Emmy & Oliver by Robin Benway
Published by HarperCollins on June 23rd 2015
Genres: Emotions & Feelings, Family, Love & Romance, Marriage & Divorce, Social Issues, Young Adult
Goodreads
I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Emmy and Oliver were going to be best friends forever, or maybe even more, before their futures were ripped apart. In Emmy's soul, despite the space and time between them, their connection has never been severed. But is their story still written in the stars? Or are their hearts like the pieces of two different puzzlesâimpossible to fit together?Emmy just wants to be in charge of her own life. . . . She wants to stay out late, surf her favorite beachâgo anywhere without her parents' relentless worrying. But Emmy's parents can't seem to let her grow upânot since the day Oliver disappeared.Oliver needs a moment to figure out his heart. . . . He'd thought, all these years, that his dad was the good guy. He never knew that it was his father who had kidnapped him and kept him on the run. Discovering it, and finding himself returned to his old hometown, all at once, has his heart racing, and his thoughts swirling.Readers who love Sarah Dessen will devour these pages with hearts in throats as Emmy and Oliver struggle to face the messy, confusing consequences of Oliver's father's crime. Full of romance, coming-of-age emotion, and heartache, these two equally compelling characters create an unforgettable story.
Wellllllllll, I’m going to be the black sheep on this one apparently. Everyone I’ve known that has read this book absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE it, while I like it, it just didn’t hit love status for me.
At points Emmy and Oliver were super super cute, but for the most part I felt a lot of the dialogue and overall personalities felt forced to me. There was just a lot of things that felt very unnatural. I think it had a lot to do with the writing, it really wasn’t working for me.
The atmosphere (if this makes any sense) also felt very off to me. Let me try to explain…the handling of Oliver coming back after being kidnapped by his Dad ten years ago just didn’t fit to me. There was a lot of hurt and anger talked about mostly, but then nothing was really shown, until drama ensued, and that just felt forced and out of character for both Emmy and Oliver. Just some things really made me shake my head. It’s a bummer though because I really wanted to LOVE this one.
Overall I think this is an okay book, not one that I would find myself recommending really though.
2.5 very bummed emojis!Â
About Robin Benway
I'm the author of "Audrey, Wait!", "The Extraordinary Secrets of April, May & June", and the AKA series. My new book "Emmy & Oliver" will be released on June 23, 2015. I live in Los Angeles with my extremely stubborn shih tzu, Hudson. I've gotten a lot better at cooking. I still love coffee. We should be friends.
What did you think about Emmy & Oliver?
Am I alone in not LOVING this one?
You’re not alone! I’m a big Robin Benway fan, but the first time I read Emmy & Oliver, I didn’t love it either. I liked it, but I just couldn’t click with it. After seeing all the blogger love, I tried it again recently and liked it more the second time for some reason. ð
I just had a really hard time being emotionally involved with the characters or the story really. It’s a bummer when that happens.
I haven’t read this book, and though I’ve heard lots of great things about, I haven’t had the urge to pick it up. Maybe because of the summary, it doesn’t really make me want to pick it up. The cover is so pretty tho! ð
And I sort of repeat the same thing in my comment, LOL. Summary: don’t feel like reading it. ð
Aw, sad face. I’m so sorry you didn’t enjoy this one very much Crystal :\ Hugs. But glad you still liked it a bit ð It sounded pretty amazing. But ugh. Now I don’t want to read it anymore, lol. Thank you for sharing sweetie ð
Nuuuuu ð hahaha, but it’s alright ð Everyone has different tastes, so don’t feel bad about being the black sheep ð