Hardcover, 391 pages
Release Date: April 10, 2018Published by: Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books
Read from: March 27, 2018Stand-aloneSource: TxLAFor fans of: Contemporary, Romance, Sparkly Covers, Diverse Authors, Diverse MC, Realistic Fiction, Texas setting, Multiple POV, Debut AuthorsFor Penny Lee high school was a total nonevent. Her friends were okay, her grades were fine, and while she somehow managed to land a boyfriend, he doesn’t actually know anything about her. When Penny heads to college in Austin, Texas, to learn how to become a writer, it’s seventy-nine miles and a zillion light years away from everything she can’t wait to leave behind.
Sam’s stuck. Literally, figuratively, emotionally, financially. He works at a café and sleeps there too, on a mattress on the floor of an empty storage room upstairs. He knows that this is the god-awful chapter of his life that will serve as inspiration for when he’s a famous movie director but right this second the seventeen bucks in his checking account and his dying laptop are really testing him.
When Sam and Penny cross paths it’s less meet-cute and more a collision of unbearable awkwardness. Still, they swap numbers and stay in touch—via text—and soon become digitally inseparable, sharing their deepest anxieties and secret dreams without the humiliating weirdness of having to see each other.
*MY THOUGHTS*
“Asian don’t raisin.“pg. 22
Penny is new to UT in Austin and doesn’t know anyone except her roommate. This is how she meets Sam, her roommate’s Uncle. The weird pair go through so manyawkward twists and turns, but they somehow still come together via texts and phone calls. They soon become inseperable.
“Lorraine was the emotional equalivent of a hollow-point round; the exit would was a shit show.“pg. 61
I LOVED this. It showed a different side of romance that’s hardly ever seen, the getting to know each other phase. It was super cute and reminded me so much of me and my husband. We got togetheer like this in college as well. We texted for hours and it wasn’t until after 3 months that we really hung out together. It was so cute to see this in a YA novel. I’m not sure it’s something that I’ve ever read.
“Imposter syndrome: Informally used to describe people who are unable to internalize their accomplishments despite external evidence of their competence.“pg. 158
I also really loved the college aspect of it. This was another topic in YA that’ts hardly written about. I loved that they talked about dorm life, but I would have loved it more had she put a little more effort into the world building. Like talk about the campus. Or what the dorms other than their rooms look like. With this being a contemporary novel, it would have been really easy to look at pictures and get ideas. And of course I LOVED that it was set in Texas and that they even went to Galveston for a period in time. Definitely loved that she included the smell of the salt in the air and how its so much more humid and the air is stickier in Galveston. It was cool to see my hometown in a book!
“Well I don’t love talking about my stuff,” she said. “Yeah, nobody does,” he said, “But it’s pretty big stuff, so sometimes you have to exorcise it.“pg. 299
Last but not least, there’s the romance. I LOVED it. THIS is the type of slow burn I love. And it was such a ridiculously cute slow burn that I could hardly handle it.The only thing I didn’t like was we didn’t get to see more of them together! I would die to get a couple more chapters, or even just an epilogue that shows what happens after that last page. They were cute and I just want to be selfish and get a bit more.
“…It’s fucking art, man,” he said scowling. “You don’t choose it. It chooses you. If you waste that chance, your talent dies. That’s when you start dying along with it.“pg. 308
For me, this was an unputdownable romance. I loved getting to know these characters and watching as they got to know each other. It’s so interesting to watch characters when they are already in love, but this book shows the process of how they fall for each other and I want to read it 10 times more for all the feels all over again.
Never gave this book a second glance until your review. Takes place at ut. Well that had my attention. Also looks really cute and I am up for a good romance. Great review.