The Start of Me and You Review

The Start of Me and You

Emery Lord

Bloomsbury

March 2015

4/5

Quotes:

"In books, sometimes the foreshadowing is so obvious that you know what's going to happen. But knowing what happens isn't the same as knowing how it happens. Getting there is the best part."

"Max was the human equivalent of a cult-classic TV show. Most people didn't get it. But the people who did get it? They loved it for all of its quirks."

"I mean you're always preparing yourself for the thing that is most likely to happen, instead of hoping for the thing that you most want to happen."

"If you're lucky, relationships - with family or friends or boyfriends - are limitless. There's no maximum on how much you love each other. The problem is, there's also no limit to how much you can hurt each other."

"Sometimes we get it wrong the first time. But you only have to get it right once."

Open Road Summer was a bit of a disappointment for me. I just couldn't connect with the female protagonist, so I was a little hesitant to jump into this one. I was pleasantly surprised by how relatable Paige and the rest of Emery Lord's characters are. This is a must read about love, grief, forgiveness, acceptance, growing up, and taking risks.

For the last year, Paige has been identified around her smallish town as the girl whose first boyfriend drowned in a freak accident. Paige is finally trying to move past this identity and make a name for herself. She starts by making a list of things she wants to do during her junior year. One item on her list is going on a date with her longtime crush Ryan. Things change once Paige joins the Quiz Bowl team with Ryan's dorky cousin Max Watson, who recently transferred back to their public school. Paige is finally getting her big chance to take risks and go outside of her comfort zone, and that all starts with Max.

I mentioned this earlier but I just want to stress again that I was shocked that I connected with Paige the way that I did. I've never experienced the death of a boyfriend, but I do understand the process of grief in general and how she felt as if she didn't know him very well, but she liked the attention he gave her. Every girl wants to be noticed and it can be tough getting over the loss of someone who saw the real you. I felt like the supporting characters were well written, especially Paige's support system aka her group of best friends. Her very best friend is the beautiful and strong Tessa and her other close friends are Kayleigh and Morgan. I loved that these girls went to the ends of the Earth to support and protect one another. There was never any seriously dramatic fights between them and I appreciated that promotion of uplifting female friendship. Ryan obviously wasn't as likable as Max, but I still felt like his character was well developed enough, he had his own fair share of loss and longing.

I wasn't sure if any male love interest from Emery could compete with Matt Finch but Max was pretty great in his own respect. What I most loved about their relationship was all the banter and witty pop culture that bonded them together. I thought it was absolutely adorable when Max told her that she was more of a Jane than an Elizabeth (from Pride & Prejudice) and then called her Janie throughout the rest of the book. He's just such a smart, caring, and nice guy, I found myself desperately wanting Paige to open her eyes up much sooner than she did, but she did wake up eventually.

There's not much for me to add except: read this! It's an eye opening book filled with a beautiful plot paired with some of the most memorable characters that I have managed to come across in YA throughout 2015. I also keep begging over and over for Max Watson to be real! Fingers crossed that there is still a chance of him existing.