Thank you to Bloomsbury for sending me The Start of Me and You by Emery Lord to review. You can check out this book on Goodreads and buy it here!
Synopsis
Can you plan happiness?
It’s been a year since Paige’s first boyfriend died in a swimming accident and it’s time she rejoined the real world.
So she makes a plan:
1. Date a boy (long-standing crush Ryan Chase seems like the perfect choice)
2. Attend parties (with best friends by your side: doable)
3. Join a club (simple enough, right?)
4. Travel (might as well dream big)
5. Swim (terrifying. Impossible)
But when she meets Ryan’s sweet but so nerdy cousin, Max, he opens up her world and Paige’s plans start to change. Is it too late for a second chance at life?
Brimming with characters so real you feel you could pick up the phone and call them, The Start of Me and You will prove that it’s never too late for second chances. Perfect for fans of Rainbow Rowell, Jennifer Niven and John Green.
Review
Oh my gosh this book is adorably sweet and completely captivating. I started this book on a Saturday morning and finished it on Tuesday afternoon. It might not seem like a super short amount of time, but that was a busy weekend and big days at work on Monday and Tuesday. I needed to keep reading every chance I had, which hasn’t happened to me in a while.
I had seen Emery Lord’s name before, noticed her other novels When We Collided and The Names They Gave Us on Instagram. Because of this, I had my doubts. Could this beautiful book be overhyped? I usually don’t like these popular books as much as everyone else seems too. The Start of Me And You was different.
I liked Paige immediately. The way she decided to make a change and wrote five goals for the new school year sounded exactly like something I would do. I always make more than 5 New Year’s resolutions or goals, even though everyone says to make one and focus on it.
There was some great girl power moments in this book, with Paige and her friends Tessa, Morgan and Kayleigh. Even though Paige was making new friends in Ryan and Max, there were some beautiful parts of the story where you can see how much these girls mean to each other.
The romance element of this book was unlike a lot of YA novels. On one hand, we have our main character chasing the popular one when it’s the sweet one she’s meant for. A story line that is fairly common, but usually I don’t like the popular one. That character is usually not that nice, but Ryan was. All of the girls, particularly Tessa and Paige, develop real friendships with Ryan and Max. It wasn’t just about getting into a relationship, which I really enjoyed.
I’m not going to say anything about the ending except that when I finished reading the last page, I went back and read the ending all over again. Something I have never done.
Advertisements Share this:
