"Sweet, delicious, and beautifully layered - not unlike the perfect Mille Crêpe Cake. You'll want to devour this book immediately."
- Rachael Allen, au"Sweet, delicious, and beautifully layered - not unlike the perfect Mille Crêpe Cake. You'll want to devour this book immediately."
- Rachael Allen, author of A Taxonomy of Love and The Summer of Impossibilities
I had the honor of blurbing this book, and I can't recommend it highly enough. This book is such a sweet and beautiful story about family, food, friendship, and love. It’ll make you smile for days. If you're looking for a book that will feel like a warm hug during this pandemic, this is exactly one you should read....more
- I LOVED this book. Ariel was a really compelling main character, and also really similar to what I was like in high school, and I thought Laura Silv- I LOVED this book. Ariel was a really compelling main character, and also really similar to what I was like in high school, and I thought Laura Silverman did a fantastic job of capturing the overachiever personality. I liked his growth ARC and what he learned and how he changed over the book. I felt a little bit stressed during some of the first few chapters when he's so intense, but I think that could be because I was very much feeling what he was feeling, which is not necessarily a bad thing. And then as soon as we get to see Amir, just, BOOM. The book flew by, and I loved their romance, and how Ariel was analyzing every little thing, and they were so cute and awkward, and HARRY AND CEDRIC OMG.
- I loved all of the side characters too. The friends and family and Rachel. I AM OBSESSED. She is awesome. She's fun and hilarious, but also I loved how the serious thread of her following in Ariel's footsteps. I loved seeing how that affected him too. I really enjoyed how the author explored the bad side of cramming all this information and putting all this pressure on kids. And does it really make them productive members of society? And why do we have to keep starting it earlier and earlier? (Seriously, my daughter is in first grade, and the things they expect them to do are just ridiculous and not even developmentally appropriate.) So, yeah. That was all really well done and I loved seeing it in a book.
- The dialogue. It was really strong and really funny. My favorites were the family dialogue and also the friend dialogue, especially when a group of them were hanging out and would play off of each other.
- Sook: I love their friendship. And her character. And all the funny things she says.
- This ending scene that I don't want to spoil, so let's just say I didn't even know what to do with my heart, I think it turned into a firework or something.
- Religion. I thought it was so wonderful how much religion is in this book. Both for Ariel, and also for Amir and Pari. I think too many YA books pretend like religion isn't a thing at all, but I think it's a big part of life for a lot of teens, and I thought Laura did a great job with it. I also appreciated that this was a book where Ariel was "incidentally Jewish" and Amir was "incidentally Muslim." I like that there can be books where a character faces a lot of hard things because of people reacting to their religion, but I also like that there can be sweet books and adorable love stories where the main character is Jewish. I thought she nailed it....more
Some backstory: When I saw early stuff around the interwebs about JUST VISITING, I was like, Oh, man, I want to read this book so badly. I actually alSome backstory: When I saw early stuff around the interwebs about JUST VISITING, I was like, Oh, man, I want to read this book so badly. I actually almost emailed Dahlia to be like, "Hey, can I read this book early and maybe blurb it?" But then I was like, "Well, that's obnoxious. I can't just, like, assume she would want to be blurbed by me."
And at the same time, Dahlia was wanting to email me, but was also hesitant (asking for blurbs is hard, yo). And then there was this series of emails where we both kept getting more and more excited as we realized we both wanted THE EXACT SAME THING.
So, it's kind of like our emails about JUST VISITING had their very own YA relationship ARC.
The blurb I wrote after falling completely and hopelessly in love with this book (and then staring at it for two days and wondering if I could think of a blurb that would do it justice):
"Hilarious and heartfelt, Dahlia Adler's JUST VISTING is a story about breaking out of your small town, falling in love, road trips with your best friend, and figuring out who you're supposed to be. Reagan and Victoria's friendship is nothing short of magic."
Some other thoughts about this book:
1) It really is everything I love to read about in a book, and I feel so special and honored that I got to blurb it.
2) Great small town stuff, friendship stuff, coming of age stuff, boy stuff, a serious life experience scene that I hadn't encountered in a YA before and that was SO important, and well-written diversity. (So, see #1. Everything I love in a book!)
3) I totally would have wanted Vic to be in my sorority in college. Also Reagan (thought she'd take some persuading). Also Dahlia.
4) Contains one of the hottest hook up scenes I've read all year. IN A FIELD, NO LESS.
5) Someday I am going to reenact the "Drunk like a fox!" scene with Dahlia. You have been warned.
6) I realize there is a lot about both Dahlia and the book in this review, but I'm telling you, you're going to read it and then want to be her best friend....more
I loved this book! I loved the voice and how Jasmine sometimes addresses the reader like it's a radio show. I loved Wes (Sigh...Wes). I loved how stroI loved this book! I loved the voice and how Jasmine sometimes addresses the reader like it's a radio show. I loved Wes (Sigh...Wes). I loved how strong Jasmine is, and most of all I loved the family stuff. Also, the ending. I wasn't expecting that twist at the end, and it was an amazing job, and I loved how the last scene at the carnival felt very much like one of those 80's movies I love. My favorite part of the book was Jasmine and Danny, which is probably why this ended up being my blurb for the book:
"The relationship between Jasmine and her little brother, Danny, will break your heart and put it back together again."
I loved this book more than I can say. Positive body image, girls being revolutionaries and entering the town beauty pageant, swoony romance, tons of I loved this book more than I can say. Positive body image, girls being revolutionaries and entering the town beauty pageant, swoony romance, tons of lines that cracked me up, and drag queens teaching said revolutionary girls how to walk in heels. Plus, Dolly Parton.
Also: It is now my life mission to get as many people as possible to recreate the Jolene scene....more
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