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Review: Open Road Summer by Emery Lord

March 26, 2015May 26, 2015 Andge @ Down the Rabbit Hole

After breaking up with her bad-news boyfriend, Reagan O’Neill is ready to leave her rebellious ways behind. . . and her best friend, country superstar Lilah Montgomery, is nursing a broken heart of her own. Fortunately, Lilah’s 24-city tour is about to kick off, offering a perfect opportunity for a girls-only summer of break-up ballads and healing hearts. But when Matt Finch joins the tour as its opening act, his boy-next-door charm proves difficult for Reagan to resist, despite her vow to live a drama-free existence. This summer, Reagan and Lilah will navigate the ups and downs of fame and friendship as they come to see that giving your heart to the right person is always a risk worth taking. A fresh new voice in contemporary romance, Emery Lord’s gorgeous writing hits all the right notes.

4 Drink Me Potions

Open Road Summer was everything I thought it would be and way, way more.

Reagan has made a ton of mistakes in her past. She’s no good girl, unlike her best friend and superstar singer, Delilah (Dee) Montgomery. She gets tempted by things she shouldn’t and can’t have, going for harmful relationships that mean nothing.

Dee, on the other hand, is her rock. She doesn’t judge Reagan for what she does, but instead, is willing to bail her out of whatever trouble she’s in, even when she’s miles away on tour. She’s the exact opposite, the good-girl role model that tweens and their mothers can look up to with a smile.

I love that about this story. There is so much depth to all the characters. And each and everyone of them grows and develops for the duration of the summer.

Reagan meets Matt Finch, a guy who is nothing like the other guys she would normally go for. But, Reagan is determined to put behind her old ways, referring to herself as New Reagan, something who would think about her decisions and their consequences before doing anything rash and selfish. Matt is the symbol of a great and decent guy. He’s got manners and is polite to his fans. He doesn’t wear his fame like a second skin, feeling like he deserves all that he gets. Besides Dee, he’s the only one who sees Reagan for who she is, the brokenness that she deals with and was hoping to relinquish after a summer away on tour across the country.

For Matt and Reagan, I felt their attraction and friendship were very real. They started off with fun teasing and ribbing on each other. They flirt and laugh. But occasionally, they can share a conversation that shows Matt’s vulnerable side after the loss of his mother, and Reagan lets down her hard outer shell for him to see how broken she was underneath. They both grow in so many ways, but ultimately learning to live for the moment as life is precious and short. They can either choose to run away and hide from their problems or they can choose to risk pain and hurt in order to feel everything with someone special while they can.

Open Road Summer held so much more depth in its story beyond what the synopsis made me believe. It’s what drew me to it, and kept me reading straight through the day. No one’s perfect, as Reagan is such a flawed character. But it’s her determination to do things right as New Reagan, and her loyalty and fierce protectiveness of Dee as the media tries to marr her public image that makes me love her. Flaws shouldn’t define a person, and it definitely doesn’t do that for Reagan. There’s always more layers, which Matt finds out for himself.

And my, Matt is one amazing guy. Yes, he may be cheeky and unabashedly confident as he chased Reagan half the summer on the mutual attraction they felt. But he also writes the sweetest song lyrics, for the different women in his life. From an ex who exploited their relationship to the media, to his girl best friend, to Reagan and the most heartbreaking one? A beautiful song prose written about his mother on learning how to be strong as she taught him to be. See? It’s so hard not to love the characters when there are so many layers to them that make them so tangibly real. Like I can reach out to the stars and find a Matt Finch for myself (I wish).

As for Dee, she may seem like the 3rd wheel to this story but it’s nothing like that at all. I love her for how she is with Reagan, and for the tough situations that being in the spotlight puts her in. Yet she always finds the courage to keep on going through, wanting to put a smile on her fans’ faces while staying true to herself. She had her heart broken, but it’s not because her ex (Jimmy) didn’t love her. Quite the contrary, he loved her too much to keep her tied to him so he set her free. Their crazy love story, which was obviously not the highlight of Open Road Summer, was still so compelling and sweet, and I’d like to think that there is a lot of hope for the two of them. Whether they really get back together or not, a love built on a friendship like they had can’t be broken so easily.

I can go on gushing about this book, but then this review would be way, way too long. I loved that the 3 main characters each grew into their own by the end of the summer. They each had to learn what was important in life and where to move on with themselves after facing changes or heartbreak. The ending was kept particularly real. Although I love a good fairy tale ending, Emery Lord doesn’t make it out that Reagan and Matt have all the answers. There will be fights, and there are no guarantees that they’re not gonna hurt each other or end up breaking it off, but they’re worth the risk and worth fighting for. They don’t need all the answers or have to have a set plan of the future. They just need somewhere to start.

And that’s the beauty of it. Such a wonderful lesson that anyone can reflect and relate to. I’m pleasantly surprised and pleased to have found such depth to a book I initially thought was going to be more on the fluff side of things.

Overall Recommendation:
With three very compelling and realistic characters, Reagan, Matt and Dee really stole my heart. Each facing different problems at the beginning of Dee’s summer concert tour across the country, they learn so much about facing up to the problems that life hands you, and possibly even allowing themselves to be vulnerable for once. None of them are absolutely perfect, each frazzled by either fame, heartbreak or the horrible mistakes of the past. The characters give off such an honest feel to them that it tugs on your heartstrings when things get crazy. With such a straightforward plot, Emery Lord wrote it in such a way that drives home deeply the message of coming into your own and taking each moment for what it is. I highly recommend Open Road Summer for pretty much everyone.

Review: How to Love by Katie Cotugno

March 21, 2015May 26, 2015 Andge @ Down the Rabbit Hole

Before:
Reena Montero has loved Sawyer LeGrande for as long as she can remember: as natural as breathing, as endless as time. But he’s never seemed to notice that Reena even exists until one day, impossibly, he does. Reena and Sawyer fall in messy, complicated love. But then Sawyer disappears from their humid Florida town without a word, leaving a devastated—and pregnant—Reena behind.

After:
Almost three years have passed, and there’s a new love in Reena’s life: her daughter, Hannah. Reena’s gotten used to being without Sawyer, and she’s finally getting the hang of this strange, unexpected life. But just as swiftly and suddenly as he disappeared, Sawyer turns up again. Reena doesn’t want anything to do with him, though she’d be lying if she said Sawyer’s being back wasn’t stirring something in her. After everything that’s happened, can Reena really let herself love Sawyer LeGrande again?

In this breathtaking debut, Katie Cotugno weaves together the story of one couple falling in love—twice.

4.5 Drink Me Potions

I just wanted to say that How to Love has left me feeling like a wreck….in the best possible way.

Have you ever loved someone for so long that you feel it in your bones? Where it becomes such a huge part of you that it’s like a part of your chemical makeup, and you can’t remember a time when you didn’t love them? Loving someone also doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ll always be happy, but that sometimes they can make you feel miserable too. That’s just how love is, in the realest sense. Love is never meant to be easy or simple. It gets complicated and messy, with the huge highs and the deep lows. Reena and Sawyer’s story has captured that aspect in so many ways and more. It wasn’t built on one giant, perfect moment, but on many little moments that accumulated and totaled into something great.

Thus, How to Love truly was a roller coaster ride for me. I was initially so angry at everyone, mad at Reena, mad at Sawyer, mad at Allie and mad at all their parents. They all did things that made me want to shake them into comprehension. But there were also those moments that touched me, that made me smile at the tenderness of their budding relationship, both in the past and in the present. That’s just how great of a story it was. I could be angry at the characters, but I was captivated by it all the same.

Both Reena and Sawyer were by far from perfect. And that is what’s so amazing about this story. If only Reena had expressed her feelings for Sawyer from since they were young, maybe it would’ve turned out differently. If Sawyer wasn’t so messed up at the time they were dating, maybe he would’ve done things differently. And although they could’ve done so many different things, their imperfections still knit together a story of falling in love, not once, but twice.

The only reason I couldn’t rate it a 5 stars was because I so, so, so wanted it to continue on. I wasn’t ready to leave them there. I wanted to know more, see what else was on the horizon for them. But I guess this leaves it up to the imagination, and if I were to imagine what would happen for Reena and Sawyer now, I’d like to think that they could get over any hurdle together after all that they’ve been through, that their love was stronger than all else and they’d finally come home.

‘Cause after all, maybe they really are like homing pigeons. And maybe they are each other’s home. Where they belong.

Overall Recommendation:
How to Love is one of those novels that has left me breathless, excited and sad that it’s come to a conclusion all at the same time. A complicated and messy love story of two people who thought they screwed up so badly, only to find that they still had it in themselves to love each other so strongly. This book makes you want to believe in a love like that, makes you want to find a love like that for yourself. I can honestly say that this book is not overhyped at all. It’s every bit as good as everyone says. Please, do yourself a favour and dive into this story.

Review: The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith

February 26, 2015May 26, 2015 Andge @ Down the Rabbit Hole

Who would have guessed that four minutes could change everything?

Today should be one of the worst days of seventeen-year-old Hadley Sullivan’s life. Having missed her flight, she’s stuck at JFK airport and late to her father”s second wedding, which is taking place in London and involves a soon-to-be stepmother Hadley’s never even met. Then she meets the perfect boy in the airport’s cramped waiting area. His name is Oliver, he’s British, and he’s sitting in her row.

A long night on the plane passes in the blink of an eye, and Hadley and Oliver lose track of each other in the airport chaos upon arrival. Can fate intervene to bring them together once more?

Quirks of timing play out in this romantic and cinematic novel about family connections, second chances, and first loves. Set over a twenty-four-hour-period, Hadley and Oliver’s story will make you believe that true love finds you when you’re least expecting it.

4.5 Drink Me Potions

What if you missed your flight by 4 minutes?
What if you hadn’t been able to find a seat in the next flight out?
What if your seat didn’t happen to be next to a charming British guy you met earlier in the airport?This is the kind of story that is charming and romantic in the way it set up its premise. Fate and chance brought two strangers together by tiny threads of connection. If any of the above things hadn’t happened, Hadley and Oliver would’ve never met. That is the kind of story I am completely a sucker for. And this time around, Jennifer E. Smith didn’t disappoint me.

The chemistry between Hadley and Oliver was amazingly believable. Sometimes I find it hard to believe in the connection between the people who are supposedly “attracted” to each other. I just can’t feel it. This wasn’t the case here. Yes, the story takes place over the course of 24 hours but it wasn’t completely like they fell in love immediately. There was this cute teasing and banter they had throughout the flight that really softened me up to both of them. They even teased each other about how they “became a couple” when an old lady sitting next to them mistakenly assumed they knew each other prior to arriving at the airport.

“So,” the woman asks, “how did you two meet?”
“Believe it or not,” Oliver says, “it was in an airport…I was being quite gallant, actually, and offered to help with [Hadley’s] suitcase. And then we started talking, and one thing led to another….”
Hadley grins. “And he’s been carrying my suitcase ever since.”

Oliver particularly helped, being the funny and adorable guy that he is. Their conversations or Hadley’s memories of them later in the story were my favourite part.

“Which was your favourite? Of all the places you’ve been?”
Oliver seemed to consider this for a moment before the telltale dimple appeared on his face. “Connecticut. What about you?”
“Alaska, probably. Or Hawaii…I’ve been to all but one [state], actually.”
“So which one have you missed?”
“North Dakota.”
“So if you could go anywhere else in the world, where would it be?”
Hadley thought about this for a moment. “Maybe Australia. Or Paris. How about you?”
Oliver had looked at her as if it were obvious, the faintest hint of a grin at the corners of his mouth. “North Dakota,” he’d said.

See how easy it is to love them together? That being said, this book isn’t all centred around their romance. In fact, a lot of it dealt in Hadley’s anger at her father for leaving her mother so out of the blue for another woman he met while away for a semester in Oxford. Smith did a very good job of making me feel as broken as Hadley did over what her father did, and the new life he was about to finalize for himself. Half way around the world, leaving the life he did have with her back in America.

I liked that by the end, she was able to deal with the mess of things that had been tossed her way. Love is an illogical thing , quoteth both of Hadley’s parents. Even when things end, there may be good out of it all.

All in all, it was very romantic and heartfelt. Both about learning to love your family no matter what may happen or the distance between them, and taking chances before there is no time left for them. I wished the book hadn’t ended so fast, yet at the same time, the way it concluded left an air of magic and uncertainty to it. In fact, the uncertainty of the future made it all the better because it leaves room for us to imagine how things would play out past this 24 hour mark. An absolutely great story, and definitely worth the 4.5 stars!

Overall Recommendation:
The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight is as unique as its name, and definitely lives up to its implications. With two sweet characters that are both troubled with family issues, Hadley and Oliver makes it believable when it comes to sparking a connection so deep that they’d be willing to find each other in the heart of London again after one amazing transatlantic flight together. Filled with witty banter and the heartache of letting go of anger, there is no other book I’d rather recommend in this genre.