Published by: HarperTeen, June 23rd 2015
Genre: YA, Contemporary
Pages: 352
Format: Ebook
Emmy’s best friend, Oliver, reappears after being kidnapped by his father ten years ago. Emmy hopes to pick up their relationship right where it left off. Are they destined to be together? Or has fate irreparably driven them apart?
Emmy just wants to be in charge of her own life.
She wants to stay out late, surf her favorite beach—go anywhere without her parents’ relentless worrying. But Emmy’s parents can’t seem to let her grow up—not 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 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.
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 puzzles—impossible to fit together?
Readers who love Sarah Dessen will tear through 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.
So, Emmy and Oliver - it tells the story of Oliver, who was kidnapped by his dad as a kid, and Emmy, who was his best friend but has been living in the fallout of his kidnapping for her entire life. I only really paid attention to this book after reviews started coming in (the cover didn't interest me and the blurb underwhelms this book.) It's a pretty serious story, and it's really, horribly sad in parts where you don't expect it. Most of this novel is a moving, compelling tale of friendship and self-discovery, but it has these pockets of absolute angst that sucker-punch you. I secretly loved those pockets, because it took Emmy and Oliver from pretty sweet to powerful, and it made you think about things you never would have. What would you do, for example, if one of your parents had kidnapped you as a kid? That's your parent - not a bad guy - so how could you ever hate them, when you've spent all your life loving them?
I liked the questions this book posed, and I liked a lot of stuff about it. Its characters were assholes in the way your best friends are assholes. It didn't have a plot like the books I usually read do, but it told a story in a way that made that irrelevant. It was tense toward the end, and had a slow burn of something-is-not-quite-right-here that's just enough to unsettle you. I just liked a lot of what this book did, especially how it dealt with what Oliver was feeling, and how stifled Emmy was as a result of her parents' fear.
I don't know exactly how to sum up this book, but you won't regret reading it. It's funny but heartbreaking, and it's just really really good.
Characters ★★★★☆
Setting/world-building ★★★☆☆
Writing ★★★★☆
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