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missreaderaddict's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Child death, and Death
carlisajc's review against another edition
5.0
Guys. So this book was wonderful and magical and I don’t think I’ve related to a main character on a such a deep level for a long time…if at all. So let’s just talk about it.
Reasons Paige and I are actually the same exact person:
-She lives in Indiana and I was born in Indiana and went to high school in Indiana. HOOSIERS, BABY.
-She’s a grammar nerd and I’m an Editing minor. GRAMMAR IS A HUGE PART OF MY LIFE.
-She’s super awkward and overthinks around boys, aka me. Case in point:
-She has arguments with boys about Pride and Prejudice. Okay, this one hasn’t actually happened to me…but if a boy were to come up to me and start arguing about the merits of Jane vs. Elizabeth in P&P, I think I would drop everything right there and then and just marry him.
-She is an overanalyzing queen. This is what I tell people all the time: I am an English major. I am trained to overanalyze. I could write a four-page paper on a ten-line poem. Overanalysis is what I do and it carries over into my personal life. Here’s her quote:
-She loves Gilmore Girls and acts like Rory. ‘Nough said.
-She hangs out in bookstores by herself. Me. Always. When I was in high school, if I was upset, I would drive over to Barnes and Noble and just walk around, letting the books calm me down. Bookstores have a wonderfully calming effect on me.
-She’s hilariously witty…but mostly in her head. I’ve had friends call me witty before, but I don’t know that I actually am. In my head, though, I think I’m hilarious. Like awkwardly witty. Like this quote:
-She is constantly trying to figure out if that boy likes her. Boys are confusing. I don’t know what all those people are thinking when they say girls are complicated and confusing. I never know what a boy is thinking, whether he likes me or doesn’t. And Paige parallels my thoughts exactly.
-She falls for the nerdy boys. Totes me. Can’t help it, yo.
-She (secretly) loves to write. Writing is her outlet, something I completely relate to. And though I’ve never done any screen writing like she does, I understand the feeling of expressing yourself in words better than you could ever express yourself in any other way.
So, as you can see, Paige Hancock and I are basically the same person. If not exactly the same, then same enough that we’d be best friends for all time and eternity. And our future husbands would be best friends for all time and eternity as well. Because that’s what would happen.
But like I said, I don’t think I’ve ever related to a main character on such a deep level before. And that’s an amazing thing to experience. Hearing her words and thinking, Yeah. That’s exactly how I feel. Or even hearing her words and having them identify something I’ve been feeling without even realizing I’ve been feeling it.
This is a book that finally motivated me to do some thinking. And it’s kind of personal, so I won’t share it here…but it’s made me re-evaluate some relationships in my life that I wouldn’t have thought to. Which is a hard thing, but an overall good thing.
This is also my first Emery Lord book, which is kind of funny because I’ve been following her on Twitter for months. Her twitter is this perfect mixture of hilarity and profundity. So I’ve been following and liking and RTing for a long time, without having actually read any of her books. But now I’m so glad that I finally picked this one up. It was beautiful and relatable and funny and sweet and endearing and just wonderful. She is now an auto-buy author always and forever.
And finally, the writing. The writing is gorgeous. I was highlighting on my e-reader all over the place. I seriously have so many quotes highlighted, whether it’s because a sentence was super beautiful, or a thought just spoke to me, or Paige said something super hilarious/awkward, or I felt like something directly related to me. So many highlights because the writing is just that good. It never felt forced or overly-lyrical. It just felt right and it felt beautiful.
So overall, I just really, really 520% loved this book. It’s on my to-buy list, but I’ll probably wait until the PB is published in March because I heard there’s bonus content there! *Eeeeep*
Reasons Paige and I are actually the same exact person:
-She lives in Indiana and I was born in Indiana and went to high school in Indiana. HOOSIERS, BABY.
-She’s a grammar nerd and I’m an Editing minor. GRAMMAR IS A HUGE PART OF MY LIFE.
-She’s super awkward and overthinks around boys, aka me. Case in point:
“‘Hey.’ My voice sounded breathy, like I hadn’t used enough air in my attempt to speak. I hoped it came off more like ‘flirty’ and less like ‘bronchitis.'”
-She has arguments with boys about Pride and Prejudice. Okay, this one hasn’t actually happened to me…but if a boy were to come up to me and start arguing about the merits of Jane vs. Elizabeth in P&P, I think I would drop everything right there and then and just marry him.
-She is an overanalyzing queen. This is what I tell people all the time: I am an English major. I am trained to overanalyze. I could write a four-page paper on a ten-line poem. Overanalysis is what I do and it carries over into my personal life. Here’s her quote:
“I couldn’t master this kind of apathy, no matter how hard I tried. I was built to care—to notice, to overanalyze, to try—in a way that felt inalterable.”
-She loves Gilmore Girls and acts like Rory. ‘Nough said.
“‘Thanks,’ I said, laughing a little. Thanks?! Someone kisses you and you say thanks?! Did you learn nothing from Rory Gilmore?”
-She hangs out in bookstores by herself. Me. Always. When I was in high school, if I was upset, I would drive over to Barnes and Noble and just walk around, letting the books calm me down. Bookstores have a wonderfully calming effect on me.
-She’s hilariously witty…but mostly in her head. I’ve had friends call me witty before, but I don’t know that I actually am. In my head, though, I think I’m hilarious. Like awkwardly witty. Like this quote:
“‘I have a proposition for you.’ Dear God, let it be marriage.” Or this one:
“If my life had TV sound effects, a sad trombone would have womp-womped overhead.”
-She is constantly trying to figure out if that boy likes her. Boys are confusing. I don’t know what all those people are thinking when they say girls are complicated and confusing. I never know what a boy is thinking, whether he likes me or doesn’t. And Paige parallels my thoughts exactly.
-She falls for the nerdy boys. Totes me. Can’t help it, yo.
-She (secretly) loves to write. Writing is her outlet, something I completely relate to. And though I’ve never done any screen writing like she does, I understand the feeling of expressing yourself in words better than you could ever express yourself in any other way.
So, as you can see, Paige Hancock and I are basically the same person. If not exactly the same, then same enough that we’d be best friends for all time and eternity. And our future husbands would be best friends for all time and eternity as well. Because that’s what would happen.
But like I said, I don’t think I’ve ever related to a main character on such a deep level before. And that’s an amazing thing to experience. Hearing her words and thinking, Yeah. That’s exactly how I feel. Or even hearing her words and having them identify something I’ve been feeling without even realizing I’ve been feeling it.
This is a book that finally motivated me to do some thinking. And it’s kind of personal, so I won’t share it here…but it’s made me re-evaluate some relationships in my life that I wouldn’t have thought to. Which is a hard thing, but an overall good thing.
This is also my first Emery Lord book, which is kind of funny because I’ve been following her on Twitter for months. Her twitter is this perfect mixture of hilarity and profundity. So I’ve been following and liking and RTing for a long time, without having actually read any of her books. But now I’m so glad that I finally picked this one up. It was beautiful and relatable and funny and sweet and endearing and just wonderful. She is now an auto-buy author always and forever.
And finally, the writing. The writing is gorgeous. I was highlighting on my e-reader all over the place. I seriously have so many quotes highlighted, whether it’s because a sentence was super beautiful, or a thought just spoke to me, or Paige said something super hilarious/awkward, or I felt like something directly related to me. So many highlights because the writing is just that good. It never felt forced or overly-lyrical. It just felt right and it felt beautiful.
So overall, I just really, really 520% loved this book. It’s on my to-buy list, but I’ll probably wait until the PB is published in March because I heard there’s bonus content there! *Eeeeep*
olivia_b2509's review
emotional
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
eesh25's review against another edition
2.0
2.5 Stars
How can a book be cute and infuriating at the same time. I can't figure it out.
This novel is the story of Paige, who lost her boyfriend a year ago. She wants to prove to the world that she's finally okay and for that, she makes a plan. That plan includes dating her long-time crush, Ryan Chase. But when she meets his cousin Max, after he recruits her for QuizBowl, her perfect plan stops seeming so perfect.
Quite a simple plot. Nothing you haven't heard before. But one that also promises cuteness and that's why I decided to read it.
And it was cute. Max was a wonderful guy, his friendship with Paige was great, as was his relationship with Ryan, who was also great. The friendship and family aspects that were included in the book were unexpected but appreciated since it's not that common (sadly) for YA to show female good friendships.
Things were good. The writing wasn't bad, the place was good, the book was funny and interesting. Even Paige wasn't nearly as annoying by the end. Sure, some things were predictable, but that was expected. And yet, it gets 2.5 stars. Why?
Because of the exaggeration.
I swear to God, Paige would cry for an hour if she lost her pen, that's how excessive the reactions were. It was like the author wanted to make the book exciting but couldn't find the proper way to do so. The conversations often came off stilted for at least the first half of the novel and Every. Single. Emotion, or reaction, was exaggerated.
But the worst part was Paige's trauma. I can understand her being upset over her boyfriend's death and occasionally crying about it. But I will not, ever, accept that she has nightmares about drowning because a her boyfriend (a guy she knew two months) died over a year ago in a drowning incident that she didn't witness. All that was only for a conflict that wasn't even very good. It was beyond pushing it.
Note to all authors: If you can't properly research trauma then don't include it in you novel. It is not a convenient plot device for you to use. There are people out there who actually do live with traumatic nightmares and I'm pretty sure they do not appreciate you turning their pain into a plot device.
*deep, calming breaths*
Overall, this was a read that had me very divided. It had good parts, but I was tempted to ignore those because of the negatives. The 'big' moments felt anticlimactic and I rolled my eyes so many time, I was afraid my contacts would get dislodged. And yet the novel wasn't terrible. How?
I am still so confused. And that's why I don't know if this is something I would recommend. Read it if you think it sounds interesting, I guess. Because I'm stumped.
stormyharper's review against another edition
2.0
This book is about a girl called Paige who boyfriend died about a year ago and how she's dealing with the situation it follows her and her friends she's decided to make a list of things that she wants to do first thing was to go to a party second thing was to get a boyfriend and she also decided to join the quizball team I also really like Max in this story he seemed like a little bit of a geeky character but so funny I just like his sense of humour and him and Paige to get on really well also Paige is dealing with the fact that her parents have decided to get back together but because of their toxic relationship before Paige is not happy about this and she's also dealing with that her grandma can't contain any new Memories but after reading this book I actually think it was ok not the best work out there but OK and I don't think it was great that she only started talking to Max because of his cousin Ryan Chase I really hate it how long this work was I can't believe they got together over me just at the end that's why I have only gave it 2 stars
nikkigribuste's review against another edition
4.0
i actually really liked this one even though i wasn't expecting to
it started off quite slow in my opinion but i find that emery lord conveyed the same writing style and build up in the last novel i read of hers 'the names they gave us'.
i really liked paige's character - i usually get annoyed by 16 year old fictional teenage girls just because they make stupid decisions, are winy, and remind me too much of myself at that age HAHAH. it's almost too painful to read. but yeah i really liked her, she seemed like a really good friend and u could always tell she had good intentions.
max omg, i have found another male mc to gush over. he is adorable. typical star wars loving nerd. i could just FEEL my intense care when he ignored and was avoiding paige for a week and i couldn't control my agony and screams at the pages telling him to GET A GRIP AND STOP BEING A FUCKING CHILD. but then when the reasoning came out i was like 'ok fair enough'. i thought he was winy over how paige reacted but it seemed he enjoyed snooping at her dairy instead lol.
i also loved the pride and prejudice references - i'm a major sucker for contemporary authors doing this where they compare their mc's to jane eyre and their male love interests as mr darcy. it may be overdone but i will never get enough of it. 4/5 :)
"i think i've loved you since that first day"
"i would walk 500-milesly yours"
it started off quite slow in my opinion but i find that emery lord conveyed the same writing style and build up in the last novel i read of hers 'the names they gave us'.
i really liked paige's character - i usually get annoyed by 16 year old fictional teenage girls just because they make stupid decisions, are winy, and remind me too much of myself at that age HAHAH. it's almost too painful to read. but yeah i really liked her, she seemed like a really good friend and u could always tell she had good intentions.
max omg, i have found another male mc to gush over. he is adorable. typical star wars loving nerd. i could just FEEL my intense care when he ignored and was avoiding paige for a week and i couldn't control my agony and screams at the pages telling him to GET A GRIP AND STOP BEING A FUCKING CHILD. but then when the reasoning came out i was like 'ok fair enough'. i thought he was winy over how paige reacted but it seemed he enjoyed snooping at her dairy instead lol.
i also loved the pride and prejudice references - i'm a major sucker for contemporary authors doing this where they compare their mc's to jane eyre and their male love interests as mr darcy. it may be overdone but i will never get enough of it. 4/5 :)
"i think i've loved you since that first day"
"i would walk 500-milesly yours"
bookdevouringmisfit's review against another edition
5.0
When I read Jessi Kirby's Things We Know by Heart, I noted in my review that it didn't deliver in its portrayal of grief. I don't mean to compare but once I read this I just couldn't help it--Things We Know by Heart is just mediocre in comparison to The Start of Me and You. The former is more focused on the romance while the latter has so much going on.
There is the friendship which is now so rare in a lot of YA books that I wish every YA book out there would just show more. The bond between the four girls is so authentic that Emery Lord's dedication of its own chapters for the four girls only shows how solidified their friendship is. Each girl has her own strengths and weaknesses that completes and balances their friendship. Theirs is a friendship of deep understanding, frank conversations and strong bond which I really wish I had when I was in high school.
Another aspect that this novel excels at is the familial relationships. Paige's grandmother played such a pivotal role on being an inspiration and role model to her. It is her grandmother who gave her so much strength and courage in finding more about herself and venturing on her dream of being a writer. Paige's divorced-but-dating parents and the younger sister she can't get along with were such important parts of the novel as well. Her mother has become very overprotective following Aaron's death that Paige had to follow rules all the time. What made her home life more strange is that her mother and father have started dating again and have been dating already for four months! Of course, Paige was unhappy because she didn't want to see her parents hurt each other again as opposed to her younger sister who was just ecstatic. This just added to one of the reasons why she and her sister can't get along well. All of this just made her grandmother the only other person she can really talk to so her death really hit me hard.
And now, onto the aspect that I always look forward to in the books I read--the romance. I love a good romance and this one didn't disappoint. Paige has set her sights on Ryan Chase, her ultimate crush since eight grade, but it's his cousin, Max, that snatched her heart away. Paige's realization of her feelings towards Max was achingly slow-burn and she may have spent half the novel pining over Ryan, but it didn't change the fact that she and Max formed a strong friendship right from the beginning. It's undeniable that Max just gets her in the way that her friends don't. They share their own secrets and nerdy references that just made me wish for a male best friend as well. At first Paige didn't deem Max crush-worthy because he didn't have the looks and charm Ryan possesses so theirs is a love that formed for all the right reasons. Their romance is slow and real that just made my heart melt.
It is undeniable that a lot of YA books could learn so much from this.
Just all of the stars for this wonderful masterpiece. Take 'em Emery Lord. Take 'em all.
There is the friendship which is now so rare in a lot of YA books that I wish every YA book out there would just show more. The bond between the four girls is so authentic that Emery Lord's dedication of its own chapters for the four girls only shows how solidified their friendship is. Each girl has her own strengths and weaknesses that completes and balances their friendship. Theirs is a friendship of deep understanding, frank conversations and strong bond which I really wish I had when I was in high school.
Another aspect that this novel excels at is the familial relationships. Paige's grandmother played such a pivotal role on being an inspiration and role model to her. It is her grandmother who gave her so much strength and courage in finding more about herself and venturing on her dream of being a writer. Paige's divorced-but-dating parents and the younger sister she can't get along with were such important parts of the novel as well. Her mother has become very overprotective following Aaron's death that Paige had to follow rules all the time. What made her home life more strange is that her mother and father have started dating again and have been dating already for four months! Of course, Paige was unhappy because she didn't want to see her parents hurt each other again as opposed to her younger sister who was just ecstatic. This just added to one of the reasons why she and her sister can't get along well. All of this just made her grandmother the only other person she can really talk to so her death really hit me hard.
And now, onto the aspect that I always look forward to in the books I read--the romance. I love a good romance and this one didn't disappoint. Paige has set her sights on Ryan Chase, her ultimate crush since eight grade, but it's his cousin, Max, that snatched her heart away. Paige's realization of her feelings towards Max was achingly slow-burn and she may have spent half the novel pining over Ryan, but it didn't change the fact that she and Max formed a strong friendship right from the beginning. It's undeniable that Max just gets her in the way that her friends don't. They share their own secrets and nerdy references that just made me wish for a male best friend as well. At first Paige didn't deem Max crush-worthy because he didn't have the looks and charm Ryan possesses so theirs is a love that formed for all the right reasons. Their romance is slow and real that just made my heart melt.
It is undeniable that a lot of YA books could learn so much from this.
Just all of the stars for this wonderful masterpiece. Take 'em Emery Lord. Take 'em all.
janagaton's review against another edition
4.0
I picked this up because I read When We Collided by Emery Lord and absolutely loved it. This one fell a little bit short for me, but I still give it four stars because I saw so much of myself in the main character. Her Type-A personality and interests are so relatable, and it was overall a cute contemporary.