Meet Me in the Middle - Review

Meet Me in the Middle

By: Alex Light

Expected Publication: July 12th 2022 by Harperteen

384 pages

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary

Source: Publisher via Edelweiss (Thank you!!)

( Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository )

*Note: The above links to Amazon and Book Depository are affiliate links. Affiliate links support giveaways for Somewhere Only We Know readers.

Goodreads description--A romance interrupted by tragedy sets two people on different paths in Wattpad superstar Alex Light’s latest YA romance.

Eden had her best friend Katie—she didn’t need anyone else. But then there was Truman.

Katie’s older brother, the artist. The recluse. The boy with the innocent smile and the dangerous eyes.

Eden had never really known Truman—not until the night of Katie’s accident. That was the night they’d finally let each other into their orbits—only to have the sky come crashing down on them.

With Katie in the hospital and Truman fleeing from his grief without a word, Eden is left alone to grapple with her own pain. But when Truman returns to the city, can Eden let him back into her life knowing that their first kiss is what tore their world apart?

Wattpad superstar Alex Light is back with another poignant romance perfect for fans of Jennifer Dugan and Laura Taylor Namey.

*I finished Meet Me in the Middle a full month ago and I am just getting around to writing this review. Granted real life has been busy what with moving back home and all. So I'm pretty much asking for any readers to give me some slack. Plus I have just had the hardest time trying to figure out what to say in this review. Everything feels like a spoiler. But as always I'm going to do my best, and I'll try to focus on how reading this book made me feel.

I struggled to get started with this one. As I mentioned, real life has been demanding and I haven't had much time to read. So when a book doesn't pull me in immediately, I often just want to put it down in favor of something that will hook me instantly. But I kept pressing on. Well that's only semi-true. I paused this book to read a different one and then returned to it after that one instead of going in search of a different one that might pull me in immediately. It wasn't long after I started reading it for the second time that I felt invested.

Eden is obviously depressed. She doesn't do anything besides work. She doesn't let others in at this point. She's reeling from the tragedy of her best friend being in a coma. Her best friend was supposed to be rooming with her and being right by her side. Eden isn't alone even if she'd prefer to be. There's Manny, the chef of the restaurant she works at, and Eden also has a roommate (I can't remember her name). Manny has a bit of a crush on Eden and I started the book off rooting for him. It takes no time to find out that Eden and Mannie are permanent friend-zone. But I liked Manny a lot--so much that I wanted to dislike Truman.

Speaking of Truman. I didn't realize he would narrate. I find that I am more sympathetic to whoever is narrating because their thoughts and emotions are usually explained for the reader in a way that makes them understandable. So many times in real life we just have no idea why someone else behaves in any particular way. Because Truman narrates, I was able to get to know him better in a way that caused me to root for him over someone like Manny.

Probably the biggest thing that affected my feelings about Meet Me in the Middle was the ending. I ended up thinking after everything the characters went through in this book, for things to end how they did, "what was the point?". And that's not a great place to be if you ask me. If I read a book and wonder at the end what was the point in even reading this story something is just off. I realize not every story has to have a happy ending. And the character's stories don't have to end where the book does. But this felt like a journey to nowhere really. The characters worked so hard to overcome their trauma to only end up back at square one.

So where does that leave me? Meet Me in the Middle had a slow start. I pushed through and finally felt invested in the characters after forcing myself to keep reading. I was enjoying the journey and felt like both main characters were moving forward only for the ending to pull them right back to where they started. And I can't feel like ending a book wondering what the point was in any of it should have me giving a great rating. I decided on 3 Stars only because the middle part was pretty good. Have you read Meet Me in the Middle? What did you think? Let me know!

*Review was originally written in May 2022 but waited to post until closer to the book's publication date.

Top Ten Spring 2022 TBR List

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. This week's topic is Top Ten Spring 2022 TBR List.

1. The Second Blind Son (Saylok Chronicles, # 2) by Amy Harmon
2. This Woven Kingdom (The Woven Kingdom, # 1) by Tahereh Mafi
3. The Valet's Secret by Josi S Kilpack
4. May His Face Shine Upon You by Susi Larson
5. Always Jane by Jenn Bennett
6. This May End Badly by Samantha Markum
7. Meet Me in the Middle by Alex Light
8. From the Jump by Lacie Waldon
9. A Wicked and Beautiful Garden (Witches of the Island, # 1) by Katie McGarry
10. A Fate of Wrath and Flame (Wrath and Flame, # 1) by KA Tucker

Which books are on your Spring 2022 to be read list? Let me know!

Can't Wait for Meet Me in the Middle

Can't-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Wishful Endings to spotlight and talk about the books we're excited about that we have yet to read. Generally they're books that have yet to be released as well. It's based on Waiting on Wednesday, hosted by the fabulous Jill at Breaking the Spine. Find out more here.

Meet Me in the Middle

By: Alex Light

Expected Publication: July 12th 2022 by Harperteen

384 pages

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary

( Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository )

*Note: The above links to Amazon and Book Depository are affiliate links. Affiliate links support giveaways for Somewhere Only We Know readers.

Goodreads description--A romance interrupted by tragedy sets two people on different paths in Wattpad superstar Alex Light’s latest YA romance.

Eden had her best friend Katie—she didn’t need anyone else. But then there was Truman.

Katie’s older brother, the artist. The recluse. The boy with the innocent smile and the dangerous eyes.

Eden had never really known Truman—not until the night of Katie’s accident. That was the night they’d finally let each other into their orbits—only to have the sky come crashing down on them.

With Katie in the hospital and Truman fleeing from his grief without a word, Eden is left alone to grapple with her own pain. But when Truman returns to the city, can Eden let him back into her life knowing that their first kiss is what tore their world apart?

Wattpad superstar Alex Light is back with another poignant romance perfect for fans of Jennifer Dugan and Laura Taylor Namey.

What are you guys waiting on this week? Let me know!

The Upside of Falling - Review

The Upside of Falling

By: Alex Light

Expected Publication: February 18th 2020 by HarperTeen

416 pages

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary

Source: Publisher via NetGalley (Thank you!!)

( Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository )

*Note: The above links to Amazon and Book Depository are affiliate links. Affiliate links support giveaways for Somewhere Only We Know readers.

Goodreads description--It’s been years since seventeen-year-old Becca Hart believed in true love. But when her former best friend teases her for not having a boyfriend, Becca impulsively pretends she’s been secretly seeing someone.

Brett Wells has it all. Being captain of the football team and one of the most popular guys in school, he should have no problem finding someone to date, but he’s always been more focused on his future than who to bring to prom. When he overhears Becca’s lie, Brett decides to step in and be her mystery guy. It’s the perfect solution: he gets people off his back for not dating and she can keep up the ruse.

Acting like the perfect couple isn’t easy though, especially when you barely know the other person. But with Becca still picking up the pieces from when her world was blown apart years ago and Brett just barely holding his together now, they begin to realize they have more in common than they ever could have imagined. When the line between real and pretend begins to blur, they are forced to answer the question: is this fake romance the realest thing in either of their lives?

When I started The Upside of Falling, things set off in a completely cliche direction. The bookworm and the quarterback fall in love. But it didn't take long to get hooked into the story and characters.

After Becca's parents divorced, she lost her belief in love. She still enjoys reading romance novels as it's okay for love to exist in fiction. It is fiction after all. But in real life...everyone leaves. And what's worse, Becca has no explanation for why her family fell apart. Her parents never argued. Just one day her Dad left and never came back. Yet she's been watching his house on occasion and knows he's living his life and moving on even though he's not a part of her life anymore. At the same time, Becca's ex-best friend just up and decided a couple of years ago that popularity was more important than Becca. And she never really got an explanation there either.

For Brett, his family has it all. His parents are in love. They're well off. He's captain and quarterback of the football team with intentions to play college ball. Yet even though we might each find ourselves on the hilltop, we will all at some time find ourselves in the valley. And Brett's world is starting to implode.

There were many mirroring situations. Becca's parents' relationship was a mirror of Brett's. And Becca's ability to reconcile with Jenny was a mirror of her inability to reconcile with her father.

On a personal level, reading about the challenges that Brett's parents go through was really difficult and emotional for me. I've discussed before that my family has been touched by infidelity, and so reading through this brought back a lot of old memories and emotions that I truly prefer not to relive. I did feel like there were some pieces of their story that didn't make sense to me. But these things revolved around information that Brett didn't have and therefore the reader also wouldn't have. Those pieces weren't part of the purpose of this book, but I couldn't help but latch onto them.

On the other hand, I was impressed with how well of a job The Upside of Falling did in showing the negative effects of divorce on a child. In today's society, divorce is rampant. And because of that, it is often played off like it's normal and that children are unaffected by, or even happy with, their parents' divorce. But Becca's spent six years struggling with her feelings and questions she doesn't (and never will) have an answer for. Brett feels like his entire world is falling apart and school just isn't quite important in the wake of his family problems.

I also wanted to briefly discuss how frequently books attack sympathy. I feel like I need to do a Mountains Out of Molehills post about this. But briefly, I'll just say that sympathy is not a negative thing. Someone telling you that they're sorry that you're going through a difficult time is not wrong. It's not bad. It's not pity. No, it might not be that person's fault that you're experiencing a difficult situation, but that doesn't mean that they can't be genuinely sad that you're dealing with something difficult. We need more sympathy and empathy and caring among each other, and I really wish authors would stop perpetuating negative thoughts surrounding someone offering sympathy to another human being.

I also struggled with Becca's reaction to her books at the end of the story. She does realize that she'd overreacted. But it almost felt like an attack against book readers which isn't really the right message to send considering your target market (other readers).

There was also another Mountains Out of Molehills moment when Jenny mentions that the entire school assumes she's straight. She goes on to say that she's not sure. But aside from this being completely unnecessary to include given that it furthers the story in no way whatsoever, why would the characters not assume that Jenny was straight given that she's dated guys extensively according to previous information given in the book.

The Upside of Falling ended up being better than I expected it to be. I teared up one time and had to put it down long enough to pull myself together a little. I wish I'd have known that cheating would be a prominent conflict point so I could have prepared myself accordingly--although I likely wouldn't have picked this up had I known this ahead of time. I did have a few Mountains Out of Molehills issues. But overall, I loved the story between Brett and Becca. I'm a sucker for fake relationships that turn real. The Upside of Falling gets 4 Stars. Have you read The Upside of Falling? What did you think? Let me know!