Review-Open Road Summer

Having met Emery and then hearing all of my blogger friends rave about how amazing this book was I decided that I needed to read it, and over my little Fourth of July vacation seemed like the best time to start.  Now I started it on the third and I didn't finish it until yesterday so before you start going "you couldn't possibly have liked that book, it took you WAY to long to read" I want to say that it took me so long to read because once you get to a certain point in a book like this things go bad, and I didn't want things to go bad; I wanted them to stay nice and fluffy.  This was one of those books that's just the perfect summer read in the fact that it takes place over summer, there's a road trip, two best friends, and something that might end up being love.  What was different about it was the main character.  Reagan is not the typical YA main female character, mainly because she's very blunt and not exactly a "good girl", but honestly that makes it all the more interesting.  So often today in YA we see main female leads that are prim and proper and might as well be little bunny rabbits, but that's not the case with this novel, which is actually rather refreshing.  I myself, I'm probably a bunny rabbit, but it's always nice to read about a character that goes from being bristly and hard to someone who shows at least a few of the soft spots she has.  It also doesn't hurt when she falls for the "good guy", and that he sounds super adorable and is basically someone who almost every girl has crushed on at least once in their life.  Overall the book was a quick and easy read that hit the spot for my summer fluff craving, and I LOVED the fact that a female best friend relationship was such a huge part of the book.  After all of the swooning over Matt all over the internet my expectations were probably set a little high so it's not overly surprising to me that he fell a little short, but he does sound adorable and yes, I would want to date him.  Bottom line, YA contemporary lovers should pick this book up and give it a go, and it doesn't hurt if you love yourself some country either.  I'm excited to see what Emery has in store for her next novel, and I wouldn't be opposed to a little shout out in it to these characters, just to see what they're up to.

4/5 dust spirits