Emmy & Oliver by Robin Benway
June 23, 2015
Harper Teen
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* e-ARC courtesy of HarperCollins + Edelweiss

Emmy’s best friend, Oliver, reappears after being kidnapped by his father ten years ago. Emmy hopes to pick up their relationship right where it left off. Are they destined to be together? Or has fate irreparably driven them apart?

Emmy just wants to be in charge of her own life.

She wants to stay out late, surf her favorite beach—go anywhere without her parents’ relentless worrying. But Emmy’s parents can’t seem to let her grow up—not since the day Oliver disappeared.

Oliver needs a moment to figure out his heart.

He’d thought, all these years, that his dad was the good guy. He never knew that it was his father who kidnapped him and kept him on the run. Discovering it, and finding himself returned to his old hometown, all at once, has his heart racing and his thoughts swirling.

Emmy and Oliver were going to be best friends forever, or maybe even more, before their futures were ripped apart. In Emmy’s soul, despite the space and time between them, their connection has never been severed. But is their story still written in the stars? Or are their hearts like the pieces of two different puzzles—impossible to fit together?

[note note_color=”#BFD1D1″ text_color=”#ffffff”]I received this book for free from Edelweiss + HarperCollins in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.[/note]

First sentence: “The last time Emmy sees Oliver is on their forty-third day of second grade.”

Have you ever expected to like—even love—a book, but once you’ve read it, it turns out that you don’t like it as much as other readers do? That’s me with Emmy & Oliver. I loved Robin Benway’s writing, but I felt very disconnected from it.

The story goes: Emmy and Oliver have been friends since they were babies in diapers until Oliver disappears when they were in second grade. Ten years later, Oliver reappears, and everybody—Oliver, Emmy, and their parents—have to deal with the effects of his kidnapping and his return as they attempt to rebuild their lives. Even though Emmy wants to go back to the old days when she and Oliver were close, she realizes things have changed for them. She tries to get to know present-day Oliver who is more subdued and hurting, and they both face their struggles and confront their past and their future together.

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