April Lindner
Contemporary Young Adult
304 pages
Poppy
Available January 27th
Source: ARC from publisher for review
THE STORY (from Goodreads)
While backpacking through Florence, Italy, during the summer before she heads off to college, Lucy Sommersworth finds herself falling in love with the culture, the architecture, the food...and Jesse Palladino, a handsome street musician. After a whirlwind romance, Lucy returns home, determined to move on from her "vacation flirtation." But just because summer is over doesn't mean Lucy and Jesse are over, too.
In this coming-of-age romance, April Lindner perfectly captures the highs and lows of a summer love that might just be meant to last beyond the season.
MY THOUGHTS
The first third of Love, Lucy is a cute escape read, allowing us to lose ourselves on the streets of Florence with Lucy as she tries to make every minute of her European vacation count before she has to return to the States. The remaining two thirds of the book see Lucy returned home, attempting to find happiness within the life parameters her overbearing father has set for her, all the while remembering her Tuscan romance with palpable longing. While Lucy’s story has its sweet moments, it remains more on the surface despite the presence of some weightier issues like family drama, sex and cheating (!), moving us along before we have a chance to really sink our claws (and our hearts) into the meat of Lucy’s life.
In additional to being more superficial overall, Love, Lucy also reads younger than we expect going in given Lucy is a freshman in college. There’s nothing hugely specific that gives the impression of a younger age, it’s more the feel of Lucy’s voice that, when combined with the fact that we don’t delve very deeply into her feelings for the people in her life, makes this story come across as better suited to younger YA readers (sex between Lucy and Jesse is mentioned on a couple occasions, but those scenes fade to black, implying they sleep together without getting into any detail.).
Lucy herself is an enjoyable heroine for the most part, standing up for herself in situations where we desperately want her to voice an objection, and showing a bit of backbone we can’t help but appreciate. Her spine of steel comes into play predominantly toward the end when things with her father reach their breaking point, but as is the case with the rest of the story as a whole, their issues are wrapped up neatly despite his cruel disregard of what she actually wants out of her life. Overall, Love, Lucy is a quick read, skimming us along the surface of Lucy’s life as she tries to sort through the cacophony of voices telling her her place in the world in search of the one that’s most important: Her own.
Rating: 3/5
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This book was sent to me by the publisher free of charge for the purpose of a
review.
I received no other compensation and the above is my honest opinion.
