The Geography of You and Me by Jennifer E. Smith {Review}

The Geography of You and Me by Jennifer E. Smith

Hardcover, 337 pages

Published April 15th 2014 by Poppy

Source: Library

Lucy and Owen meet somewhere between the tenth and eleventh floors of a New York City apartment building, on an elevator rendered useless by a citywide blackout. After they’re rescued, they spend a single night together, wandering the darkened streets and marveling at the rare appearance of stars above Manhattan. But once the power is restored, so is reality. Lucy soon moves to Edinburgh with her parents, while Owen heads out west with his father.

Lucy and Owen’s relationship plays out across the globe as they stay in touch through postcards, occasional e-mails, and—finally—a reunion in the city where they first met.

A carefully charted map of a long-distance relationship, Jennifer E. Smith’s new novel shows that the center of the world isn't necessarily a place. It can be a person, too.

My Review: 4 Stars

There was something soft and sweet about this throwback story. In an age where texting and social media are all the rage and the ways that most teens seem to communicate through, it was refreshing to see Lucy and Owen, two vastly different people from opposite worlds, have a fluke meeting, an exciting couple of days during a power outages, and then keep in touch through emails and postcards.

Reminiscent of Sleepless in Seattle--teen-style--this book really touches the heart, especially through this year of growth, change, and self-awareness and discovery. The angst is strong, while the whisper of romance is secondary. I was expecting romance to play a bigger part, but this is the type of story that takes the reader on a journey and stays in the shadows of the mind for a few days.

Content: mild language; very mild romance