MG Realistic Ficiton: The BFF Bucket List by Dee Romito

The BFF Bucket List by Dee Romito
Format:  ARC paperback
Pages:  235
Release Date:  May 3rd 2016 by Simon and Schuster/Aladdin
Genre:  MG Realistic Fiction
Source: Review copy provided by the author in exchange for an honest review via a Giveaway hosted at Literary Rambles

Skyler and Ella are two peas in a pod, best friends since forever.  However,  when Skyler starts wanting to watch scary movies and go bowling with a new group of friends when Ella would rather just hang out together, she knows that something is terribly wrong.  It seems like all the things they had in common are just drifting away, but Ella refuses to let that happen, instead she comes up with a Bucket list of activities for her and Skyler to complete together.  At first, Skyler loves the idea, adding talking to their secret crushes to the list, but slowly new friends and accidents seem to get in the way of the doing the list together.  And with both Ella and Skyler keeping a huge secret from each other, things go from bad to worse.  Will the girls be able to make up and complete their BFF list after all? 


This is the summer before Ella and Skyler are set to enter high school, they've each got big plans,  as well as a few secrets that they've been keeping.  The BFF Bucket List really captures that feeling of two friends outgrowing one another,  where at first you enjoyed doing all the same things, but then start to have new interests and hobbies that the other person doesn't have.  For Ella and Skyler, it's a struggle watching their friendship change,  and they each deal with it in very different ways.  Ella comes up with the list of tasks to complete and Skyler tries to broaden their group by bringing along other people or just doing the activities that she wants to try without Ella.  You get a feel for what each of the girls is thinking via the alternating of chapters between the duo.  I found the story easy to relate to and Romito really captures the feel of soon to be high schoolers.  The activities on the bucket list were quite creative and the best friend photo shoot and random acts of kindness were two of my favorites, what fun it would be for two best friends to come up with their own lists together.   As Skyler and Ella would say, "major fun" (with a salute).