I am here with another book review, This Adventure Ends by Emma Mills. Thanks so much to Raincoast Books for sending an eARC of this book my way. As always, all opinions are my own.
This was another book by an new-to-me author and I am telling you right now, I am preordering this book and ordering her other book as well! This is a new favourite for me and I cannot stop smiling.
This is the story of Sloane after her family moves to a small, vacation town in Florida from New York in her senior year of high school. Her father is a best-selling romance author, but after hitting a bit of writers block, decided to move the family out the hustle and bustle of the big city. Upon arrival, Sloane meets a set of twins, Vera and Gabe and is fairly quickly absorbed into their group of friends, including Aubrey and Remy, who are trying to work out their post-relationship struggles as it is.
I just loved so much about this book. And I just finished it too, so my apologies if it is a little gushy.
Firstly, I want to address Sloane's relationship with her father. He was such a great character, and in a YA world of non-existant parents, he was a gold star. He is pretty much her best friend. They talk about his books, he asks for writing advice, and upon meeting Vera, a social-media guru with enough followers on every social media platform known to man to get her 100 likes in 10 seconds, the discuss his latest obsession, a Twilight-esque paranormal TV show, and his discover of fanfic.
Sloane herself is a great character. She is sarcastic, and witty, but you can tell that it is a bit of a coping mechanism for her lack of deep, meaningful friendships. Back in NY, she didn't really have a best friend. Now, she uses her humour to cope and help her new friends cope with their various issues. In this rag-tag, Friends-type book, she is definitely the Chandler. But she is fiercely loyal and protective of her new friends.
I love how this book dealt with a lot of different, I don't want to say issues, but sub-genres. There of course was the death of Vera and Gabe's mother, some LGBT elements; Vera and her girlfriend, and just the general hardships of being a teen.
Along that vein, I really loved Mills' depiction of the grief Vera and Gabe feel. I think she did a great job relaying to the reader, because since everything was filtered through Sloane, it would have been easy to overlook. We see Vera racked with grief, secluded in her room for days and Gabe, feeling in his own more quiet, introverted way. The author could have easily avoided or made these moments less important, but I think she did a wonderful job of bringing to light their grief, and the different ways in which everyone grieves.
I think the synopsis is a little misleading in terms of the painting going missing. It makes it seem like it was stolen, as opposed to sold off. Still, Sloane goes on a mission to save it, taking a mini-road trip to get there.
I think what I am most impressed with in this book is Mills' ability to make everything realistic. The romance wasn't love at first sight, it slowly built. The grief didn't just disappear, it still reared its ugly head every once in a while. Plans and people change, things don't go as planned, auditions get messed up. These things happen, and I was so glad they were included in the story.
As well, the writing of this book was great. From the witty voice of the main character, to the realistic atmosphere of the story, I really enjoyed it. There was a lot going on, but life has a lot going on. You can't just focus on one bad thing, because there never is just one bad thing. And same goes for good things as well.
Part of me was a little bit upset that the romance didn't get off the ground until close to the end of the book, but then again, as Sloane says in the book, the getting together part is more interesting than any other part of the romance. It is definitely a slow burn, but I think the characters saw that there was something there, but as I said earlier, it wasn't love at first sight, it wasn't insta-love. It was a realistic, I like him, maybe he likes me situation, and that was so much better than any insta-love. I would have really loved a quick little epilogue or something to see them together more, but that's just me being greedy. The story did end perfectly.
Overall, I adored this book and am so glad I had the opportunity to read it! I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a strong group of friends and some slightly deeper issues, but not anything too heavy that will weigh the story down.