Books I've Loved: Just Visiting

I'm super excited to share this particular book I loved with you not just because it's by the wonderful Dahlia Adler, but also because it's the book's release day today!  Dahlia was kind enough to send me an advance copy and I've been waiting to share this with you ever since I finished it.  I'm so excited I'm putting up the post about 12 hours too early!  But I can't wait!

Thank you Dahlia!  And have the happiest of happy book birthdays!

I loved this book. I loved that it was about a friendship between two girls. And I loved that the friendship didn't get altered when they met boys. So often in YA books the protagonist's friends are only there for a shoulder to cry on or someone to gossip with. It's refreshing to read a book where the friendship was front and center. I'm probably not alone as someone whose friends were the center and lynchpin of my life as a teenager. This book reflected that kind of intense friendship so beautifully.

It also dealt with the fact those friendships change and what's right for one half of the friendship may not be right for the other. It's a painful thing to face, but it's a part of growing up, and learning that you don't have to be in each others pockets 24-7 to stay friends is an important lesson to learn.

So can I just say I loved this?

And in case that isn't enough endorsement, here's the blurb:

Reagan Forrester wants out—out of her trailer park, out of reach of her freeloading mother, and out of the shadow of the relationship that made her the pariah of Charytan, Kansas.

Victoria Reyes wants in—in to a fashion design program, in to the arms of a cute guy who doesn't go to Charytan High, and in to a city where she won't stand out for being Mexican.

One thing the polar-opposite best friends do agree on is that wherever they go, they’re staying together. But when they set off on a series of college visits at the start of their senior year, they quickly see that the future doesn’t look quite like they expected. After two years of near-solitude following the betrayal of the ex-boyfriend who broke her heart, Reagan falls hard and fast for a Battlestar Galactica-loving, brilliant smile-sporting pre-med prospective... only to learn she's set herself up for heartbreak all over again. Meanwhile, Victoria runs full-speed toward all the things she thinks she wants… only to realize everything she’s looking for might be in the very place they've sworn to leave.

As both Reagan and Victoria struggle to learn who they are and what they want in the present, they discover just how much they don't know about each other's pasts. And when each learns what the other’s been hiding, they'll have to decide whether their friendship has a future.