Title: Emmy & Oliver
Author: Robin Benway
Genre: YA Contemporary
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Published: July 16th 2015
Page Number: 320
Rating: DNF'd
Summary:
Oliver's absence split us wide open, dividing our neighbourhood along a fault line strong enough to cause an earthquake. An earthquake would have been better. At least during an earthquake, you understand why you're shaking.
Emmy and Oliver were going to be best friends forever, or maybe even more, before their futures were ripped apart. But now Oliver is back, and he's not the skinny boy-next-door that used to be Emmy's best friend. Now he's the boy who got kidnapped. A stranger - a totally hot stranger! - with a whole history that Emmy knows nothing about.
But is their story still meant to be? Or are they like the pieces of two different puzzles - impossible to fit together.
REVIEW
Emmy & Oliver was immediately on my radar after seeing the cover and hearing the description. It sounded like the perfect summer read to me, but sadly I never got what I wanted.
The book alternates from present time and important memories from the past, which I did like a lot because it allowed us to see the relationship between Emmy and Oliver when they were BFF's to where they are now. However, I found that going back to the past only slowed down the pace of the book. It made everything offset and made it a lot harder for me to connect to the characters, especially since they weren't entirely likeable, and that is incredibly important to me.
I have to see believable characters that I know in real life, but while the friendship between Emmy and her friends was nice, I didn't entirely like them on their own. Caro and Drew were completely annoying. They were too over the top and while I appreciate that, I just felt like there was a disconnection when Emmy was with one of her friends, just those two. Which was unusual since I loved Emmy with Oliver. They had a great connection despite the years and years that they hadn't seen each other in.
I honestly wanted to like this book but I didn't. I guess I over-hyped the book in my head and it completely flopped in the flesh. Am I happy that I read it? Yes. Because it made me realise that I need to sit out of the hype, not to get so far ahead of myself. I would recommend it for people who want a simple story about friendships, even if you're looking for a quick summer read I would recommend it.
It just wasn't for me.
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