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!!)

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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.