aimxxgarcia's review against another edition
4.0
Paige has the best friends anyone could ever ask for.
ashleeh93's review against another edition
5.0
Not just a cute teen love story, but a beautiful teen self-love story.
erinarkin20's review against another edition
5.0
I will say it…Emery Lord knows how to write great friendships. The Start of Me and You had me loving not only the developing relationship/friendship between Max and Paige but I loved how close the group of girls was in this book.
Paige lives in a small(ish) town in Indiana and is officially known as “the girl whose boyfriend drowned”. But it has been a year since Aaron died and Paige is determined to move forward. As she starts her junior year in high school, Paige makes a list of things in her planner that she is determined to accomplish. All are tied to her moving back to a normal teenage life and getting beyond what happened in the past. What she didn’t count on was the nerdy cousin of her long-time crush, Ryan to catch her attention.
I liked Paige. She is definitely smart and I loved that she was so close with her group of girls. The things that made her unique (her love of grammar, her relationship with her grandmother, and so much more!) were the things I liked most about her. The other part I loved was her relationship with her friends. Tessa is Paige’s best friend and Morgan and Kayleigh are best friends but as a group, they all love and support each other. As with any group of friends, there are disagreements and points in life where other things (like boys or music or something else) grab their attention but regardless, they all stick together and do what they can to be there for each other when needed.
As the new school year starts, Paige finds some new additions to her group of friends in the form of Ryan Chase and his cousin Max Watson. Her original plan of dating – specifically Ryan Chase – is eventually completely changed and she realizes that although she has feelings for Max, she isn’t ready to just announce them. I loved seeing them as really good friends and the “friends to more” stories are some of my favorites so the development of the whole story had me flipping the pages to see what was next for them both.
I also thought Max was a great character. He isn’t the popular guy in school but that is what I liked about him. He likes the show Firefly and he loves airplanes and science and reading…He also listens to everything that Paige says and knows what she likes and what things are going on in her life. It is very clear he cares about her and if there was anything I wanted more of in this book, it was the swoon.
I also enjoyed that this book was about more than just the relationship between Paige and Max. Paige shows some growth through this entire book both in how she copes with the challenges in her life to the way she interacts with her parents. I thought it was an interesting twist that Lord threw in that she wasn’t dealing with a “typical” parental issue and it added a different feel to the story…in a good way.
As Paige is slowly working through her plan, something happens between Paige and Max that threatens the friendship they have developed. She has to figure out what to do and how to get things back - at least to the way they were and when she digs a bit more into what happened – she finds out there was a little more to the story than she originally thought. I would like to add here that I KNOW this is vague but I don’t want to tell you what it is…mostly because I don’t want to ruin any part of the story for anyone.
So take my word for it. If you enjoy contemporary romance, stories where characters are learning about who they are, and great friendships, definitely check this one out. I have to agree with Max’s statement, my type might be “nerd” and I am completely okay with that.
Thank you to Bloomsbury for the review copy!
Paige lives in a small(ish) town in Indiana and is officially known as “the girl whose boyfriend drowned”. But it has been a year since Aaron died and Paige is determined to move forward. As she starts her junior year in high school, Paige makes a list of things in her planner that she is determined to accomplish. All are tied to her moving back to a normal teenage life and getting beyond what happened in the past. What she didn’t count on was the nerdy cousin of her long-time crush, Ryan to catch her attention.
I liked Paige. She is definitely smart and I loved that she was so close with her group of girls. The things that made her unique (her love of grammar, her relationship with her grandmother, and so much more!) were the things I liked most about her. The other part I loved was her relationship with her friends. Tessa is Paige’s best friend and Morgan and Kayleigh are best friends but as a group, they all love and support each other. As with any group of friends, there are disagreements and points in life where other things (like boys or music or something else) grab their attention but regardless, they all stick together and do what they can to be there for each other when needed.
As the new school year starts, Paige finds some new additions to her group of friends in the form of Ryan Chase and his cousin Max Watson. Her original plan of dating – specifically Ryan Chase – is eventually completely changed and she realizes that although she has feelings for Max, she isn’t ready to just announce them. I loved seeing them as really good friends and the “friends to more” stories are some of my favorites so the development of the whole story had me flipping the pages to see what was next for them both.
I also thought Max was a great character. He isn’t the popular guy in school but that is what I liked about him. He likes the show Firefly and he loves airplanes and science and reading…He also listens to everything that Paige says and knows what she likes and what things are going on in her life. It is very clear he cares about her and if there was anything I wanted more of in this book, it was the swoon.
I also enjoyed that this book was about more than just the relationship between Paige and Max. Paige shows some growth through this entire book both in how she copes with the challenges in her life to the way she interacts with her parents. I thought it was an interesting twist that Lord threw in that she wasn’t dealing with a “typical” parental issue and it added a different feel to the story…in a good way.
As Paige is slowly working through her plan, something happens between Paige and Max that threatens the friendship they have developed. She has to figure out what to do and how to get things back - at least to the way they were and when she digs a bit more into what happened – she finds out there was a little more to the story than she originally thought. I would like to add here that I KNOW this is vague but I don’t want to tell you what it is…mostly because I don’t want to ruin any part of the story for anyone.
So take my word for it. If you enjoy contemporary romance, stories where characters are learning about who they are, and great friendships, definitely check this one out. I have to agree with Max’s statement, my type might be “nerd” and I am completely okay with that.
Thank you to Bloomsbury for the review copy!
theinkdoe's review against another edition
5.0
This has been a personal favourite for me. The writing is too beautiful and emphatic. Though the main theme is young love, the story also deals with loss and friendship. How the main character paige is able to overcome or deal with the loss of her ex, how her best friends are always there for her and how her family supports her are the intricacies of the novel.
Sweet love, romance, friendship, nerdy dialogues have made the book relatable. Highly recommend!
Sweet love, romance, friendship, nerdy dialogues have made the book relatable. Highly recommend!
khairun_atika's review against another edition
3.0
The Start of Me and You is a riveting and meaningful story about how Paige Hancock deals with the sudden death of her boyfriend. Determined not to be simply given pity stares, she sets out on a plan to move on with her life. Weaved together with the relationships she has with her family, her best friends and two new boys, this is a witty and endearing story on dealing with grief and learning to overcome your fears. Paige steps out of her comfort zone and learns to fight for what she wants, and her unassuming yet headstrong quality makes her a wonderful character, and I enjoyed reading the book.
scrollsofdragons's review against another edition
3.0
This book reminds me of a Sarah Dessen/Morgan Matson book where you have a bland protagonist who's more on the innocent side of teenage hood whom wants to inject some more fun in life who ends up with a cute guy who is the best character in the book, who has friends with more personality then she does, whose family can sometimes be the antagonist expect she never stands up to them and it's just an enjoyable read with some pretty quotes but never anything more. That's what this book felt like.
Likes:
Girl friendship done right which is like rare so points for that.
The Guys - All of the guys in this, even the stoner boy and the best friend of the dead guy who used to be a bully were likeable and the best scenes of the book were with the boys in it. They were just all sweet though in their own different ways. Ryan was the cutest.
Enjoyable enough.
Meh:
The Romance - Sweet Guy + Bland Girl = Why?
Paige - Good, nice, sensible, boring protagonists don't do it for me.
The Girls - They just didn't stand out to me as much as the guys did I'm afraid.
That ending scene before the emails - Roll your eyes gag.
Dislikes:
Don't really have any because the book was more on the meh but I enjoyed it side. I will say that why are so many ya novels set in the usa about nice, non-messy (much) PG teenagers? Because I'm a Brit and teenagers are not made like that here, we were screwed up, R rated, little shits. I want more representation of screwed up teens because that's what being a teen is, it's a messy hell of a ride.
Spin the bottle - There's no fun in that game when you make it so hetero, like none so that was a very dull component to it.
These type of ya novels make me feel like I come from a different planet or they do.
Likes:
Girl friendship done right which is like rare so points for that.
The Guys - All of the guys in this, even the stoner boy and the best friend of the dead guy who used to be a bully were likeable and the best scenes of the book were with the boys in it. They were just all sweet though in their own different ways. Ryan was the cutest.
Enjoyable enough.
Meh:
The Romance - Sweet Guy + Bland Girl = Why?
Paige - Good, nice, sensible, boring protagonists don't do it for me.
The Girls - They just didn't stand out to me as much as the guys did I'm afraid.
That ending scene before the emails - Roll your eyes gag.
Dislikes:
Don't really have any because the book was more on the meh but I enjoyed it side. I will say that why are so many ya novels set in the usa about nice, non-messy (much) PG teenagers? Because I'm a Brit and teenagers are not made like that here, we were screwed up, R rated, little shits. I want more representation of screwed up teens because that's what being a teen is, it's a messy hell of a ride.
Spin the bottle - There's no fun in that game when you make it so hetero, like none so that was a very dull component to it.
These type of ya novels make me feel like I come from a different planet or they do.
juliaaaazzz_'s review against another edition
4.0
this was a book about grief, strong friendships, problems between parents, and a cute romance, which, luckily, doesn't take over the story.
I've never read about such a good relationship as the one between Paige, Tessa, Kayleigh and Morgan. I'm so jealous of their friendship, and also between Ryan and Max.
it's a contemporary book, but different than most of the other contemporary books, this one was really realistic and dealt with much problems.
I love Max so much, he's a super cute nerdy boy and I like it a lot that he really shows that he's a nerd. he's just a really cute boy. really adorable.
nerdy boys are so underrated in YA books, but luckily Max was a really nerd. he was super kind too. I totally envy Paige.
I've never read about such a good relationship as the one between Paige, Tessa, Kayleigh and Morgan. I'm so jealous of their friendship, and also between Ryan and Max.
it's a contemporary book, but different than most of the other contemporary books, this one was really realistic and dealt with much problems.
I love Max so much, he's a super cute nerdy boy and I like it a lot that he really shows that he's a nerd. he's just a really cute boy. really adorable.
nerdy boys are so underrated in YA books, but luckily Max was a really nerd. he was super kind too. I totally envy Paige.
denaiir's review against another edition
5.0
4.5 stars, almost a five at some point, then the sort of epilogue drove it back down to a 4.5
This was one of the cutest young adult contemporaries I've read in SO long. Exactly what I was looking for for the summer.
I loved the friends group, they were all so interesting, their relationships were so positive, they were there for each other but were all very different, and I loved that it wasn't girl drama. They sometimes had issues with each other but communicated to work it out, it was so good!
All my best friends are guys so I really loved that the author created platonic relationships between some of the characters, it's not something I've seen often in YA contemporaries and it was precious.
I loved the fact that Max was nerdy and sweet but well fleshed-out, and I liked how the relationship evolved, it was so cute and real.
I also loved that family was a big part of the story and Paige's life, and that it showed that her parents also had their own things going on. And her relationship with her grandmother was the sweetest.
Overall a great quality young adult contemporary, uplifting, hopeful, cute, and made me tear up once or twice. Emery Lord is definitely one of my favorite YA authors.
This was one of the cutest young adult contemporaries I've read in SO long. Exactly what I was looking for for the summer.
I loved the friends group, they were all so interesting, their relationships were so positive, they were there for each other but were all very different, and I loved that it wasn't girl drama. They sometimes had issues with each other but communicated to work it out, it was so good!
All my best friends are guys so I really loved that the author created platonic relationships between some of the characters, it's not something I've seen often in YA contemporaries and it was precious.
I loved the fact that Max was nerdy and sweet but well fleshed-out, and I liked how the relationship evolved, it was so cute and real.
I also loved that family was a big part of the story and Paige's life, and that it showed that her parents also had their own things going on. And her relationship with her grandmother was the sweetest.
Overall a great quality young adult contemporary, uplifting, hopeful, cute, and made me tear up once or twice. Emery Lord is definitely one of my favorite YA authors.
thebookdance's review against another edition
4.0
Ah, just what I was in a mood for.
A beautiful contemporary from one of my faves, Emery Lord.
This one was a lot less heavy as the other two books I read from her which suited just fine, I was in a mood for something light and cute.
Such a nice story, I absolutely loved the friend dynamic in here, they were so close to each other, always there for every single thing, it was amazing to read about people caring about each other like this.
And of course, Max was the most wonderful kind of nerdy guy. Loved all the book and movie references. There was even one where Paige says that when she wakes up from a nightmare, she puts on the show 'Friends' to make her feel better and fall back asleep. And if that ain't me all over.
And those last email exchanges? They were just too cute. I love it when interactions between couples are this loving but super friendly.
Can't wait to get my hands on the supposed sequel which, unfortunately, will only be out in 2020.
A beautiful contemporary from one of my faves, Emery Lord.
This one was a lot less heavy as the other two books I read from her which suited just fine, I was in a mood for something light and cute.
Such a nice story, I absolutely loved the friend dynamic in here, they were so close to each other, always there for every single thing, it was amazing to read about people caring about each other like this.
And of course, Max was the most wonderful kind of nerdy guy. Loved all the book and movie references. There was even one where Paige says that when she wakes up from a nightmare, she puts on the show 'Friends' to make her feel better and fall back asleep. And if that ain't me all over.
And those last email exchanges? They were just too cute. I love it when interactions between couples are this loving but super friendly.
Can't wait to get my hands on the supposed sequel which, unfortunately, will only be out in 2020.