I don’t know if I need to say this again and again, but traveling is my favorite thing, right after books, or alongside books…Well, I do love traveling, A LOT. And I live in Europe. And contemporaries are my favorite genre. So many signs that Wanderlost had all of the assets to be a hit for me.
AN EUROPEAN ROAD TRIP KIND OF BOOK
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In this story, we are following Aubree, a seventeen -years old teenager as she gets talked into taking her sister’s place as a tour guide across Europe during the summer, in order to save her sister’s future. In a nutshell, this is what you’re in for, and what made me want to read this book. Adventures, road trips, Europe -although WHY do all of these kind of books have to be set in Europe, and not in the USA or Australia or something? As a European, I do dream more of having epic road trips in the Australian desert. Or maybe it’s just me. ANYWAY. One of the strong suit of this story definitely was how fast-paced it was, and how easy it was to fall into the story and read this in one or two sittings. Things are moving, people are changing, drama is happening and there was not really a time to get bored while reading this, which I really enjoyed, because well, we are on a road trip, people! This is something I really appreciated, along with the local explorations of Amsterdam, Barcelona and a whole lot of other cities just as well. If you’re just a tiny bit wanderlust, this book certainly makes you travel a little bit.
A FRUSTRATING, YET INTERESTING MAIN CHARACTER
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“But now that I see all this and realize I couldn’t even have dreamed any of it because it was all so far off my radar, I have this weird uncomfortable twinge in my chest. Because . . . what else haven’t I bothered to dream, not thinking things could get any better?”
Aubree never travels, never left her hometown, and is all kinds of clueless about this. Maybe this is because I travel a lot and always have been (I feel very lucky for that, believe me); but I think this is mainly why I had a bit of a hard time with the main character. She was a lot of fun, and all of her struggles were understandable given her situation: having to deal with a car full of seniors, having no idea where to go next or what to talk about on the tour, having no traveling gene or what-so-ever as she begins…Well, her panic is completely understandable. However, at times, she was maybe a bit too clueless about things and I just wanted to shake her and ask her to be a bit more resourceful. If the main character was frustrating, at times, I still enjoyed following her journey and her development as the story goes on, even if some things could have been better handled.
AN EMPHASIS ON SISTERS, AND CUTE ROMANCES
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“It’s a free-choice afternoon and I choose you.”
One thing I appreciated in this story, was the sisters relationship. You all know by now I have a weakness for these in stories, because sisters are the best – well, mine is, another thing to feel lucky for – and I am always in to explore these relationships in depth and their struggles. Aubree and her sister are definitely not the closest, and definitely don’t have much in common – their relationship is a bit chaotic all thorough the story and if I found Aubree a bit immature at times about this, I thought that the evolution was ultimately satisfying and made me happy.
On the love interest now… I think this was the shining part of the story: it brought a smile on my face every time, and Sam was just the cutest ever. It was good and refreshing to see their friendship turning into something more as the story goes on, and Aubree’s feelings changing and turning into this something more. Definitely a fluffy kind of romance that will leave a smile on your face.
OVERALL
If Wanderlost has some minor drawbacks, if you enjoy contemporary stories, a bit of traveling and just want to spend an afternoon reading, well I do think that’s the book for you. Filled with good and happy feelings, Wanderlost isn’t the book of the year but I did have a lot of fun while reading it, and this was definitely what I expected when I picked this up.
Final rating: 4 drops!
Do you want to read Wanderlost? Share your thoughts in comments!
Jen Malone, Wanderlost, Published by Harper Teen, May 31st 2016.
Aubree can’t think of a better place to be than in perfectly boring Ohio, and she’s ready for a relaxing summer. But when her older sister, Elizabeth, gets into real trouble, Aubree is talked into taking over Elizabeth’s summer job, leading a group of senior citizens on a bus tour through Europe.
Aubree doesn’t even make it to the first stop in Amsterdam before their perfect plan unravels, leaving her with no phone, no carefully prepared binder full of helpful facts, and an unexpected guest: the tour company owner’s son, Sam. Considering she’s pretending to be Elizabeth, she absolutely shouldn’t fall for him, but she can’t help it, especially with the most romantic European cities as the backdrop for their love story.
But her relationship with Sam is threatening to ruin her relationship with her sister, and she feels like she’s letting both of them down. Aubree knows this trip may show her who she really is—she just hopes she likes where she ends up.
I really liked this as a story, especially the old people. I just got kind of annoyed with all the cliches–‘discover yourself in Europe’ ‘lie about your identity’ ‘shock death spurs ending’ and only gave it three stars. But the travel was really cool–though seriously, I SO want more travel books not in the US or Europe. Australia! India via trains! Volunteering in Uganda with no white saviour tropes–ooh, a black or brown person volunteering in Uganda. You get the idea, anyway. Love this review!
You’re right, it is a bit cliché, but it still was entertaining to read and I read it in one sitting ahah 🙂 OH YES what a FANTASTIC IDEA Shanti – please write this book ?!!
Thank you so, so much! <3
Okay, I’ll add it to my (way too long) list of ideas haha.
Hahaha, OH YES, I can’t wait to read that someday :p
Great review. I like that the relationship between sister is emphasised upon. And as a non- European, I am so glad to see books set in Europe. haha
Thank you so much! Ahah, oh I completely understand, I like reading books when characters are road-tripping through the US ahah – I guess we should trade lives for a bit ? ahah :p
This sounds like a lot of fun- I’m especially interested in her local explorations of Barcelona and Amsterdam! Sounds lovely! It’s a shame the main character isn’t more resourceful (as someone that travels quite a bit I can imagine this will get on my wick too) Still I’d definitely be willing to give this a go!
It was lovely, and definitely made me wanderlust <3 I hope you'll decide to give it a try anyway – despite the annoying main character at times, I managed to have a good time reading it 😀
Ah awesome!!
Great review for this book Marie. I’ve had this one on my to-read list ever since I saw the blurb mentioned Amsterdam, which is literally my all-time favourite place I’ve visited so far. I’m not even sure the book goes to Amsterdam but it was enough to get my to pay attention to it. 🙂
Despite that thought it still sounds interesting. I love the idea of road trips and travel, even a road trip around Europe sounds amazing right now! It’s great there was a good sisterly relationship in this book, and I’m very intrigued by the love interest as well. It’s just a shame Aubree was a bit up and down for you. 🙂
Oh thank you so much, Beth! <3 And yes they do visit Amsterdam in the book, so no disappointment here 🙂 I think you could enjoy this book, it was a quick and sweet read, definitely something to read on a rainy day <3
That’s all right Marie! <3 And oh that's great to see. The only other book I've read set in Amsterdam (kind of) was The Fault in Our Stars so it would be great to read another. And it certainly sounds like one I'd enjoy as well! 😀
Tag! No pressure though 🙂 https://readsandreels.com/2017/02/10/rapid-fire-book-tag/
Oh thank you so much! 🙂
Lol you’re welcome ?
Great review, Marie! 🙂 I just wanted to let you know that I’ve nominated you for the Sims Book Tag — you can check it out at this link: https://foreverandeverly.wordpress.com/2017/02/10/gratitude-tag-sims-book-tag/ Hope you can do it! 🙂
Thank you so much! And thank you for the tag, I’ll check it out right away, though I am late on all of my tags so it might take me a while to get to it ahah 🙂
Haha, no problem! 😛
Great review Marie! This book sounds a lot of fun, and I think I’ll definitely pick it up in the summer to read on holiday 🙂 I LOVE books about travelling, (and travelling itself!!) x
Thank you so much, Jess! I think it’d be a perfect summer read 🙂 I hope you’ll enjoy it!
Ahhhhh this sounds like such a great read!! ? I love travelling (well, the idea of it, I haven’t gotten the chance to travel to many places) and I love contemporary novels so this sounds perfect aha. I might just have to pick this up sometime! Lovely review, Marie!
OHh well that sounds like the perfect book for you then, I’m sure it’ll make you so wanderlust and happy, or I dare to hope so 😀 thank you! <3
This review was so good! I just added this book to my TBR list so thank you 🙂
Ohhh thank you so much Sydney, so happy you liked it 🙂
I so need to read this one! I remember you recommended it in another post and now your review has me wanting to read it even more. I love traveling, even though I haven’t gotten the chance to do it a lot. And I love when contemporaries explore sister relationships. Plus, cute romances are always great. I really do hope I get the chance to get around to reading this sometime this year. Great review as always, Marie!! ??
Ohh I’m so glad! I hope you’ll manage to put it on your TBR, it’s such a cute story and it makes you want to travel a lot ahah 🙂
I hope so too! I feel like most books make me want to travel. ?
Oh yes, me too ? How come traveling INTO a book isn’t a think yet? ??
Right? Someone needs to work on making that possible. If only! ?
Ahh, I’m so glad you loved this Marie! It was one of my favorite reads of 2016 for sure. Yes, it’s a bit cliché and the main character is indeed very clueless, but I just thought it was sooo cute and fun and gave me all the wanderlust 🙂 I loved the sisterly relationship, I loved the roadtripping around Europe, but most of all I adored Sam <3 I think he may have become one of my favorite book boyfriends 🙂
Ohh thank you so much! I am so happy you liked this book just a well. I really LOVED Sam, he was my favorite part of the book ahah, just so sweet and perfect <3
Since my last travel to Japan, I prefer my adventures in books, hahaha! Lovely review Sweechie! I can totally see you enjoying this as you have the travel bug. I do admit that traveling is tricky and I found myself in weird situations where the only way out is by being resourceful, you do have to get your shit together and be quick to think to make the best of everything or things get ugly, haha.
Haha, oh but why don’t you blog about this? I am way too curious to hear about all of your Japan traveling haha 😛 It really is tricky, at times, and I guess it’s important to keep on thinking rationally and find a solution in order, well, for instance…not to be stuck in a train station all night because of a heat wave haha. (That almost happened to my sister and I ahah)
Haha, it would take a post a day for three months to tell you all about my fails in Japan xD Wow, that must have been a lesson, haha! Poor you and your sister <3
Hahaha, well you’ll tell me all about it when I come to Bordeaux then, hopefully soon haha 😀
Oooooh I’m looking for more Wanderlust books. Fab review 🙂
Thank you so much! I hope you’ll enjoy that one 🙂
When I get round to it will let you know. I shouldn’t really be adding to it ha.
But…you can NEVER have too many books to read 😀
Thank you Marie I don’t think my mum agrees I have a library at home and don’t get me started on the ebooks I had to have but still haven’t read.
Well, that book will be one to keep in mind then for whenever you have time and can read it 🙂
Deffo wanderlust shall feature more.