Review : Open Road Summer by Emery Lord

Summary (from Goodreads)

Title : Open Road Summer
Author : Emery Lord
Publication Date : April 15th 2014
Publisher : Bloomsbury
Goodreads - Amazon - Barnes & Noble

After breaking up with her bad-news boyfriend, Reagan O’Neill is ready to leave her rebellious ways behind. . . and her best friend, country superstar Lilah Montgomery, is nursing a broken heart of her own. Fortunately, Lilah’s 24-city tour is about to kick off, offering a perfect opportunity for a girls-only summer of break-up ballads and healing hearts. But when Matt Finch joins the tour as its opening act, his boy-next-door charm proves difficult for Reagan to resist, despite her vow to live a drama-free existence. This summer, Reagan and Lilah will navigate the ups and downs of fame and friendship as they come to see that giving your heart to the right person is always a risk worth taking. A fresh new voice in contemporary romance, Emery Lord’s gorgeous writing hits all the right notes.

Personal Thoughts

A superstar best friend, a cute musician and a music tour, Open Road Summer is a book that was written for the YA contemporary junkie in me. I went into the book expecting a cute romance, but Open Road Summer was so much more than that.

Reagan has been best-friends with Dee long before she became a Taylor Swift-esque country pop star. She's spending her summer on tour with Dee and Open Road Summer is Reagan's journey along with Dee. I loved Reagan as a main character. She was a little rough around the edges, but she's smart, caring and blunt. I especially enjoyed her loyalty and how devoted she was to the people she loved. She did come across as a little conceited in the beginning, but she does grow throughout the book, which made her a wonderful character in my eyes. Her best friend, Dee, was also so loveable. I almost wished we had her POV in the book as well, because I was so invested in her story. Dee might have been a superstar, but she didn't let the stardom get to her head. I actually wouldn't mind if the author wrote a companion novel for Dee because that would definitely interest me. Matt, Dee's friend, and a famous musician who was once part of a Jonas Brothers-type of band, was one of my favorite characters. He was such a sweetheart and he made me swoon constantly whenever he was in a scene.

Open Road Summer tackled so many themes, my favorite being relationships. Emery Lord developed Reagan's relationship with everyone. My favorite was undoubtedly the friendship between Reagan and Dee. They are so supportive of each other and I love their loyalty. They were always there for each other and they were never afraid to be honest either. Their relationship was really just beautiful and made me wish that I had someone who I was that close with when I was younger. Another relationship I adored was the one between Reagan and Matt. Their relationship developed from friendship into a wonderful romance. I loved them together and their romance was the kind that gave me so many butterflies. I also loved how Emery Lord portrayed stardom. Through Reagan and Dee, we see how being a star isn't that great, especially with the media hounding these celebrities, but that's not to say that there weren't any positive attributes to being a super star either. My only complaint when it comes to this book has to be a completely unnecessary situation towards the end of the novel that sort of made Reagan recede back into that angry and conceited young woman she was. I could have done without that scene, but regardless this was a wonderful book.

Emery Lord is one talented author and I can't wait to see what she comes up with next. A sweet romantic story about friendship and stardom, Open Road Summer is not a book to be missed.

Rating

Cover : 4/5
Plot : 5/5
Characters : 5/5
Writing : 5/5


Thank you to NetGalley and Bloomsbury for the e-ARC of Open Road Summer.

 

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