Book Review: The Geography of You and Me by Jennifer E. Smith

My Rating: 3.5 stars

Date Read: May 19, 2014

Published: April 15, 2014 by Poppy

Genres: Young adult, romance

Summary (Taken from Goodreads): Lucy and Owen meet somewhere between the tenth and eleventh floors of a New York City apartment building, on an elevator rendered useless by a citywide blackout. After they're rescued, they spend a single night together, wandering the darkened streets and marveling at the rare appearance of stars above Manhattan. But once the power is restored, so is reality. Lucy soon moves to Edinburgh with her parents, while Owen heads out west with his father.

Lucy and Owen's relationship plays out across the globe as they stay in touch through postcards, occasional e-mails, and -- finally -- a reunion in the city where they first met.

A carefully charted map of a long-distance relationship, Jennifer E. Smith's new novel shows that the center of the world isn't necessarily a place. It can be a person, too.

Review: Reviewing this book is hard on me, because I've read two other books by this author. I love her writing style and the way she tells stories, and that's a big reason why I didn't put this down halfway through.

I really enjoyed the first few chapters. We were introduced to Owen and Lucy, who just make such a good couple. They speak easily and the conversations between them were perfect, but then the separation happens.

My real problem is that it happened too soon, I think. They definitely had the start of something, but I'm not sure it was enough. It's a little unbelievable that they wouldn't get over each other in the time they were apart, given the fact that they had hardly met.

I also disliked that they didn't really do anything while apart. Lucy's relationship with her parents shifted slightly, but I didn't see a real reason behind it. I'm not sure what changed to make them different, except the move. I did like seeing her mother's side to that, though.

What I'm trying to say is that the middle dragged on. I didn't feel the need to pick it up and keep reading, even though I did want to find out what happened. I feel like the plot went in a couple circles, and that there was a lot of filler. Although it was the main plot of the book, I do feel the whole long-distance thing is what ruined the story.

That said, the descriptions were great. Like I said before, I love the writing style. I adored the characters, too. It's just the plot that could have used some work.

The end gave another half star to the rating, because I do like the way things turned out. Once Owen and Lucy started meeting again, the plot seemed to pick up nicely and I really enjoyed reading the conclusion of their story.