Mundie Moms

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

The Geography of You & Me by Jennifer E. Smith, Transatlantic Blog Tour

Hello & welcome today's exciting stop in the Transatlantic blog tour for The Geography of You & Me. Like the characters in The Geography of You and Me whom send post cards and emails from across the Atlantic Ocean, we're sharing our reviews! I am so thrilled to have Amanda from One More Page  on Mundie Moms today to share her review of Jennifer E Smith's newest release. You can read my review over on her blog today, here.


Published by: Little Brown / Poppy
Released on: 4/15/14
Source: arc from publisher to review
Purchase the Book From: Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Add it to Goodreads

Lucy lives on the twenty-fourth floor. Owen lives in the basement. It’s fitting, then, that they meet in the middle — stuck between two floors of a New York City apartment building, on an elevator rendered useless by a citywide blackout. After they’re rescued, Lucy and Owen spend the night wandering the darkened streets and marveling at the rare appearance of stars above Manhattan. But once the power is back, so is reality. Lucy soon moves abroad with her parents, while Owen heads out west with his father.

The brief time they spend together leaves a mark. And as their lives take them to Edinburgh and to San Francisco, to Prague and to Portland, Lucy and Owen stay in touch through postcards, occasional e-mails, and phone calls. But can they — despite the odds — find a way to reunite?
I’m a hopeless romantic at heart and if you are too, you will love this book. Like Jen E Smith’s previous books (The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight and This is What Happy Looks Like), this novel takes a chance encounter between a boy and girl and weaves it into a wonderful love story.


Owen and Lucy live in the same building in New York and on a hot September night they find themselves trapped in a lift when the power goes out across the state. As they wait to be freed they begin to talk and as they realise the power isn’t coming back any time soon, they keep each other company in the strange and magical world that is New York City without its bright lights.


I love the premise that a random event can spark a chance encounter that sets off a chain of events and a connection with another person – soooo romantic! (Although I wasn’t quite so keen on the getting stuck in a lift bit which made me feel claustrophobic just reading about it!) Owen and Lucy’s lives soon go their separate ways and I was surprised how dramatically separate their futures were set to be as they both left New York. I found myself wondering how on earth they could ever end up together being physically so far apart.


But Ms Smith is a clever author and a supreme creator of twists of fate and I loved the way the story played out (through a breathtaking list of cities, states and countries) and that I couldn’t predict what would happen next. The postcards that Lucy and Owen use to stay in touch added another magical touch to the story and reminded me how special it is to receive a written note.


Lucy and Owen are both great characters. Lucy’s love of books endeared her to me straight away and I loved the way the bookish aspect of her character came through in the book and how she sought out stories that were apt reading in the places she visited. Owen fulfilled my requirements for more blonde haired, green eyed leads in the books I read and I thought his relationship with his Dad was lovely.


Both  Lucy and Owen are dealing with family issues that I thought were beautifully written and sensitively handled. Development of both characters’ relationships with their parents was a key theme in the book as Lucy and Owen deal with parental absence in differing forms and Jen E Smith explores the notion of what family and home really mean. As someone who has moved many times over the years, this story really struck a chord with me and backed up my belief that home really is where the heart is.


I’m a firm believer in fate, serendipity and true love and Jennifer’s books are amongst my favourite reads of recent years because they embrace and celebrate all of these things. I think The Geography of You and Me is her best yet - guaranteed to leave you with a warm heart and a smile on your face 


As I travelled with Lucy and Owen I wanted to pack my bags and visit some of the wonderful places described. That’s not possible for me at the moment so instead I’m sending this little review off to travel the world in my place. I can’t wait to see where it ends up!

5/5

Thank you Amanda for being on Mundie Moms today! Be sure to check out more of Amanda's reviews on her blog HERE. You can follow her on Twitter here.

Be sure to check out the other US & UK tour stops! Follow the tour via Twitter using #YouAndMe!


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