Let's Get Lost

by Adi Alsaid

[Leah]

If there's any Young Adult novel that seems to have a lot of hype around it, it is Adi Alsaid's novel Let's Get Lost. All I've seen about this novel has been good stuff, so when it popped up on Netgalley, I decided to download myself a copy and see what all the fuss is about. I really, really enjoy road trip novels. They make me envious, because I long to do what Leila does - just take off on a road trip, to see the Northern Lights (which sound SO beautiful, and the story she tells about them to young Dee is awesome) or just to see anything, really. To get in your car, and drive to any given destination, without having to really worry about life, or your job, or anything like that, is something I wish I had the guts to do! (A driving license would also help...)

Let's Get Lost is a super interesting read. It's like four short stories, all bound up by this one girl, Leila. She's the force that holds all of the stories together, and she's always in the right place, at the right time, with the right dose of optimism and belief to help whomever is in need of helping. It's great. The four different stories include Hudson, Sonia, Bree and Elliott, who all need a Leila intervention for one reason or another, and she helps them with whatever they need, and leaves them with a much brighter future than they anticipated. It takes quite a special girl to do all that, and I sort of wish we'd got to know her better. As much as I loved getting to know Hudson, Sonia, Bree and Elliott, Leila remains an enigma for much of the novel, more interested in helping others than helping herself (which is no bad thing!), but I wanted to know more about this young girl, who was traversing across America to see the Northern Lights, picking up strangers with her red, red car.

I enjoyed the writing approach to Let's Get Lost. I wasn't sure at first how the novel would play out, but each of the stories are like their own mini version, held together by Leila. My favourite was probably Bree's. Because it was just ridiculously fun and slightly insane. I absolutely LOVED Bree's idea to "Seize the Tuesday", too, and she did - with Leila right alongside her, and they got into some crazy situations and it was almost unreal at times, but Bree and Leila just had this awesome instant bond that I adored. Although, Leila could bond with a stick of rock, just sayin'. She's that kinda girl. What really stood out for all the stories, though, was Leila's optimism. Yes, they're about helping the person we're reading about - Hudson getting to his interview, Bree to keep running away, Elliott to get the girl and Sonia to deliver the wedding rings, but Leila does it in such an easy, likeable way that you can't help but love her. Her speeches to Elliott about their situation being rom-com like was amazing, especially since I adore rom-coms and it's all about getting the girl or guy.

Adi Alsaid has written such an interesting, enjoyable, warm novel. You warm to the characters instantly, and you end up feeling so grateful that Leila was in the right place, at the right time. I would have perhaps liked a bit more of an ending - considering the way the novel goes, I think Leila deserved better than what I read. I'm a sucker for happy endings, and this one needed just a teensy bit more build-up, a bit more... action. It's totally the road I wanted it to go on, mind, but I just needed a teensy bit more to convince me this was it. But apart from that it was a superb road-trip novel. So enjoyable, so fun, with one of the most unforgettable characters I'll probably ever meet. I am sorely tempted to go outside and raise some trouble, in the hope that a girl in a red car, with a red interior, might just be moseying on by. If you could bottle and sell Leila, she would sell out in seconds. I loved Let's Get Lost, it allowed me, as a reader, to just lose myself in the words and the enjoyable characters for a few hours, and that is priceless.