Emmy & Oliver by Robin Benway

TL;DR relationships are hard

TBR #1307

finished 3/15/16

I think this was one of the most accurate depictions of interpersonal relationships in a contemporary YA that I've seen in a while. (I mean, I haven't really read many since, like, November ... OTL But that's beside the point.) I was amazed by how easily the story resonated and how quickly I got invested in it.

I think a lot of that was also because of my experiences last year as a senior in high school. I was in the opposite boat Emmy was regarding college, but Emmy and Oliver captured the feeling I had a lot of last year, with knowing the future is up in the air and that you're probably not going to see your friends much once the year ended.

(That feeling sucks, by the way.)

In all honesty, my senior year experience was almost a polar opposite of Emmy's, and yet I ended up sympathizing with her so much I had to set the book down at one point. My parents are so unlike Emmy's, but her experience with them (her mom, really) affected me almost as much as it did Emmy. I can't say I've really had that happen with a contemporary book before, especially in regards to something I've never felt myself. I had to take a break from the book and remind myself that it was a) Emmy getting grounded, not me, and b) something that would probably be resolved to some extent by the end of the book.

(As a side note, I'm not really happy with how that conflict was resolved -- it felt a little too quick. But it was nice to get a resolution about it.)

I really loved the main quartet, and I wish we could've seen more about Caro's troubles, because it feels like her struggle didn't get as much attention as the other three. I also wish there was a little more focus about Oliver's transition back into living with his mom, but he and Emmy are focused more on moving forward, so I can understand why it didn't get too many dedicated pages.

Also, Oliver is, like, my ideal boyfriend. I really liked the relationship in this book. (And Drew's relationship, too. That was cute and I'm really glad there was some focus on it.)

(And as another side note, one of the few experiences I do share with Emmy is babysitting twin girls, and I think she lucked out with Oliver's sisters. I wish I was as competent of a babysitter as Emmy. The twins in the book resembled the ones I know, which was a pretty cool coincidence.)

The voice of the narration and the dialogue of all the characters was spot-on. It feels like there's more cursing in this than other YA novels, but let's be real: this is still pretty PG compared to listening to teenagers talking when there aren't adults around. And their sass. Some of these I wouldn't be able to top.

"What island is that?" Oliver asked.
"Hawaii," I replied.
"Shut up, it is not." (pg 85)

"We"--[Drew] squeezed my knee again--"are going to Starbucks."
I just stared at him. "Wow," I finally said. "Because those are really rare and we never go to them. I'm so glad we're hanging out today."
"Could you please stop dripping your sarcasm all over my car's interior? [...]" (pg 187)

"Tonight sucked," my dad said, and I started to laugh hearing him say that. "What?" He smiled at me. "Isn't that the slang you kids are using? The lingo? Do I sound hip?"
I just shook my head. "The only hip I hear is the sound of yours breaking."  (pg 245)

(I can only hope to be half as good as Emmy with comebacks like these.)

The setting was never really defined (at least, not as far as I know), so I did a little sleuthing out of my own curiosity.

The relative geography clues I had:

• They're in SoCal (mentioned somewhere towards the beginning)
• Emmy's surfing spot can see Catalina Island (pg 85)
• There is also a restaurant called "The Stand" across the street ("PCH", I'm assuming Pacific Coast Highway) from the beach Emmy first taught Oliver to surf at (pg 87)
• There's a Starbucks significant to a scene (pg 187)
• There's a Del Taco somewhere within driving distance of their school (mentioned a couple different times) 
• San Diego is two hours away (mentioned in dialogue somewhere past the halfway point and in the epilogue) 

The Starbucks and Del Taco were vague enough that I couldn't pinpoint their location, but I did find a place called "The Stand" that would be at a good point along the coast to see Catalina Island. 

This puts the setting somewhere around Laguna Beach, CA. San Diego is only an hour and a half away according to Google Maps, but two hours doesn't sound unreasonable if you factor in possible traffic. (I've only driven between the LA area and San Diego once. I have no idea how long it took.)

Anyway.

Caro's runs to Del Taco have only made my craving even worse. Thanks, Caro.

TL;DR this was a really good contemporary and I love it. I'll probably buy a copy if I can get my hands on it.