A review by paovilchis25
The Beautiful Lost by Luanne Rice

4.0

“Sometimes you have to go the opposite way to get where you want to go”

I started reading this book because I was kind of in a reading slump and I wanted and easy and quick read to help me get through it. However, this is not a quick and easy read at all, but it did help me get through my slump.

In The Beautiful Lost we follow Maia who struggles with depression ever since her mother left. Maia and Billy, the boy Maia is in love with, embark on a road trip to try to find Maia´s mother, who is convinced it´s the answer to all of her problems.

Like I said this is not an easy read, Maia struggles with severe depression, which in my opinion is very well represented, so it is not easy to read about her everyday struggles. In the book we are in Maia head so we see first-hand how depression affects her and the people that surround her.

This book is very well written, it is emotional and it touches upon very important themes without losing the innocent feeling to it. This book is powerful, it has great characters and I believe this is an essential read for most teenagers. The Beautiful Lost is romantic, heartwarming and such and inspirational read.

I loved the fact that this wasn’t a case were romance “cured” Maia´s condition. She thinks she is better but Billy does not cure her depression.

“What people do matters way more than what they say”

My only problem with the book was the age of the characters, I know everyone is different and probably Maia and Bill had to grow up very fast, but it was not believable that two 16 year old´s could just run away on a road trip to Canada. I could not in a million years imagine me at that age running away, but like I said, everyone is different and just because I wouldn’t do it doesn’t mean others won’t.

I really enjoyed this book, it was a fantastic story that kept me engaged and it was thrilling to read. I loved reading about the road trip and the problems they face along the way. I would definitely recommend this book if you are looking for a quick important read.

“We sometimes forget to appreciate what we have a lot of”