Thursday, July 17, 2014

[Review: Let's Get Lost by Adi Alsaid]

"Let's Get Lost"
Author: Adi Alsaid
Series: None
Pages: 352
Genre: YA, Contemporary
Date Published: July 29th, 2014
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Format Read: eARC provided by publisher (via Edelweiss) for honest review

--------------------------------------------------------------------
Summary:

Five strangers. Countless adventures. One epic way to get lost.

Four teens across the country have only one thing in common: a girl named LEILA. She crashes into their lives in her absurdly red car at the moment they need someone the most.

There's HUDSON, a small-town mechanic who is willing to throw away his dreams for true love. And BREE, a runaway who seizes every Tuesday—and a few stolen goods along the way. ELLIOT believes in happy endings…until his own life goes off-script. And SONIA worries that when she lost her boyfriend, she also lost the ability to love.

Hudson, Bree, Elliot and Sonia find a friend in Leila. And when Leila leaves them, their lives are forever changed. But it is during Leila's own 4,268-mile journey that she discovers the most important truth— sometimes, what you need most is right where you started. And maybe the only way to find what you're looking for is to get lost along the way.
-Goodreads 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My Thoughts:

An Open Letter To Let's Get Lost,

Book, I had no idea what was going on when I started reading you and I glad that's the way things went. You had the actual feel of a very different kind of road trip and your honesty really worked for me. I thought your conclusion and the big surprise were a little weak, but the rest of you made up for it. I loved meeting all the strange people in your pages and they were perfectly odd. Good job all the way around, I think that's what I'm trying to say.

-The White Unicorn

Let's Get Lost is one of those books that makes you smile, laugh and think. Alsaid has created a cast of characters that you want to root for, even if you think they are ridiculous some of the time. He's also made a road trip book that doesn't follow the normal road trip tropes. I commend him for that.

The book is about four teens: Hudson (the golden boy), Bree (the runaway), Elliot (the hopeless romantic) and Sonia (the confused lover). We meet them all in their own sections of the book and the one thing connecting them is a girl in her red car named Leila. I love that we got to see so many different places and go on a handful of adventures all because Leila was on a huge road trip to see The Northern Lights. Meeting her through the eyes of all four strangers was such a creative writing concept. 

I would tell you what happens in each teen's life, but I think that not knowing is part of the charm of this novel. It will sweep you off your feet and make you smile, be sure of that. On the other hand Alsaid manages to ask some pretty interesting and thought provoking questions. Sometimes looking at a younger person's life brings deep meaning to the universes questions and in Let's Get Lost Alsaid actually pulls it off without seeming pretentious.

The only issue I had with this one was Leila's story line. When we got down to brass tacks, I felt like she, on her own, felt slightly underdeveloped. Which if you've read the book, kind of makes sense. But I felt like she could have been fleshed out more, or left as a drifting soul that we didn't know much about. In the end I still liked the book enough to give it 4 Unicorns, though this, right here is why it isn't getting 5. 

If you like road trip books, crazy shenanigans and deep thinking, this book is for you.

Rating:
 4 Unicorns = Close to perfect!

3 comments:

Unknown said...

I am pretty sure I'm going to love this just because of the ensemble cast and because it's a roadtrip book. Sounds super fun! Great review :)

-Kimi at Geeky Chiquitas

Giselle said...

Oh yay! I'm actually going on vacation starting next week (well not GOINg anywhere, hut not going to work haah) and this is one book I plan to read. It sounds like the perfect lighthearted read, and road trip books always have this atmosphere I love. It sounds like this one is unique in its own genre, too, I'm excited to find out. And the characters all sound very charismatic (excerpt for maybe Leila). Great review, hun!

Nicole said...

I didn't know what to expect when picking up this book, but I agree that it worked in my favor. I really loved this one! I loved the way it was written most of all. I agree that Leila could have been better developed OR left as more of a mysterious character but that didn't detract from my experience. This books was interesting and thought-provoking for sure! Great review!