You Are Here

by Jennifer E Smith

[Rowena]

I love road trip books and while I enjoyed this one, it wasn’t my favorite road trip book. For me, it was hard to connect with Emma. I kept reading through the book and wanting to come to like her but I just couldn’t. Now, Peter? I connected the hell out of him. This story moved because of Peter’s story. He was such an interesting character.

Emma was really selfish in the way that she thought, the way that she acted and Peter deserved so much more than the kind of friendship that Emma gave him. I don’t know, after that kiss attempt when they were camping, my heart completely broke for Peter (I cried) because it really sucks to like someone that doesn’t like you back and Peter, for as great a guy that he was, I wanted more for him then…Emma. And that’s not the usual reaction that I have for the main character of the book.

Over the course of the book, Emma starts to change for the better and it was good to see it but I guess, for me anyway, that I spent so much time being annoyed with her that a part of that annoyance never went away. It’s stupid but there it is.

I really liked when they first got to Gettysburg and the way that Peter was when they got there. The way that he knew the timeline and history of the entire place, the way that he was so happy to be there. How in awe he was to be there. I really liked that.

I also liked that scene at the end when Nate sends Emma down to the basement to get that damn salad bowl and she finds the photo albums. I thought it was a sweet scene and it was good to see Emma’s family be the kind of family that she’s always wanted.

I also liked the scene when Annie and Emma have it out when Emma finally gets to Annie’s house and the boys find them in the kitchen are unsure how to handle the situation.

There were a lot of scenes that I liked and my only complaint was that misconnect with Emma. I just couldn’t get there with her and I wanted to. Oh, well.

I mean, this was a solid story but because of my disconnect with Emma, I didn’t enjoy the book nearly as much as I’ve liked our other books. Peter’s journey through this book was more interesting to me and I was bummed that we didn’t get enough of it, at least for me. So, I’d give this book a C.