Rothenburg was one of my favorites.
Siena is a fun character and her enthusiasm for life is fabulous. The two friends she makes there are also great: country-loving, jock-boyfriend-having Meg from Texas and fashion-loving, secret poet, deadpan, future med student Chen.
Siena ends up meeting her second cousin and tracks down the man who helped her father and grandparents, so the book has some emotional moments that are written nicely.
It's the best example of this series so far, along with Cece's China book.
Suzanne Nelson wrote the next one, too, so hopefully it's as good, although it's not Germany, so I doubt it will be. We're going to Mexico.
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