Sarah, Your reviews are always inspiring. It would have taken me a lot longer to have discovered it if not for you! Wonderful photographs! Sounds like a novel about a brave girl who knows herself and really learns about life.
We should all learn from her lessons. I read If I Stay and enjoyed it, but I've put off reading this novel because of the guy fixation. Admittedly, it may hit a little too close to home.
I spent a year in Innsbruck, then five in Kiel, and during those years fell in love with a German to whom I'm now married and have two children, and while I was head over heels in love, when we broke up at one point, and I was devastated, I still pulled my life together and stayed in school, etc. It frustrates me that the female protagonist who makes the page, however, is the one who spirals into depression and quits school. It's not very empowering. Then again, this is literature.
It's not a self-help book, but I'd rather see the girl who keeps it together as the main protagonist. We need more of them. Nevertheless, this book is great food for conversation! The photos are from my last trip to France in In high school I was a French exchange student and have returned many times for vacation or to visit friends. Tina, Allyson starts out meek but matures into a brave and capable young woman.
However, this book is not about a girl who drops out of college to chase a guy. She looks for him over vacation. As a parent of a teenaged daughter, this book was still hard to read, but it also rang true. I was 20 and acted surprisingly responsible. A year later I fell in love with the Englishman who is my husband. Sounds interesting, Sarah. I really haven't tried the New Adult genre yet. Loved your pictures of European settings.
