Review: This Adventure Ends by Emma Mills

Publisher: Henry Holt & Co.
Release date: October 4, 2016
Format: Hardcover
Source: Purchased
Pages: 320
Goodreads || Book Depository

Sloane isn’t expecting to fall in with a group of friends when she moves from New York to Florida—especially not a group of friends so intense, so in love, so all-consuming. Yet that’s exactly what happens.

Sloane becomes closest to Vera, a social-media star who lights up any room, and Gabe, Vera’s twin brother and the most serious person Sloane’s ever met. When a beloved painting by the twins’ late mother goes missing, Sloane takes on the responsibility of tracking it down, a journey that takes her across state lines—and ever deeper into the twins’ lives.

Filled with intense and important friendships, a wonderful warts-and-all family, shiveringly good romantic developments, and sharp, witty dialogue, this story is about finding the people you never knew you needed.

MY THOUGHTS

Oh my gosh, I loved this book. I really enjoyed Emma Mills’ debut novel, First and Then, but this one blew me away. It was more polished and sophisticated and I really enjoyed the story and its themes. It’s a great coming of age story and I loved the friendships in the book.

This is a story about different relationships and I loved the way that they were explored. At the forefront of the book is a story about friendship but romantic relationships and familial relationships are also interwoven into the narrative. Not only were these different relationships explored wonderfully, they were also extremely relatable and resonated with me throughout the reading experience. The story begins when our main character, Sloane, who has recently moved from New York to Florida, meets some new people at a party. She’s used to being alone and not having close friends but she quickly develops close bonds with these new friends and learns what it’s like to be dependable to them and depend on them too. I loved these coming of age aspects of the book and I connected with them because I’ve always been the same introverted and independent person trying to find the people who I belong with.

I absolutely loved ALL of the characters in this book. There wasn’t a single one that I didn’t like and I especially loved Sloane. She was funny and sarcastic and I highly enjoyed her voice. I related to her story and I appreciated her coming of age journey. I also loved her group of friends, Vera, Gabe, Aubrey and Remy. I thought they were all extremely realistic characters and their stories were also relatable and believable. The characters are also likeable from the  very first moment that you meet them, which is sometimes rare in YA, and I really appreciated that. I also absolutely fell in love with Sloane’s family. Her dad is a pretty major side character in the book and he was so funny and adorable, and I also really loved Sloane’s 9 year old sister, Laney. She was the sweetest! I also highly enjoyed the romance in this book. It was very low key and I appreciated that it didn’t take over the whole story.

“We should all find something to be weirdly passionate about, don’t you think?”

What I also loved in this book were the different arty hobbies. Sloane’s father is a writer who’s going through writer’s block and he’s rediscovering his love for writing through his obsession with fanfiction. There are a lot of fandom things in the book that readers can definitely identify with and I loved all the shipping that the characters were doing. I also enjoyed the art aspect of the story that ties in with the cover of the novel and I really loved the search that Sloane did for her friends’ painting, and how that brought her closer to some of the other characters.

There’s not a lot  that I didn’t love about This Adventure Ends. I loved the writing, the characters and the themes of the book. It’s a slow-paced book but the messages and the coming of age story is extremely beautiful.

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