Emmy & Oliver
Oliver was abducted by his father 10 years ago. Back then Emmy was his next door neighbor and best friend, and Emmy's parents would become the rock to which Oliver's mom would lean on over the years.After a decade of searching, Oliver is found and brought back to his mother's house. Emmy has always kept Oliver in her heart, but she doesn't know if he'll even remember her. Emmy's parents have kept Oliver's disappearance in their anxieties-- a real example of a parent's worst nightmare.
Now, as Oliver begins to acclimate to his "new" surroundings, while also trying to reconcile what people are saying about his dad, he struggles to adjust.
You know what was unique about this book? It somehow was able to be cute and serious at the same time. I don't come across many books that are able to pull both of those feelings off, but Robin Benway has done it here.
I was super into this book and the adorableness of Emmy and Oliver's journey back to being friends again after so long. I could feel their pain, worries, awkwardness, and love permeating through the pages.
But this book was about way more than Emmy and Oliver. It was also about 2 families (the parents weren't MIA in this book), a friend group, and a community. I loved that all the characters were ALIVE, in the sense that I got to know them and got to see what made them tick. I particularly loved Emmy's friends-- Caro and Drew. They were kind of corny at times, but they made the book fun and kept it light.
The parents, well, I had a love/hate thing with them. I liked that there were involved parents in this book, but ughhhh the over protective-vibe was a little much for me. Oliver didn't get abducted by a stranger-- he was taken over a custody dispute-- so I really didn't get why Emmy's parents treated her so psychotically. And why she went along with it. I guess the rebel inside of me wanted her to have more backbone.
On the other hand, I was very happy with Oliver's mother and her new family's story. It felt genuine and complicated and flawed-- which I think is most realistic thing that Benway could have done.
OVERALL: It's cute and easy to read, but it's got those MOMENTS when it gets serious. I feel like all contemporary lovers should try this because it's not just fluff-- it's friendship and cute romance and family drama and major issues.
Date Published: 6/23/2015
How I got this book: Library
Publisher: HarperTeen
Add it to your To-Read List!!
My Rating: 4.5/5
Character: EmmyBook: Since You've Been Gone by Morgan Matson
- Because I think it would do Emmy some good reading about how Emily was challenged to come out of her comfort zone.
Great review! I agree with you. I also loved this book because Emmy and Oliver had such a healthy relationship. They allowed each other to be their own person, and they encouraged each other's futures. There's not enough of that in YA contemporaries.
ReplyDeleteYes!! It felt like a very realistic relationship and not an obsessive one-- which is all too common in YA, I could really do with more Emmy and Oliver's in books!!
DeleteSo glad to hear that you loved this one! I just bought it recently because it sounded really good. I like soft and fluffy YA books sometimes but most of the time I like for it to have more depth like you are saying this story has. I'm even more excited to review it now. Great review!
ReplyDeleteI hope you like it as much as I did!! It was a hard book to put down because it was making me so happy.
DeleteYAY! Glad you loved this. I LOVED this one so much and loved all their friendships so much. Lovely review!!
ReplyDeleteYAY so glad you liked it too!!! I loved the friendship!! I would love to see more YA book friendships like the ones in this book.
DeleteTOTALLY agree with you about this one! I loved it so much, and I agree that the cute-serious ratio was on point! Caro and Drew are the BEST! And I think that the family stuff felt so very authentic- though I do think Emmy's parents were a little over the top too, but to me, it made sense why she had no backbone (I wouldn't have either hahaha). Great review, so glad you loved it too!
ReplyDeleteIt definitely made sense why she didn't have backbone-- It's just not my personality, so it's hard for me not to want her to tell them to get off her ass. I totally NEED more friendships in my reading life like the ones in this book. SO glad you loved it too!!!
DeleteSo excited to read this one! I just picked it up on an ebook sale recently!
ReplyDeleteI read this last year and liked it a lot! I was really surprised at how cute it was! I was expecting it to be really serious. The parents were so annoying! I loved the friendships so much too.
ReplyDeleteIt definitely sounds good and I've seen other good reviews for this too. I love to see parents actually involved in YA *gasp* although it does sound like Emmy's were a little, over the top, maybe? Still it sounds like a fantastic read.
ReplyDeleteIt's so hard to pull off cute and serious, always refreshing to find a book that can! As much as I love romance, I also love friendships and family storylines so I'm glad it sounds like a good mix. I'm sad my library ebook expired before I could read it, I'll have to check it out again soon!
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