Emmy & Oliver (utgåvan 2015)

OH MY GOODNESS, WOW, THIS BOOK WAS SO GOOD!!

I fell so in love with these characters, and I hated that they had to through all that they did, because they did not deserve that!

This book was funny, and sweet, and touching and emotional, and also really deep and thought provoking all at once!

I quite liked Emmy. She wasn't my favourite character in the book, but she was a really real, flawed person.

I also loved her friends! I sort of can't remember either of their names, but they were well developed, and their friendship made me happy. Because it was a real, and positive friendship, and that was awesome to read!

And then there was Oliver. I adored Oliver. I felt SO bad for him, because he was so pure and sweet, and he'd been through so much, and I just wanted him to have a nice, happy life.
I also loved the way his relationship with Emmy developed. It was awkward of course, and I was so sad for them that they'd been separated for so long. They could have had a great friendship all their lives, but instead they were forced to start anew... It wasn't an easy relationship to regain, but they did eventually. I also liked how there was friendship before there was romance. It turned to romance fairly quickly, but not before they'd had time to get to know each other again, and I really appreciated that.

Honestly I didn't have any problems with this book. It was sweet, and sad, and so perfect. I am SO happy I read this book. ( )

I am writing this review as I am still crying from the last 20 or so pages of the book. Robin Benway is amazing and she deserves all the praise in the world. I loved this book from cover to cover, and it will always have a special place in my heart.

You can guess that it's YA or that it's a love story, but it is so much more than that. It is about family, about fear, and about happiness, or filling the gaping hole inside of you with the one true thing you're missing.

Reading this book was like having a best friend for a week. It was intimate, and felt like a hug. I read it before work, at my lunch, and at Starbucks. I read it in bed at night. I languished in it, and never let it go. Until I just finished it, tears rolling down my eyes.

Please buy Emmy & Oliver, or borrow it from your library, and read it. Follow Robin Benway on twitter and tumblr. Wish that you could write your way into someone's soul like she has done into mine. ( )

Review on my blog, and links to my Wattpad account, etc: https://kyrosmagica.wordpress.com/2016/05/10/my-kyrosmagica-review-of-emmy-olive...

Emmy & Oliver is a YA Contemporary romance with believable, lovable characters that draw you into the story making you want to read more. Emmy & Oliver are the two central pins of the story. Everything revolves around Oliver and his old friends. He returns home following a lengthy disappearance after having been kidnapped by his father, and is reunited with old friends, and family members. Things have moved on a lot in the meantime. His mother has remarried and he has two twin half-sisters. His old friend Drew now has a boyfriend. Oliver expresses his emotions at all these changes in an utterly convincing way. As the novel progresses we begin to understand how he felt towards his father, (whom he still loves,) and his mother, and how he feels now.

I really loved this. It wasn’t trying to be over the top, gushing romance, or poor me I’ve been kidnapped feel sorry for me story. Instead it went for the gentleness of feels. That’s how I’d describe it. It had the perfect mix: believable storyline, cute romance (s), – between Emmy & Oliver as well as tidbits of Drew’s gay romance, wonderfully engaging characters, and fantastic dialogue. The dialogue really held it together in a very cohesive way. It made me happy – while I was reading Emmy & Oliver I was editing my own YA dialogue in my current WIP, so this gave me bags of ideas and inspiration. So a big Thank you to the author Robin Benway for his awesome dialogue!

Moreover, Emmy and Oliver’s friends, Caro and Drew are so likeable and engaging too.

I loved the interaction between Emmy, Oliver and their parents, this was first class. Their parents’ overblown anxiety and protectiveness following Oliver’s kidnapping is so understandable, but Emmy isn’t one to be held in check. She goes surfing on the sly, and has other plans that she hasn’t told her parents about…. So this is also a story about growing up, new opportunities, new paths, discovering who you are, and cutting those parental apron strings.

My only criticism was this:

Towards the end of the book Oliver’s dad gets justice for his crime and Oliver doesn’t seem to react much, which seems odd given that he still loves his father.. the story loses a bit of its believability at that point. I think this could have been remedied and explored by adding a chapter in the POV of Oliver at that precise point… Consequently this dropped a star in my rating otherwise Emmy & Oliver would have been a solid 5 stars.

Nevertheless, if you like a slow burning YA Contemporary romance, with masses of tender feels, and family centred issues this is the one for you.

Highly recommended. It is sad, heart-warming, and insightful, a witty exploration of family life.

I marked it a favourite – just saying!

My rating 4 stars. ( )

This book had me smiling like crazy one minute, and then have me crying silent tears the next. Such an excellently written book, and the story line just had me hooked. I can definitely see myself re-reading this book again just for the heartwarming feelings it invoked. ( )

This was OK. Not bad, just a bit boring. It needed more excitement, or angst, or SOMETHING. ( )