I find it completely awful that it has taken me approximately a month to begin writing this review, but here I am, actually typing it up now. Be proud.

Emmy & Oliver is one of those books that leave you with your heart on the ground and you struggling to pick it up. I had so many emotions and thoughts running through my head afterward. I loved this book so much. The writing had me captivated and intrigued. Robin Benway has this ability to understand teenagers so well. For once, a young adult novel didn’t just focus on the problems and romance in high school, but serious issues and the way they affect families. There was a strong familial aspect of this book that I loved because Emmy’s parents were so involved in her life. If I had a penny for every contemporary with absent parents…

While I did love the family parts, I loved everything else as well. The romance was so cute and beautiful. Emmy knew her boundaries with Oliver and she knew that he needed “space”, but she also was in love with him and likely has been since she was six. This book gave me all the feels and I devoured it. What I loved was that Oliver didn’t just “heal” when he got back and it was so realistic. I understood the characters and even though I have never suffered the way any of them had, I felt their problems to my inner core. The characters were molded so well and they reacted exactly the way they would be expected. The world’s problems aren’t just solved when Oliver comes back, and if anything they become worse. This is important. I can’t handle books that portray events unrealistically because, I’m sorry, life isn’t perfect. Someone isn’t just going to return home after being kidnapped and be perfectly fine. Thank you, Benway for accurately writing something. This isn’t about a boy who comes back, falls in love with his best friend, and lives happily ever after, the end. Instead, it’s about a town wrecked by the kidnapping of this boy, his friends and family not always understanding how he feels, and the struggles within him afterward. Romance is a part of the plot, sure, but it isn’t all.

I can’t recommend this book enough. It’s so underrated, but I wish everyone in the world would pick it up. It’s one of my new favorites (and Oliver’s one of my new book boyfriends…he’s so squishy and adorable).

I also had a few favorite quotes:

“Sometimes love isn’t something you say, it’s something you do.” -Oliver, page 74.

“I guess the more you start to love someone, the more you ache when they’re gone, and maybe it’s that middle ground that hurts the most, when you can see them and still not feel like you’re near enough. So close yet so far.” -Emmy

-Book Hugger

For more reviews like this, check out my blog at http://www.bookhuggerreviews.com