Tuesday, May 20, 2014

GUEST REVIEW: OPEN ROAD SUMMER by Emery Lord




Title: Open Road Summer
Author: Emery Lord
Publisher: Walker
Publication Date: April 15, 2014
Genres: YA, Romance
Reviewed by: Ellen Fritz
Ellen’s rating: 3/5

SUMMARY

After breaking up with her bad-news boyfriend, Reagan O’Neill is ready to leave her rebellious ways behind. . . and her best friend, country superstar Lilah Montgomery, is nursing a broken heart of her own. Fortunately, Lilah’s 24-city tour is about to kick off, offering a perfect opportunity for a girls-only summer of break-up ballads and healing hearts. But when Matt Finch joins the tour as its opening act, his boy-next-door charm proves difficult for Reagan to resist, despite her vow to live a drama-free existence. This summer, Reagan and Lilah will navigate the ups and downs of fame and friendship as they come to see that giving your heart to the right person is always a risk worth taking. A fresh new voice in contemporary romance, Emery Lord’s gorgeous writing hits all the right notes.




REVIEW

Open Road Summer with its upbeat beginning captivated me right away. Reagan O'Neill, in an attempt to put her troubled, wild-child past behind her, accompanies her best friend, singer Lilah Montgomery, on her twenty-four-city summer tour. Unfortunately bad publicity brings Matt Finch in as opening act and fake boyfriend for Lilah, and Reagan's resolve to stay out of trouble is tested.

I absolutely loved the close friendship between Lilah, or Dee as she is known to her friends, and Reagan. Dee, who has to recover from a painful break up while dealing with bad publicity, as well as the normal ups and downs of a busy tour, certainly needs Reagan by her side.

Reagan has a criminal record and her own bad relationship to put behind her. Although she is the perfect best friend to Dee, she is rather hateful towards any girl who as much as dare to look at Matt Finch. Reagan may be determined to put her drinking, smoking, criminal past behind her but she is still in the habit of hitting on every good looking boy that crosses her path. In the end I really don't think she deserves to get together with a good, kind guy like Matt Finch.

Despite the lively start of this novel, the story slows down to a crawl towards the middle as a great deal of time is spent on Reagan's romantic interludes with Matt and their discussions about their respective pasts.

Although Open Road Summer was a bit heavy on the romance and coming-to-terms-with-the-past side for my taste, I still found it a relaxing and heartwarming read.




PURCHASE LINKS



ABOUT the AUTHOR


I write books about complicated families and the friends who save your life just by showing up, your worst mistakes, that boy who gets you like no one else ever has, and the summer that changed everything.



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