ARC Review: Tonight the Streets Are Ours by Leila Sales
10:00
Series: None
Author: Leila Sales
Published September 15th 2015 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)/September 24th 2015 by Macmillan Children's Books
Goodreads Synopsis
From the author of This Song Will Save Your Life comes a funny and relatable book about the hazards of falling for a person you haven't met yet.
Seventeen-year-old Arden Huntley is recklessly loyal. Taking care of her loved ones is what gives Arden purpose in her life and makes her feel like she matters. But she's tired of being loyal to people who don't appreciate her—including her needy best friend and her absent mom.
Arden finds comfort in a blog she stumbles upon called "Tonight the Streets Are Ours," the musings of a young New York City writer named Peter. When Peter is dumped by the girlfriend he blogs about, Arden decides to take a road trip to see him.
During one crazy night out in NYC filled with parties, dancing, and music—the type of night when anything can happen, and nearly everything does—Arden discovers that Peter isn't exactly who she thought he was. And maybe she isn't exactly who she thought she was, either.
Goodreads
Review
I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publishers via NetGalley. This in no way impacted on my view.
In Tonight the Streets are Ours, we follow Arden, a seventeen year old from a tiny town on the borders of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and West Virginia. Her life is pretty uninteresting until, suddenly, her mam ups and leaves one day. After that, everything basically implodes. Her father is incapable of looking after his children, and Arden and Roman, her 11 year old brother, and left to their own devices. Arden's boyfriend, Chris, seems to only care about himself, and was majorly annoying.
The only saving grace to the beginning portion of the book, was the actual 'Tonight the Streets are Ours' blog posts that took over Arden's life. Peter's life seemed so interesting, especially in comparison to Arden's, and I found myself wishing for more and more of those chapters. Everything came to a head when Chris let Arden down on the night of their anniversary, and she, and best friend Lindsey, decide to go on a trip to New York City to find Peter. Though I'd been looking forward to meeting Peter, that, again, was a serious letdown.
Basically, the characters in this book all had their own problems, and I'm not entirely sure that I like any of them. Lindsay seemed to use Arden, and Arden was just too weak, and got walked all over. I've already mentioned Chris - he cared about no one other than himself. Peter, the person, not the character from the blog, was a basket case. Be fictionalised his whole life to make people care more about him, and blamed everyone else - even though the majority of the issues were his own fault.
The plot line was uninteresting. I was never hooked by the book, and quite frankly, don't know why I didn't dnf it ages ago. I'm sort of glad I push through with the book, as I feel like I've accomplished something. Other than that, I'll likely forget the whole book as soon as I pick something else up.
In sort, nothing about this book was good. I can't say I'd recommend this, because that would be a lie. Perhaps if you've enjoyed Sales other books, you might like this one.
Dates Read:
September 16-19, 2015
Rating
2 Stars
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