Mundie Moms

Saturday, May 3, 2014

The Geography of You And Me by Jennifer E. Smith, Book Review


A couple of weeks ago I had the honor to take part in a Transatlantic blog tour for Jennifer E. Smith's, The Geography of You & Me. UK blogger, One More Page, and I featured each other's reviews on each of our blogs. Check out more the tour and read her review here. It was a blast to take part in. Now I wanted to take a moment and share my review of Jennifer's newest release. I know it's shocking, I read, reviewed and loved a YA contemporary. I adore Jennifer's books. 




Published by: Little Brown / Poppy
Released on: 4/15/14
Source: arc from publisher to review
Purchase the Book From: Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Add it to Goodreads

Lucy lives on the twenty-fourth floor. Owen lives in the basement. It’s fitting, then, that they meet in the middle — stuck between two floors of a New York City apartment building, on an elevator rendered useless by a citywide blackout. After they’re rescued, Lucy and Owen spend the night wandering the darkened streets and marveling at the rare appearance of stars above Manhattan. But once the power is back, so is reality. Lucy soon moves abroad with her parents, while Owen heads out west with his father.
The brief time they spend together leaves a mark. And as their lives take them to Edinburgh and to San Francisco, to Prague and to Portland, Lucy and Owen stay in touch through postcards, occasional e-mails, and phone calls. But can they — despite the odds — find a way to reunite?                                                                                                                                                                                              

What's not to love about a love story that starts out with two complete strangers meeting in a darkened, stuck elevator/lift in the middle of a power outage in New York City. This was only the beginning of Lucy and Owen's relationship that spans various states, a few countries, and countless post cards and emails. This is one sweet, highly addictive love story I absolutely enjoyed reading. Not only is the relationship Lucy and Owen a realistic one, but the characters themselves felt real. 

I love it when an author introduces me to their imperfect characters. Not only does this make me root for them, it makes the characters relatable on some level. Lucy and Owen were easy for me to love. Their first meeting could have easily turned into a disaster. I mean imagine yourself stuff in a life/elevator with a cute, complete stranger. Not only are you dangling in a stuck life/elevator, it's pitch black and hot in there. I would like to think I would have stayed as calm and collective as Lucy and Owen did. Instead of freaking out, these two talked. Once out of their predicament, instead of going their separate ways, these two shared a memorable night on the roof of their apartment building talking, and forming a bound that span months, and countless miles. 

 Both Lucy and Owen have family struggles, and issues that they each cope with and try and work through as the story goes on. Lucy is sixteen year old who has a heart of gold, and huge dreams to travel over seas, like her parents. Often left alone in the swanky NYC apartment she used to share with her now college bound brothers, she's now by herself when her parents are jet setting around Europe. I really connected with Lucy on an emotional level. She's this fearless, brave girl who won't let anything stand in the way of her dreams. She doesn't let her loneliness consume her, though my heart did break for her. 

Owen himself is a character who's dwelt with his own share of unfairness in life. With dreams of his own to make it to college, Owen finds himself uprooted and caring for a father who's still grieving over the loss of Owen's mom. Not only does this take a toll on the relationship Owen has with his father, it starts to take a toll on him. Owen is just a strong, and resistant seventeen year old. It was incredibly easy for me to fall in love with his character. 

Smith had me rooting for him and Lucy both individually and together. I loved how Lucy and Owen's relationships played out. Each has their own struggles, both of them move, Owen within the states, and Lucy over seas, and then there's that complicated thing with are they in a relationship, or aren't they. It's during this journey that Smith really hooks me with her story. Owen and Lucy's story was addicting. I loved reading about them, and their learning to navigate their own ways through life, and accept things for what they were. They learned to love, move on from it, accept it for what it was, and fight for that loveAll the while doing this, they learn and grow so much individually, and within their family structures. Their relationship is one that plays out in post cards, and emails from NYC, to Chicago, San Fransisco, Seattle, London, Edinburgh, and back to NYC. 

I adore Jennifer E. Smith and her writing style. Her YA contemporary love stories are some of my favorites. Her characters and stories are written in a realistic way, and I love how real they each feel. This story is just as lovely as This is What Happy Looks Like and The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight. If you haven't yet picked up one of these books, I highly recommend that you do. 

Recent Cassandra Clare Posts


Hi Shadowhunters! Just in case you missed them, check out some of Cassie recent posts via her Tumblr page


(spoilers for Lost Souls and Clockwork Princess)
I write to you for my third time to discover something that I began to wonder not so long ago. I know that everybody says this to you, but honestly, your books changed my life. I realise that you probably know nothing about the City of Ashes movie news, so I won’t even ask. I write to you today, to ask about James Carstairs. Obsessed is truly what I am with him. He is probably my favourite character of all the books I’ve read (and that’s a lot.) So the question I have for you is: why didn’t you kill him? Of course I’m glad you didn’t but it got me thinking. Jem could’ve easily died in Clockwork Princess and Brother Zachariah could be just a normal Silent Brother that just so happened to be a little more human. I really hope you answer my question, because that is something I really want to know. The way the events were written, nobody knew that the Silent Brother was actually him and it could remain unknown even if he survived. I just need to know, why didn’t you kill him. Why didn’t he die? I thank you in advance for your reply (I seriously hope I receive one). In my heart I am silently hoping that your reply would be something in the lines of “I couldn’t” and not “It wasn’t in my plan.” Either way, thank you for the books, thank you for the reply, thank you for everything. I can’t wait to read all of your books. And if the rumours are true, that Julian is more like Jem than Will, I am in serious trouble.
With sincere love and gratitude,
the first and now not the only Slovenian ShadowhunterHello!
Thank you for not asking about movie news. You are correct that I don’t know anything!
I’m so glad you like Jem! He is very dear to me, too. I hope you will like Julian, who is the closest to Jem of all my previous heroes though he is very much his own person. Because people kept asking if he was like Jace I eventually said “More like Jem …?” mostly because it’s very hard to describe a character that readers haven’t met yet rather than because they are that much alike.
I’m so sorry if this upsets you, but I must confess Brother Zachariah was always created to be Jem: every scene I wrote about him, was written knowing he was Jem, and that’s why he acted and looked the way he did. (When he spoke of the two people he would have died for to Jace, for instance,  I knew he meant Will and Tessa. And he dropped heavy hints about owing the Herondales, etc.)
Unless Brother Zachariah was Jem, there was no reason for him to be in the story. His part could have been filled by Brother Enoch; everything he does could have been done by someone else. Adding characters to an already large ensemble cast isn’t something we really do at random: they need a reason to be there. And having him not be Jem would mean he was never released from being a Silent Brother and could never be with Tessa, and I wanted better for Jem than that. He’s so great, and he’s suffered too much!
I hope my answer is ‘both’ to the question of whether it was love for Jem or my plan which motivated me—I love Jem and never wanted to kill him, and I never intended to. My plan doesn’t mean I love Jem any less.
I owe it to my readers to plot out my books so it all feels natural, yet surprising, and I feel I also owe it to my characters, to put them in a story that is planned and not random. Jem was always intended to have a wondrous strange life: I hope that does not disappoint you too much!


Awwwww... Cassie shared this fan art here
"It’s part of the parabatai oath. My blanket shall be your blanket."
"Yeah, sure."
Excuse me but have you let Waywood into your life? *stands before you with the Waywood bible* 
(Cutey-pie dialog written by cassandraclare)

City of Lost Souls Read-A-Long: Chapter 2


Hello & welcome to day #2 of our City of Lost Souls Read-A-Long. You can find out more about the read along and find the schedule here. There is no right or wrong way to participate. Your comments can be as long or as short as you'd like them to be. 

Today's discussion is about the Chapter 2: Thorns
  • I love that no matter what Clary and Simon have been through, they are always there for each other. Despite all that Simon is dealing with right now, he's put it all aside to be there for Clary. How have your thoughts about Simon changed over the course of the series?
  • I find it interesting that a point is made about Magnus not going with the group to see the Seelie Queen, then while there she puts a glamor on Alec making him look hideously old, and commenting about his look, and what Magnus would think. We all know the Queen does things for a reason, and what would her reasoning be for getting under Alec's skin like that?
  • Why do you think the Queen wants the faerie rings back? My guess is there's more to what she's telling Clary.
  • Will! I love that Will was mentioned (I think I need to go re-read The Infernal Devices). Do you think Magnus has ever truly gotten over his feelings towards Will? Part of me thinks he'll always feel that "what might have been" towards Will, even though it was ages ago. 
Please DO NOT POST SPOILERS. There's some fans who are joining the read-a-long who are reading Clockwork Prince for the first time. 

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