"Nineteen-year-old Sydney has the perfect summer mapped out. She's spending the next four and a half weeks traveling through Europe with her childhood best friend Leela. Their plans include Eiffel Tower selfies, eating cocco gelato, and making out with hot strangers. Her plans do not include Leela's cheating ex-boyfriend showing up on the flight to London, falling for the cheating ex-boyfriend's hot friend, monitoring her mother's spiraling mental health via texts, or feeling like the rope in a friendship tug of war."--Book jacket.
I wanted to love this, and in some ways I did. The mental health aspect with Sydney's mom was probably my favourite part, and it seemed very well written, but everything else? UGH. It's not that this was a bad book, I just couldn't get on with the fact that Leela was a pretty awful friend to Sydney. If you make your best friend come with you on a European adventure, because your boyfriend dumped you, perhaps DON'T go running as soon as he comes calling? Because he's on the same trip? It was all Leela, Leela, Leela, and Sydney didn't get a look in and it irritated me big time. With friends like Leela who needs enemies, eh? Not to mention the bizarro spat between Leela and Kat (instigated by Leela) because Sydney made a friend at college. HOW BLOODY WELL DARE SHE, EH? Selfish mare. She should have just sat & pined for Leela, who goes to college in Montreal.
Otherwise, the book was okay. I liked all the different destinations (although, next time please be aware that the word snog in England means french kissing, not just regular kissing) and not everyone in England eats fish & chips. And the French don't all smoke. It was kinda cliche, how every country literally had every cliche spouted whilst they were in it.
I wanted a girl's backpacking trip through Europe, not a bloody drama with boys unworthy of either girl. Well, Matt didn't deserve Leela, but I loved Jackson. You can write a book without romance, though! Sydney did not have to kiss a boy in every city, for God's sake. This would have been so much fun if it was just Sydney, Leela & Kat discovering Europe's hidden gems. But it was ruined by boys, as per usual.
And the ending. It appears there will be a sequel (actually it seems like it'll be a companion, set at camp?) but I mean TELL ME WHAT HAPPENED. Did Sydney's mom cope while her daughter was away? Were there any after-effects? What about Sydney's own anxiety that came and went at will and was just left.... with no answers? The ending was just so open, I just came up on this page that said "the end" and I'm like "The hell?"
I actually didn't like this book as much as I thought I did. WHO KNEW.
