The Way Back to You

by Michelle Andreani and Mindi Scott

For fans of Jenny Han and Morgan Matson, a witty, poignant novel about second chances, letting go, and the unbreakable bonds of friendship. Six months ago, Ashlyn Montiel died in a bike accident. Her best friend, Cloudy, is keeping it together, at least on the outside. Cloudy's insides are a different story: tangled, confused, heartbroken. Kyle is falling apart, and everyone can tell. Ashlyn was his girlfriend, and when she died, a part of him went with her. Maybe the only part he cares about anymore. As the two people who loved Ashlyn best, Cloudy and Kyle should be able to lean on each other. But after a terrible mistake last year, they're barely speaking. So when Cloudy discovers that Ashlyn's organs were donated after her death and the Montiel family has been in touch with three of the recipients, she does something a little bit crazy and a lot out of character: she steals the letters and convinces Kyle to go on a winter break road trip with her, from Oregon to California to Arizona to Nevada. Maybe if they see the recipients-the people whose lives were saved by Ashlyn's death-the world will open up again. Or maybe it will be a huge mistake.

• ISBN10: 0062386301
• ISBN13: 9780062386304
• Publish Date: 2 June 2016 (first published 3 May 2016)
• Publish Status: Active
• Out of Print: 15 October 2021
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Katherine Tegen Books
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 384
• Language: English

Reviews

[whisperingchapters]

This review was originally posted on Latte Nights Reviews.


Kyle and Cloudy are trying to survive after having  their ex-girlfriend/best friend die in an accident six months ago. Cloudy appears to be handling everything very well but she isn't. Kyle doesn't know how to deal with this death and it shows. When Cloudy finds out that Ashlyn's organs were donated, she sets out to visit the the people that received the organs and drags Kyle alone with her without telling him what the road-trip is about until they reach their first destination.

I swear something's wrong with me. This book had it all to be amazing and all the raving reviews on Goodreads prove it but I couldn't love it. I know it wasn't my mood because I was super excited for it but I didn't click with it. I was so close to DNF'ing this book but if you know me, then you know it's hard for me to DNF a book so I pushed through. For the first 65% or 70%, the book was sloooow.

Seriously, I couldn't deal. My excitement for this book died very early on in the story because not much was really happening. That's saying a lot because this book has a road-trip and I love road-trips!! But this one was so boring. It started off slow, giving us a background on Cloudy and Kyle. To me, the background didn't add much to the story. It did at the beginning but then it was dragged on for nothing because it didn't really add anything. It didn't make me feel sympathetic at all and I was just over it all, but I kept reading because I was excited for the road-trip.

Well, nothing happened. Once again, the road-trip didn't add much in my opinion. Even through the death of a friend these two teens experienced, I couldn't feel sorry for them. The book took on a very somber feel to it and it got really difficult for me to want to finish this book. The romance felt so forced! Even when they previously had feelings for each other, I couldn't believe it at all.

Overall, this book didn't impress me at all and it bums me because this was one of my 2016 anticipated releases.

I received an eARC for free from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.This review was originally posted on Latte Nights Reviews.