Title: You are Here
Author: Jennifer E. Smith
Date Started: December 12
Date Finished: December 13
Format: ebook from the digital library
Emma Healy has grown used to being the only ordinary one in her rather extraordinary family. But when she finds a birth certificate for a twin brother she never knew she had, along with a death certificate dated just two days later, she realizes why she never felt quite whole. She sets off on a trip to visit her brother’s grave. Peter Finnegan, her neighbor, comes along for the ride. Emma thinks they can’t possibly have anything in common, but with each passing mile, they find themselves learning more and more about themselves and each other.
As previously stated, I’m a sucker for road trips and YA novels. Combine the two together and I’ve pretty much got my perfect novel. When I saw that Jennifer E. Smith’s first book was about a guy and a girl in high school who go on a road trip to see the girl’s secret twin brother’s grave, I was kind of intrigued to see how this would play out. Fast forward three years since I added the book to my TBR pile and I was wary of reading this. Considering the last two reads earned one star ratings I was holding my breath with this book.
And holding. The build up of this book is slow, which is saying something considering the ebook is 256 pages. Emma is odd. She feels like she doesn’t belong in her big family and takes off on a whim to find her brother’s grave after she finds the birth certificate in the attic. Peter is odd because he’s a brain. He likes to read and learn. While his father is just a sheriff who doesn’t understand why he wants to leave considering his mother loved the town that they’ve lived in. But Peter wants to see the world. So one night he steals the keys to one of the cars that his father has in his impound lot and takes off.
Once I got a feel for the characters though, the book was still a little slow going, but at least there was some normal YA things within. The relationship between Emma and Peter is really strange too. They’re not exactly friends, but they’re not exactly enemies either. And around chapter twelve or so, Peter realizes that his feelings towards Emma were not that of a platonic friendship, but maybe somewhat of a crush. Here we go again.
Final Rating: 3 out of 5 stars. I have to admit that the dog was a nice touch. I’m a sucker for animals too. However, this road trip was very weird and I’m not sure if I really got the groove of this novel. Some things weren’t all that well executed. There’s supposed to be character development on a road trip and I feel that Peter and Emma just accepted the others weirdness and didn’t really work out their issues with their parents. Peter sort of did, but not Emma.
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