Meet Me in Outer Space was a book after my own heart. It was the type of story I always adore - on the lighter side, but with some substance.
Things I loved:
• Edie was a wonderful character! She was a girl with goals, and was willing to go the extra mile to help her get closer to achieving her dream. I gave her a lot of credit for going head-to-head with her French professor regarding her modifications, as he was not quite onboard with helping her in any way. I also liked that she didn't make excuses for herself. She understood her disability and her needs, and she tried to do what she needed to do to succeed.
• I had no idea how Edie resisted Hudson, because he charmed the pants off of me. I adored him from their first on page together, and loved how supportive he was of Edie's goals and dreams. Hudson was so unapologetically himself and he did and said so many things that brought a smile to my face. I thought he was a total keeper.
• I honestly can't recall reading another book with a character having Central Auditory Processing Disorder, and I love that Grace brought attention to this disability. I liked learning about the modifications that make things a little easier for people with this disorder, and I found the information and insight Grace offered to be quite interesting.
• This was Edie's story, but it was also a solid romance. These two were so precious together, and there were some really, really swoony moments too. There was so many times I smiled until my face hurt, and that's the kind of hurt I always welcome.
• There were a bunch of fun extras: the photo exhibit, lots of fashion facts, fun with foreign languages, and the volleyball games -- each of these things added to my fun and enjoyment.
Things that were not perfect:
I found myself a little disappointed in the ending. There was a very adorable and fun and cute set up, and I really enjoyed that, but I wanted a little bit more. It felt so open ended, when you take the conflict into consideration. I think some people would be ok with this ending, but I needed know just a little bit more.
Overall: A solid debut, which kept me entertained and grinning from ear to ear.
From the minute I read the synopsis, I thought it would be the perfect book for me. Unfortunately, upon actually reading it, I found that I had a lot of issues with this. But, because I don't want to start this review on a negative note, I'll briefly list a few positive aspects of the book:
- The #OwnVoices rep was great! I felt like I really got to know a lot about what people with CAPD go through. - I thought Edie's dedication to success (even in a class that she despises) was truly inspirational, especially given her disability. - And finally, I loved how this was set in college. There's a terrible shortage of YA books in college (with Fangirl and Finding Felicity being the only two that I know of) and I'm super happy that authors like Melinda are stepping up to fill the gap!
But I have to end the positives there, because there are a couple of things that I would like to discuss:
- For one, I didn't really like Hudson and Edie's relationship, like, at all. It was super clear from the beginning that they both really liked each other a lot, but neither of them wanted to admit it. But when Hudson finally gathers the courage to do so, Edie runs scared because she wanted to only focus on getting to Paris for her semester abroad. I usually wouldn't be too upset about this, except for the fact that it fuels the myth that you can't have a long distance relationship (which, I would like to point out, you totally can!!)
- Also, Hudson's personality gave off a really young and juvenile vibe. It's weird, because even he's technically *at least* three years older than me, I saw him more as a freshman in high school than a mature adult.
- And speaking of characters, none of them were very well-developed. Because the story focused heavily on Edie and Hudson, we didn't really get to see too much of the other side characters in the book, which was really disappointing to me.
- And while I won't spoil the ending, I will say that I didn't think it really worked with the book. There were several unanswered questions, and I felt like an epilogue set in the future (maybe upon Edie's return from her summer abroad) would have made it much better.
Overall, I'm going to give this book 2.5 stars. Hopefully some of you guys will enjoy this more than I did.