Publication Date: May 31st 2016
Aubree can’t think of a better place to be than in perfectly boring Ohio, and she’s ready for a relaxing summer. But when her older sister, Elizabeth, gets into real trouble, Aubree is talked into taking over Elizabeth’s summer job, leading a group of senior citizens on a bus tour through Europe.
My Rating:⭐⭐⭐
This book wasn’t great but you know what, that’s okay.
In this book we follow 17 year old Aubree Sadler who is, to be blunt, a disaster. Same girl same. When her perfect older sister Elizabeth is arrested it falls to Aubree to go to Europe and lead a tour guide of senior citizens while pretending to be Elizabeth. The sister have everything planned to a T but almost straight away everything goes wrong. Possibly the only promising part of the disaster infected trip is the mystery boy Sam on the other end of the phone. Wanderlost is a book about self discovery and a blossoming romance with a European backdrop.
Ok so I went into this book hoping for lots of travel. That was the aspect that I was fully focused on and wanted to be great but a lot of time was spent on the bus or in hotel rooms. I did enjoy what snippets we got, even if they weren’t described in overmuch detail. It made for a cute backdrop to the romance though.
Talking of romance Aubree and Sam were cute together. I knew from the first phone conversation they had together that I was going to be rooting for them. I feel like Aubree grew a lot throughout the course of their relationship and Sam was funny and a total sweetie.
Also NO INSTALOVE!!! Can I get a round of applause please and thank you. I felt the development of their relationship was really natural and realistic. There was no case of knowing each other for five minutes and then sprouting their eternal love for one another and for that I am grateful.
At the beginning I had my doubts on this book. There’s a lot of set up really fast and it’s like “wow calm down a minute”. I feel like just one or two more chapters or even scenes at the start would have benefited a lot but after that the pacing worked out well.
I was disappointed with how Aubree’s secrete was revealed to Sam. I don’t see this as a spoiler because it’s obvious from the plot of the book that her secrete is going to be, at some point, revealed. In my opinion it led to a pretty anticlimactic ending. Aubree’s mums reaction to finding out her daughter had gone to Europe instead of a summer camp in Maine though was hilarious so maybe all can be forgiven.
And the final thing I want to say about this book is that I thought the sister, Elizabeth, was a bit fo bitch. I liked the fact that sibling age differences was talked about in this book and how as you get older that changes your relationship. I myself am 4, 8 and 13 years older then my three siblings so it was fun to see that but Elizabeth really got on my nerves on how she constantly doubted her sister and belittled her over something so small her her mum making her snacks.
That rant wasn’t necessary to my review but it feels good to get it off my chest.
Overall I thought this book was enjoyable but nothing amazing but i feel like if you’re looking for a cute, easy to read romance with the added bonus of European travel you should check it out.
Publication Date: May 7th 2019
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