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Showing posts with label Jennifer E. Smith. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jennifer E. Smith. Show all posts

Monday, 8 December 2014

{Review} The Geography of You and Me by Jennifer E. Smith

20499195Posted by Donna
Release Date: April 15th, 2014
Finished Date: December 7th, 2014
Publishers: Headline 
Genre: YA, Contemporary Romance
Source: For Review
Format: Paperback
Pages: 337
For fans of John Green, Stephanie Perkins and Sarah Ockler, THE GEOGRAPHY OF YOU AND ME is a story for anyone who's ever longed to meet someone special, for anyone who's searched for home and found it where they least expected it.

Owen lives in the basement. Lucy lives on the 24th floor. But when the power goes out in the midst of a New York heatwave, they find themselves together for the first time: stuck in a lift between the 10th and 11th floors. As they await help, they start talking...

The brief time they spend together leaves a mark. And as their lives take them to Edinburgh and San Francisco, to Prague and to Portland they can't shake the memory of the time they shared. Postcards cross the globe when they themselves can't, as Owen and Lucy experience the joy - and pain - of first love.

And as they make their separate journeys in search of home, they discover that sometimes it is a person rather than a place that anchors you most in the world.

The Review: Have you ever finished a book and felt as though not a lot happened during the story? Or have you ever finished a book and feel very underwhelmed by it? Well, that’s how I feel about The Geography of You and Me and, I’m starting to feel as though maybe I’m just not meant to enjoy any of Smith’s work. 

The premise of The Geography of You and Me is very cute. It’s about two teenagers – Lucy and Owen – who live in the same apartment complex but they don’t meet until they find themselves stuck inside an elevator together after the electricity is New York City goes out. After that one meeting, they find themselves drawn to one another but it seems as though fate has other ideas when Lucy moves to Edinburgh and Owen goes on the road, moving from place to place so his father can find work.  But somehow they manage to keep in touch by short and sweet postcards and soon they find they can’t forget about each other at all. 

Like I said the premise of this story is super cute – but that’s probably about it all it has to offer. Lucy’s and Owen’s story forces them to have some form of long distance relationship – if you could call it that – because they’re never really in any kind of relationship. They’re only tied by the postcards they send. They don’t speak on the phone, they very rarely email – due to Owen not liking social media – and when they do finally meet, everything seems to go wrong. Their supposed to have a deep connection with each other but it’s not something we really see right until the very last minute. During the 300+ pages of the story, 200+ pages are just about their normal day to day life and I have to say, I really found the story quite boring just because there is not any real communication between the characters during most part of the story. I was kind of expecting the story to have a swoon-worthy romance and, exciting moments and fantastic quotes with the hope of them getting together, but honestly the whole story was just so flat that it just didn’t work for me. By the end of the story the characters were in a no better place than when they first met each other and, it felt as though I’d read the whole story for nothing – no progress whatsoever.  

I have one more book of Smith’s sitting on my shelf and I will give that a try soon, but if that has the same result as her other books I’ve read, I think it’s time to leave this author behind. But I do hope you enjoy this more than me. 

Thank you to Headline for giving me the opportunity to review this book in exchange for an honest review. 

Sunday, 29 July 2012

A Review for The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith

Posted by Jess
Release Date: January 2nd, 2012
Finished Date: July 8th, 2012
Publishers: Little Brown
Source: Bought
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 236
Buy : Amazon UK / Amazon US

"Who would have guessed that four minutes could change everything?"
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Today should be one of the worst days of seventeen-year-old Hadley Sullivan's life. Having missed her flight, she's stuck at JFK airport and late to her father's second wedding, which is taking place in London and involves a soon-to-be stepmother Hadley's never even met. Then she meets the perfect boy in the airport's cramped waiting area. His name is Oliver, he's British, and he's sitting in her row.
A long night on the plane passes in the blink of an eye, and Hadley and Oliver lose track of each other in the airport chaos upon arrival. Can fate intervene to bring them together once more?
Quirks of timing play out in this romantic and cinematic novel about family connections, second chances, and first loves. Set over a twenty-four-hour-period, Hadley and Oliver's story will make you believe that true love finds you when you're least expecting it.

The Review: “I can't believe you're here," she says, her voice soft. "I can't believe you found me." "You found me first," he says, and when he leans to kiss her, it's slow and sweet and she knows that this will be the one she always remembers. Because while the other two kisses felt like endings, this one is unquestionably a beginning.”  -Hadley & Oliver
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This was a lovely little read. I was looking forward to reading it and I wasn't disappointed.
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It's set over 24 hours where Hadley misses her flight to London by 4 minutes. Who knew that 4 minutes could change everything. She eventually meets Oliver who's on her next flight out. The chemistry between these two is wonderful, they both manage to bounce of one another. If you believe in love at first sight then this is pretty much a good book for you to read. It's well paced, focusing on the growing fondness between Hadley and Oliver. I basically couldn't put it down. Oliver is pretty awesome, although he isn't dreadfully swoony like most YA boys he does leave something in you and he's British for the American readers, this is always a plus I believe :).
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There were a lot of moments that made me gasp, and a few moments that had me in tears, you learn more about Hadley and her relationship with her father as the story moves on, but it doesn't take away the focus of her thoughts about Oliver. Some of my favourite moments were on the plane between these two, and then again when they encounter each other again in London. 
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If you're looking for something fresh and new, with a pretty little story then I would definitely recommend you pick up this book. It is the first book I've read my Jennifer E Smith, but it won't be the last. I will most definitely pick up more of her books. 
 
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