Mundie Moms

Sunday, February 25, 2018

LOVE & OTHER TRAIN WRECKS by Leah Konen / Book Review #LoveAndOtherTrainWrecks



By: Leah Konen
Published by: Katherine Tegen Books
Released on: January 2nd, 2018
Purchase from: Amazon | B&N
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Rating: 4 stars
A copy of this book was provided by the publisher in exchange for my honest review

A twenty-four-hour romance about two teens who meet—and perhaps change their minds about love—on a train ride to Upstate New York in the middle of a snowstorm

One train ride. Two strangers.

Noah is a hopeless romantic. He’s heading back home for one last chance with his first love, whom he broke up with when he went off to college.

Ammy doesn’t believe in true love—her parents being prime examples. She’s escaping from a mom who can’t take care of her to a dad who may not even want her. That is, until one winter night when Noah and Ammy find themselves in the same Amtrak car heading to Upstate New York.

After a train-wreck first encounter between the two of them, the Amtrak train suddenly breaks down due to a snowstorm. Desperate to make it to their destinations, Noah and Ammy have no other option but to travel together. What starts off as a minor detour turns into the whirlwind journey of a lifetime, and over the course of the night they fall in love. But come morning their adventure takes an unexpected turn for the worst. Can one night can really change how they feel about love...and the course of their lives forever?


If you're in need of a contemporary to cure your winter blues, pick this book up! Love & Other Train Wrecks is an ode and a YA version of Planes, Trains and Automobiles. With two opposites thrown together in a series of mishaps over the span of 24 hours, what could possibly go wrong? This book has humor, great character chemistry, and two imperfect characters who could't be more right for each other.

There was something incredibly enduring about this story, that immediately hooked me. Or maybe it had more to do with the two love interests, and complete polar opposites, Noah and Ammy and the mishaps they find themselves in. Noah is that nerdy, sweet, character I'm normally not drawn to, but there's something about him I couldn't help but find likable. By the end of the story I realized there's a lot more to Noah than I first thought, and I couldn't help but be drawn to him like Ammy is.

Where Noah seems a bit tentative at first, Ammy is not. She's blunt, smart, loyal to those she cares about, tries to do what she thinks is right, and is having  a hard time adjusting to a situation she's been thrown into, in her personal life. She's a character who I at first really felt bad for, however, as her story continued it was hard at times to root for her, because she comes across as rude and some times has an immature reaction to things. Thankfully she does redeem herself. 

What I liked about Noah and Ammy, and their story, is how Konen slowly reveals what each characters is going through. She throws these two into a series of events that ultimately forces them to be honest with themselves, as well as with each other. In doing so, not only do readers get to understand, and sympathize them more, Noah and Ammy both naturally end up falling for each other. I really liked that natural progression of their story, and what transpires between them.

One of my favorite scenes is one that involves a game of go-fish and what results after that. It's not just because of the kissy scenes, but because for once there are no walls up between them. It also leads to a shocking discovery that I didn't even see coming! Talk about coincidences. I'm not sure if I wanted to laugh at it, cry for them or lock them in a room and tell them to work through it. Being written in dual points of views was perfect for this book! I really liked getting to see the story from both Noah and Ammy's points of views. 

This book was such a pleasant surprise. I'm not a big contemporary fan, but this book was worth the read. It's that kind of book that feels like you're watching a romantic comedy vs reading about. This book had the right amount of humor, mishaps that provided a few laugh out loud moments, well written natural character chemistry, and two characters who's stories I enjoyed reading. I liked seeing how they worked things out both together, and individually. YES! This book has the perfect ending for their story. If you're in need of a contemporary to cure your winter blues, pick this book up!

*There is some very mild language in this book, and the f-word is mentioned a few times. 

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