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Back When You Were Easier to Love

by Emily Wing Smith (Goodreads Author)

3.2 of 5 stars 3.20 · rating details · 711 ratings · 164 reviews

What's worse than getting dumped? Not even knowing if you've been dumped. Joy got no goodbye, and certainly no explanation when Zan-the love of her life and the only good thing about stifling, backward Haven, Utah-unceremoniously and unexpectedly left for college a year early. Joy needs closure almost as much as she needs Zan, so she heads for California, and Zan, riding s...more

Hardcover, 304 pages

Published April 28th 2011 by Dutton Juvenile (first published April 13th 2011)

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Community Reviews

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May 13, 2011 Jillian -always aspiring- rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: People who want to read the antithesis of Amy & Roger's Epic Detour or a Mormon take on Sarah Dessen

Shelves: titles-i-love, covers-i-love, 2011-reads, could-have-been-better, couldn-t-stop-reading-it, forewent-sleep-to-read-it, best-characters, left-me-with-mixed-feelings, should-have-loved-it-but-didn-t, want-a-sequel, realistic-fiction, reviewed

(Actual Rating: 3.5 stars)

(Note: I hate to do it, but my review will be riddled a bit with some spoilers. Peruse this review with caution if you intend to read this book.)

I will say it right now: anyone who loves clean romance reads will love this book while readers who love passion and romance will find this book very wanting.

Me? I fall somewhere in the middle. I love romance in the sense of passion and great feelings of love -- but I don't need to read about sex in books or see it in TV shows...more

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Apr 15, 2011 Kelly rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya-fiction, read-in-2011

Joy needed some hobbies. I think there were a lot of issues at play here, and none of them were as developed as I would have liked them to be. I get she needs to latch on to someone when she's in a new place but to this point of obsession? I don't think so. I don't believe that about her character for a second.

I have a lot to say about this, but with the caveat that this is a really clean, sweet read for teens who like that kind of book.

Full review here: http://stackedbooks.blogspot.com/2011......more

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Mar 14, 2013 Clarice rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book was incredibly refreshing. I wasn't expecting it to be that good, but I'm happy it was. I love the writing style of the author!:D I love how the characters were able to evolve in this book and how we were able to see the good and bad side of everyone. The only problems I had with this book were the words like Soccer Lovin' kids and the use of ease-men. Also, we weren't given a clear view of what Joy was really like, without Zan or Mattia or Gretel or Noah or anyone for that matter. The...more

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Jun 05, 2012 Lisa rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya-2011, tag-2012-13

"...That I can figure out who I am without him, what I want to be without him. That I can stop thinking about him every second of every minute of every hour. That he can stop invading my thoughts even when I am thinking about something--someone--else." "And it'd be easy to wish that Zan had wanted me back. That it had been like I wanted it all along, that he saw me and knew, instantly, that we needed to be together."

Joy is despondent over the end of a high school relationship and is determined t...more

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Nov 28, 2011 Sara rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011, young-adult

3.5 stars. Joy is a Utah high school senior who's brokenhearted since her boyfriend, Zan, suddenly got his GED and left for college in California a year early without warning and without a word. Unable to get in touch with him and not understanding why he left, Joy decides she needs closure, which involves a road trip to the college over a long weekend with Noah, Zan's best friend who also hasn't heard from him.

The book is told both in the present and in a few flashbacks, showing why Joy is so o...more 3.5 stars. Joy is a Utah high school senior who's brokenhearted since her boyfriend, Zan, suddenly got his GED and left for college in California a year early without warning and without a word. Unable to get in touch with him and not understanding why he left, Joy decides she needs closure, which involves a road trip to the college over a long weekend with Noah, Zan's best friend who also hasn't heard from him.

The book is told both in the present and in a few flashbacks, showing why Joy is so obsessed with Zan and wanting him back in her life. The whole idea of Zan being Joy's first love and her unable to see why - and if - he broke up with her is shown beautifully. Although I never fell in love with Zan the way Joy did, I could understand why Joy felt like Zan was perfect: she needed to feel accepted at this new school, and being with him offered her everything she'd wanted. I think that was one of the best things about the author's writing, the way she brought first, innocent love to life.

All the characters are Mormon; I wasn't expecting so much religion to be mentioned in this book, but it didn't ruin anything and actually helped propel the story forward, probably because it wasn't heavy-handed or proselytizing but simply mentioned as a backdrop for the city and a cultural force in the lives of the characters. It definitely made this book different from other teen books I've read.

I felt like the story started off strongly but lost some of its charm as it went on. I liked Joy and Noah, but other characters - other than Zan, that is - didn't have a lot of distinctive personalities, perhaps because they didn't have much page time. I was curious to find out what had happened with Zan, but the more he was shown in flashbacks, the more he simply seemed like a tool. Still, it was understandable that Joy wanted closure, and I liked the fact that most of her friends thought she was being ridiculous, as that lent more reality to it all.

Where I think the book started falling apart was about halfway through, once the road trip was underway and Joy and Noah had arrived at the college campus, looking for Zan. From there on, the book just showed the fallout from that visit, and although I liked the conclusions that Joy came to, there wasn't nearly enough substance to keep the book going for so many more pages. Also, it ended without a real resolution for the growing friendship between Joy and Noah, which was in keeping with earlier revelations about Noah's social life but not so great for the reader. I'd say this was a sweet story overall with lots of great things going for it, but it wasn't nearly memorable enough to make me want to recommend it to others. I think it simply needed more to make it deeper and more thought-provoking.(less)

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May 28, 2011 Joy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011

This had a totally different twist on obsession- turned it all around. Joy (protagonist) has been unceremoniously dumped by Zan. His friend Noah keeps coming around trying to befriend Joy but she only has eyes for Zan - despite the fact that he is gone. He has gotten his GED and left for college.
In the meantime, she's living a half-life in the town of Haven, UT a mormon town.
Joy's obsession is total. She thinks only of him, dreams nightly of him, and simply wants to get back to being Joy2.0 -...more

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Apr 30, 2011 Eden rated it 1 of 5 stars

The cover:

These kinds of kissing covers where the actual kissing is hidden are driving me crazy -- they're so unsubtle I want to punch a hole through them. The drawn, cartoony-cute feel is also at complete odds with the story's moody and meditative atmosphere. This cover gets a honking F.

The book:

While the reader is prepared for flashbacks from the back blurb, the number of them accompanied by the shortness of the chapters is simply migraine-inducing. Fortunately, we move out of flashback territ...more

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Apr 28, 2011 Kelly Hager rated it 4 of 5 stars

Joy isn't doing well. Her boyfriend Zan has left town for college (a year early) and hasn't given her his email or new number or anything. There's been no contact at all, actually. And she's not entirely sure what that means, but she does NOT like it. So she takes a road trip to California, where he's going to school to find out exactly what's going on. And she goes with his best friend.

I really enjoyed this book, mostly because of Joy. She's so smart and sweet and book-obsessed (want me to love...more

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Apr 16, 2011 Kristin (Beneath Shining Stars, I Read) rated it 3 of 5 stars

I don't like Zan. Yes, that was my first thought upon finishing Back When You Were Easier to Love. Why? Because there's the version of Zan that Joy fell in love with and then there's the real Zan--who is not a nice person. But it's the idealized Zan that Joy is in love with and when he leaves her in the dust to head to California, she can't come to terms with it. After all, he's left without saying a word to her and he's left her no way to get in contact with him. Joy is sure that if she goes to...more I don't like Zan. Yes, that was my first thought upon finishing Back When You Were Easier to Love. Why? Because there's the version of Zan that Joy fell in love with and then there's the real Zan--who is not a nice person. But it's the idealized Zan that Joy is in love with and when he leaves her in the dust to head to California, she can't come to terms with it. After all, he's left without saying a word to her and he's left her no way to get in contact with him. Joy is sure that if she goes to see him, things will work out and they'll still be together--which is precisely why she decides to go to California on a road trip with Zan's ex-friend Noah.

Your first love really is difficult to lose and I can see how Joy feels that she needs to see Zan again to get "closure" on their relationship. However, she seems a bit extreme to me--having envisioned their reunion and talking about Zan so often that even her friends and Noah want her stop. The thing that I least liked about Joy though, would have to be her judgmental attitude. She thinks that Noah is a stereotypical Soccer Lovin' Kid--her term for the popular kids in Haven--and up until their road trip, she pretty much refuses to get to know him regardless of his efforts to try and get to know her. To me, it came off like Joy was refusing to let Noah redeem himself--having decided that he was the embodiment of the reason why Zan left Haven in the first place. With that said, I did love Noah and as far as I'm concerned, he was the star of Back When You Were Easier to Love simply because he put up with Joy. Not only does he put up with her, but he defends her to Zan--well, saying much more than that would be giving spoilers and you know how I feel about spoilers.

The chapters are short and alternate between when Joy was with Zan and after Zan leaves Haven--which is what leads to the road trip and its various misadventures. Although I cannot claim to be in love with Back When You Were Easier to Love, I'm looking forward to seeing what Emily Wing Smith comes out with next--as I did like her writing style. Overall, if you're interested in Back When You Were Easier to Love, I'd suggest picking up a copy and forming your own opinion on it as personally, I didn't love it as much as I thought I would. If I'm honest, I think it was a bit to do with the ending leaving off at the end of their road trip. I would've liked to see things continue a bit further in Haven--and if you read Back When You Were Easier to Love, you'll see what I mean.

Overall Rating: 3.5(less)

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Nov 30, 2010 Sarah rated it 3 of 5 stars

Back When You Were Easier to Love by Emily Wing Smith is a book I went to with several assumptions already in place. I knew this was going to be a story of a girl who was desperate to get back her boyfriend who suddenly deserted her. I also knew this boyfriend was going to be a total asshat (totally right on that, by the way.) What I didn't know was would Joy come out of this stronger as a person, as her own person?

Synopsis: WHO ZAN IS: Blow-your-mind brilliant. Stop-your-heart gorgeous. Hold-yo...more

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Nov 05, 2012 Sarah Dean rated it 2 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Young readers who aren't looking for a very in-depth story.

I think a better title for this book may be Back When I Read Less Predictable Books. Honestly I'm a little surprised at myself for actually making it to the end, because after about ten pages I knew pretty much exactly what was going to happen. However, the writing style was different than most teen romance novels, so it kept my interest until the point where I was just reading it for the sake of finishing what I started (it only took me a day to read it, not a very long book). I'm not entirely...more I think a better title for this book may be Back When I Read Less Predictable Books. Honestly I'm a little surprised at myself for actually making it to the end, because after about ten pages I knew pretty much exactly what was going to happen. However, the writing style was different than most teen romance novels, so it kept my interest until the point where I was just reading it for the sake of finishing what I started (it only took me a day to read it, not a very long book). I'm not entirely sure if this book is supposed to come off like that, but for goodness sake, there are so many things about this book that scream "extremely predictable ending" It is entirely obvious that Joy is going to get together with Noah. Sorry if that's a a spoiler for anyone, but really, REALLY, it shouldn't be. He's described in much more detail than Zan, not to mention being described as significantly attractive. Of course Joy doesn't go for him right away. It's not Zan's appearance that attracts her, it's his difference from the rest of her very tight-knit community. & while Joy (& probably many other girls) swoon over his non-conformity, I have a few other not-so-nice terms for Zan, one being "complete poseur-hipster d bag." While Joy may spend most of the book oblivious to this, at least the reader can tell (hopefully, hopefully) exactly what type Zan is from the beginning and don't have to find out the hard way, like poor, naive little Joy.

Joy's character was not my favorite ever. Not entirely her fault; it was a smidgen unrealistic for her to get that obsessed with a guy, but then, this is the world of fiction so that's an allowable offense. I suppose what I didn't like about her was that besides her attachment problem (which she really doesn't seem to have with any other people besides Zan-the-poseur, so really, it's not that big of a personality flaw) was that she didn't seem to have any flaws at all. Neither did Noah, for that matter. Their personalities were pretty underdeveloped, and in Noah's case, pretty flat (at least Joy had her quirky Barry Manilow fangirl status going for her).

Overall, if I could think of a word to describe this book, it would be "meh." It had some original points, and as I mentioned before, the writing style & chapter break-up were unique, but honestly I did not get a lot out of this story. It was sweet, and halfway entertaining, but I kept waiting for something, anything to happen that I didn't already know was coming, and that is probably what kept me going. So, as you may imagine, by the end I was pretty disappointed. Oh well, only spent a day on this one anyway.(less)

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Dec 15, 2011 Chucha rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Back When You Were Easier to Love is a clean romance read. When I say clean it means that it doesn’t involve any sex, drugs, and booze (not directly anyway). Written in the first person, the narration volleyed between the past and the present things that are happening to our protagonist. Although I am in search of that one great (even chaste) kiss – it never came! I would’ve given it a 4 if ever. I mean, a good love story between two awesome people deserve an itty-bitty intimacy.

Nevertheless, I...more Back When You Were Easier to Love is a clean romance read. When I say clean it means that it doesn’t involve any sex, drugs, and booze (not directly anyway). Written in the first person, the narration volleyed between the past and the present things that are happening to our protagonist. Although I am in search of that one great (even chaste) kiss – it never came! I would’ve given it a 4 if ever. I mean, a good love story between two awesome people deserve an itty-bitty intimacy.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed reading this book. The first chapters will make you curious what really happened to Zan. Joy, herself, spends her time in contemplating and obsessing over her boyfriend Zan who left without any word. She is convinced that it is not because of her, but because of the perfect little Mormon town they live in. To find closure, she decided to find Zan.

Joy enlisted Zan’s best friend Noah to help her. The both of them set off to find him and the road trip is where the real story takes place. The both of them started to talk and know more about each other. Joy finally knew the real story about the birthday present and boy, was it a real revelation. I just hated the fact that she was in a big DENIAL. She wanted to know firsthand and never really anticipated that the reality could hurt her. Yet, I was glad (and so was Joy) that Noah was there with her in this trip.

There was a touch of religion into this book, but don’t worry for those who aren’t comfortable reading about it because this book isn’t that preachy. The author placed you into the life of religious Mormons in the town called Haven but do not push the faith down your throat.

Back When You Were Easier to Love is a story about a girl who tries to find herself and answers to questions. It is a journey to self-discovery and to remind its readers that there is more to this world that what meets the eye. It is about someone who’s world revolves around a certain relationship and found herself lost once the relationship is gone. Sound familiar right? A lot of us have this type of relationship and this makes it more real.

And finally what I love MOST about Back When You Were Easier to Love is Joy’s realization that she was better than Zan or being stuck to Zan.
(less)

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Oct 11, 2011 Louisa rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: boys-on-the-side, girly-as-shit, i-love-awkward-teenagers-in-fiction, ya, mormon-chick-lit

Sooo...in truly, nerdy librarian form, I love creating new shelves on Good Reads and Emily Wing Smith's (love her name!) "Back When You Were Easier to Love" did allow me to do that. The truth is I grew up with Mormons. I like them--even counting some as relations. The thing is, I even like Joy. She's neurotic, odd and just plain twitchy in a way I normally find very endearing. The thing is, I wasn't even bothered about her caffeine-free chastity or the caffeine-free chastity of Noah her adorable...more

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Dec 10, 2010 Melanie Goodman added it

When Joy’s family relocates from Claremont, CA to Haven, UT, she is forced to leave everything behind: her friends, her future plans, her sense of self. Joy discovers a new town in which religion becomes culture, and most guys aren’t interested in dating because they have to leave on missions after high school. Many of the people in Haven have their lives mapped out; they know what they need to do to be popular and succeed. They fill their time with “beverage nights” and Disney movies, and the s...more When Joy’s family relocates from Claremont, CA to Haven, UT, she is forced to leave everything behind: her friends, her future plans, her sense of self. Joy discovers a new town in which religion becomes culture, and most guys aren’t interested in dating because they have to leave on missions after high school. Many of the people in Haven have their lives mapped out; they know what they need to do to be popular and succeed. They fill their time with “beverage nights” and Disney movies, and the soccer players are held up as town heroes.

Joy feels like an outsider in a cookie-cutter society until she starts dating Zan. Zan isn’t like anyone else. He wants to get out of Haven as fast as he can and leave everything behind. Unfortunately for Joy, when Zan goes to college in CA, that means leaving her behind, too. Lacking a sense of closure, Joy and Zan’s former best friend Noah go on a road trip to find Zan. However, it turns out that what Joy misses most of all may be something she never truly had.

Emily Wing Smith’s novel Back When You Were Easier to Love is a quirky but heartbreaking story about loss. Throughout the book, Joy says of many things, “I never had this. I miss it anyway.” Joy imagines all the things she wishes she could have done while living in CA; she obsesses over the life she wanted to be living with Zan. The loss of the future she had planned is perhaps the greatest of all. Despite the tremendous sense of sadness laced through the novel, there is a perfect sprinkle of humor that adds levity and comic relief from the book’s serious tone.

I didn’t know much about Back When You Were Easier to Love before reading it, but chose to get it on tour as part of the contemps challenge. It’s always fun going into a book with no expectations and finding myself pleasantly surprised. Back When You Were Easier to Love is witty, touching, and thought provoking. It included several of my favorite elements: I love a book with a road trip, particularly when the people involved have some romantic tension, and I’m always captivated by stories about the ways in which we misimagine or idealize other people.

I was nervous about the religious element of this book because I’m very wary about being preached at, but I ended up really pleased with its portrayal. Emily Wing Smith manages to take what is seemingly a cardboard town of cardboard people and bring out the depth of both the community and the inhabitants. The characters grow in dimensionality as the story goes on. Joy, too, grows as a person, and I was glad to have witnessed her journey.

Smith’s first book, The Way He Lived, is also set in Haven, UT. I’m looking forward to reading it soon. I’m intrigued by the idea of another book set in the same town, and I can only hope that the book shares the same richness and depth of writing as this one.(less)

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Nov 08, 2011 Carly rated it 4 of 5 stars

Not your typical LDS YA novel. Very refreshing. Loved the author's voice. This was a really great story about a young girl who is so wrapped up in her relationship with her boyfriend that she lets it define her and loses track of who she really is. I would definitely recommend it to the young women I know. It was really enjoyable to read and easily relatable. I could especially relate having grown up in an area where Mormons were a minority, then went to school where they weren't. Even being fam...more

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Jun 28, 2011 Rosalyn rated it 4 of 5 stars

I thought this was a rather charming book. The main character, Joy, is in mourning because her boyfriend, Zan, took off high school a year early to go to a small liberal arts college in CA, leaving their relationship status murky. Joy always felt like their relationship made her special--lifted her above the conformity of the rest of the student body in small-town Haven, Utah. She convinces Noah, Zan's former best friend, to take a road trip with her to CA to find Zan. While the plot is pretty s...more

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Jan 03, 2011 Christie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2011

Back When You Were Easier to Love follows Joy's quest for closure. Her boyfriend Zan has left their small Mormon community to attend college in California. Joy places blame on the lame kids in her school because Zahn was so different. More mature, intelligent, good looking. You name it Zahn was better. Of course he’d have no choice but to leave for bigger and better things. This has her heading out on a road trip with Zahn's best friend and the hope she can find the closure she so desperately ne...more

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Mar 25, 2011 Jess Bierschied rated it 4 of 5 stars

BACK WHEN YOU WERE EASIER TO LOVE, by Emily Wing Smith is a fast paced novel all about love and loss, and a determination controlled by the heart. I was easily hooked from beginning to end.

I started this book with certain predictions of the typical girl gets dumped and can't move on, but I was surprised with a few different twists that don't appear often. Joy is so obviously in love with Zan but my first impression of him was, "This kid is such a jerk!". While Joy is so desperate to find the ans...more

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Oct 14, 2011 J.Elle rated it 2 of 5 stars

Joy’s boyfriend, Zan, left for college without any ado. He didn’t leave Joy any contact information, he made no proper goodbye, and he didn’t even have the decency to break up with her. Joy cannot move on. She tells herself she’s still desperately in love with him and she needs closure. So, together with Zan’s ex-best friend, Noah, she sets off on a road trip to find the closure she’s looking for. This book was disappointing.

And now because I just learned it was possible to hide partial bits of...more

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Jun 11, 2012 Megan rated it 3 of 5 stars

The story was a bit hard to follow in the beginning. But the characters are likeable and are easy to sympathize with.

Joy is a single child of Mormon parents who force her to move away from her best friend, Gretel, to a small town in Utah. There she meets Massia, who helps her fit in to a new highschool. More importantly, Joy meets Zan, who she falls quickly for and must have.

This story follows Joy as she tries to find Zan, who went to college after his junior year. She is determined to find him,...more

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Jul 07, 2011 kim rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011

Ack! I feel so deceived! First of all, that library scene on the cover? Like two seconds of the story is in a library. Secondly, it starts normal, but the further you get into it, the more Mormon/God/preachy it got! The 'bad' guy drank coffee and went to a college with coed dorms, GASP! There's a scene where a guy/girl has to share a hotel room, and it's like a crisis situation. Then they can't go to church the next morning because they don't have their church clothes! Okay, so I realize this is...more

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Feb 22, 2012 Arthur Pengerbil rated it 4 of 5 stars

Reading Level: Ages 12 and up

Joy is a senior in high school who can't accept the fact that her boyfriend, Zan, elected to graduate early and leave for college without saying a word to her. Last year Joy had been the new girl in the boring Mormon town of Haven, Utah. It was to her old hometown in California that Zan decided to flee to escape the conformity and wholesomeness of Haven. But Joy is sure that he wouldn't want to rid himself of her. Although both Mormon, she and Zan were different. Wit...more

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Jul 18, 2011 Rebecca rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-i-own

Back When You Were Easier to Love

What I liked...
- The cute cover is what initially drew me to the book.
- It is well written and is quite a sweet and relatively innocent book about first love.
- I loved some of the quotes: "People ask me what I miss most about California, and what I miss most is what I never had", "I wasn't myself with him, I was better than myself - Joy 2.0...my jokes were funnier, my mind was sharper..."

What I could have done without...
- I found it hard to want Joy to succeed i...more

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Jul 29, 2011 Mlpmom (Book Reviewer) rated it 4 of 5 stars

3.5 Stars. This was an interesting story about a girl who maybe becomes a little obsessive about a lost love only to learn later that nothing was really what it appeared to be and that maybe, just maybe it was her all along that needed to change and look at things differently.
I really did enjoy this read, it was somewhat comical and yet serious all at once. The writing was great, it flowed really well but the main character was a little hard to relate to at times and her obsession was a little...more

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Aug 29, 2011 Danylle rated it 3 of 5 stars

Oh Ms Smith you sure know who to reach into the "Teenage girl in love" psyche. While at times this book was a bit predictable, I couldn't help but say to myself "ugh this is so true" I remember being this way, I remember feeling all those emotions, I remember the end all be all of highschool romances. And yet I would HIGHLY recommend this to all my young women friends. Why? because your true love is not always who you think he his; most of the time it's because you are not who you think you are....more

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Nov 03, 2012 Cjoy Esguerra rated it 5 of 5 stars

I remember being so hooked to this book. Well you can't blame me, I can relate to Joy somehow. And plus we have the same name(I'm just saying. :D). I thought Joy and Zan will get back together in the end but I was so wrong, the book is unpredictable somehow. That's why I love it. I love Joy, the character, being inlove with books and being totally inlove with the wrong guy that it sucks, but it became the path to a life-turning event and revelations that she wasn't aware before. You know the say...more

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Feb 18, 2012 Kellee rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: romance, ya-teen, religion-faith, teach-mentor-texts

Reviewed at:
http://www.teachmentortexts.com/2012/...

*Summary: Zan is gone. He left with no good bye, no explanation, no anything. Joy doesn't understand why he left and she misses him. So, Joy feels like she must go find Zan and get closure.

What I Think: I think that teenage Kellee would have loved this book a lot more than I did. Most teenagers at some point fall into what they feel is the love of their life. I did. This is a story about that. And about obsession and heart break. I think many...more Reviewed at:
http://www.teachmentortexts.com/2012/...

*Summary: Zan is gone. He left with no good bye, no explanation, no anything. Joy doesn't understand why he left and she misses him. So, Joy feels like she must go find Zan and get closure.

What I Think: I think that teenage Kellee would have loved this book a lot more than I did. Most teenagers at some point fall into what they feel is the love of their life. I did. This is a story about that. And about obsession and heart break. I think many, many teenage girls will connect with this book.

But there are some things about it that will limit the connections and some things about it that I didn't like. The what I don't like gives away the ending, so I, unfortunately, can't rant and rave about it, but I can explain the other thing.

Joy is Mormon. And I truly believe there needs to be a variety of protagonists and a variety of religions represented in literature (specifically YA), but as someone who doesn't know much about being Mormon, I felt disconnected from the characters because I didn't feel like it was explained very well. You were thrown into this town where everything is different than every where else and with a protagonist that doesn't like it, but I just never got it. I never got why Zan would want to leave. I never got why Joy didn't feel connected. I never got why she thought Noah was a bad guy. I just never got it. I wanted to and I kept reading hoping that I would, but the connection for me was just not there.

What I did LOVE about this book was the way it was set up. It was set up as a mix of narration, flashbacks, lists, poetry and vignettes. The vignettes were my favorite! So beautifully written. This format is what made the book a 3 star-er for me instead of a 2.

Lastly, I did like that Joy was a book lover and a good girl. I like that her love is clean and this book is available. She IS really quite different than any other girl protagonist, but this story shows that no matter how different you are, girls still can fall head over heels in love with the wrong guy. (less)

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Nov 02, 2012 Ari J Bookzilla rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: clean-read, dare-me

I want to give this a better rating, but really, when you don't like the heroine, who just so happens to narrate the book too, and being in her head is annoying, it's hard to like the book.

Because, to me, the heroine was so immature, so judgmental, so shallow, so clueless that it was hard to warm up to her even if I tried really hard to do it. She belittles everyone around her, completely undeserved, too, and the one person she glorifies is the least likable character of the book - Zan. You can...more I want to give this a better rating, but really, when you don't like the heroine, who just so happens to narrate the book too, and being in her head is annoying, it's hard to like the book.

Because, to me, the heroine was so immature, so judgmental, so shallow, so clueless that it was hard to warm up to her even if I tried really hard to do it. She belittles everyone around her, completely undeserved, too, and the one person she glorifies is the least likable character of the book - Zan. You can just see how much worse than her he is, and if I didn't like her, I absolutely hated him.
Question: (view spoiler)

Having decided by third chapter that I don't like Joy, I tried to still like the rest of the book. Tough, not only because she kept annoying me, Zan proves me right that he should be the least likable character in the book, but also because never once did I think "this is what I've been waiting for, this is why this book was worth reading". I'm left pretty unsatisfied in the end, and I do not like this feeling one bit. I just needed something.

I was aware that this is a clean read, and this did not bother me at all.

What saved the book for me is Noah. He is such a great character (even if a bit under-developed), he is the sweetest guy. I'd go as far to say that I liked the book because of Noah which is why I'm being generous with the rating.

That and the fact that I liked the way it was written. It's a bit slow at times, especially when she tells you the back story, but once you're in the present things kind of move faster. The book really begins once the road trip starts, though. You can sense there is some chemistry between Noah and Joy, and I loved that.

Overall, I'd say that it is not a bad book, exactly. It's just that it doesn't have what I like to call a high-peak-moment - something that makes even a bad book worth your time reading. The ending is kind of abrupt, too. Knowing Noah and the whole no-girlfriend thing, I don't know what I should envision happens after they come home. So yeah, pretty unsatisfied. I do recommend reading it, though.

note: The reason I haven't talked about the religious aspect of this book is because I decided to ignore it completely. The author tries to force her opinions on you, and I must say I'm not a huge fan of this.(less)

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Jun 21, 2011 Christiana rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: teen-fic, middle-school, contemps-challenge, i-lol-d-a-little

I was so pleasantly surprised by this one! This is a great realistic fiction look at what it's like to be Mormon. Not in a "here's what we believe" way, but more in a "this is my life and here's how my religion plays into it". It was also a great road trip story (I love road trip stories) and I lol'd a couple times reading it!

You could give this to Christian fic people OR just girls who like a good realistic fiction/light romance read. And while we're talking about the light romance part, I hav...more

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May 28, 2011 John rated it 4 of 5 stars

Really cute read. I think the ending disappointed me a little too much to be a Best-of for this year, though. I enjoyed the chaste romance and felt like it was a really strong look at how you can be faithful without flaunting your faith to a major extent. I'm not a Mormon, though, so I do admit that I think the heroine's acceptance of her new town of Haven is a little too good to be true, because it is there was honesty in what she said at the beginning of the book. I did enjoy the nod to someon...more

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