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katiemichellereads's review against another edition
3.0
Arden Huntley is nice and loyal: These are the traits that define her. She finds worth through giving others what they want, fixing their problems for them. She likes feeling needed, but she hates not being able to depend on anybody else when she needs them. Her mother left for New York weeks ago, her father focuses only on work, her boyfriend Chris is only focused on his own dreams, and her best friend Lindsey is more prone to creating messes than helping fix them.
One night, Arden Googles the question, why doesn't anybody love me as much as I love them? In the search results she finds Tonight the Streets Are Ours, a blog/online journal where Peter is asking the same exact question. She quickly finds herself invested in Peter's life and the people involved. She wants to know about his ex girlfriend and his missing brother. And somewhere in between going back to the first post and being caught up, reading them as they're released... Arden finds herself daydreaming of her and Chris as a couple, despite his recent break-up and the fact that she has a boyfriend of her own -- not to mention that Chris lives hours away, in New York.
I have mixed feelings about this book, and I think the negative ones mostly center around Arden's parents. Honestly, this is the one and only time I've ever wished parents were featured less in a young adult book, but I think I would have enjoyed it much more without them. I will admit that there were a lot of things here that might have just hit too close to home for me, and maybe I wouldn't have had so many problems with them if that weren't the case. Or maybe I would have felt the same. (Who knows?)
Anyway, we have a mother who left her husband and two children to live in New York, about six hours away from home. Why? Because her husband wasn't helping enough, and parenting became too overwhelming for her. Which I can completely understand. We all feel overwhelmed sometimes. She was giving too much and getting too little in return. It's still not an excuse for leaving behind her kids, but I feel that her actions were brushed off for the true message of the story -- which was that we all make mistakes and hurt the ones we love, and it doesn't mean we love them any less.
I like this message, overall. The thing is, I do agree that we shouldn't all be tip-toeing around other peoples feelings all of the time. (Even though I'll be the first to admit that I do so far too often!) I can get behind the idea that we, as people, are not entirely responsible for the well-being and emotions of others. But I just can't agree that parents aren't responsible for their children, and I feel like having this theme and applying it to the parents kind of excused their behavior, especially Arden's mother.
That said, I could sympathize with her, which was more than I could say about the father. This guy felt that two kids and two pets were too much responsibility, so what does he do? Puts down the family dog. And he does not get any grief for this. Arden even uses it as one point to justify him being a great parent: He brought them to the shelter when they decided to get a dog! Let's not mention that he also killed the poor thing! This part just made me really sick to my stomach. Her dad was an awful person, and he was made out to be a "good dad" multiple times. I didn't see any evidence for him being anything but neglectful to his children.
Despite my dislike for those characters, I didn't really dislike the book. I liked Arden's character, and I enjoyed her friendship with Lindsey. I do wish we could have seen more of Lindsey, because it would have been interesting to learn more about her as a person, and maybe see her character arc a bit more in-depth. Arden's boyfriend, Chris, was also an interesting character that I wish had more depth, because I didn't feel like I knew him very well. There was more about his dreams of being an actor throughout the book than about him as an actual person. However, Arden was great and I did like seeing her change throughout the book and become more comfortable with herself. In the end, I think it was Arden who saved this book for me and kept me reading despite my issues with side characters and plot.
Then, of course, there are the slight issues I had with the plot. I liked the idea of Arden learning to accept herself, rather than seeking that acceptance in others, and the beginning of the book was wonderful. But then Arden decides to go on a "road trip" to meet Peter, the author of Tonight the Streets Are Ours. She finds him by calling bookstores in New York until she finds the one he works for, then stops by for a visit.
First, are there not a bunch of guys named Peter who live in New York and work at a bookstore? And second (most importantly), maybe people don't reveal their locations online for a reason? Personally, I don't want anyone who reads my blog showing up where I work, no matter how much they love my writing. Especially if they have to travel six hours to find me. I know Arden was taking a risk, I just feel like she could have done something different. Even reached out to Peter online, if she wanted to! Just... not stalking him.
That said, I did like how realistically this played out, and I do have to say I expected things to happen differently. The ending of the book worked itself out nicely and made up for the whole stalking thing in some ways. It was also fantastic that this story did not center entirely on romance, which felt refreshing and, given everything that happened, realistic.
Overall, I expected this book to be a quick, cute read, and it did deliver on that. I loved Leila Sales' writing style, as always, and did laugh a few times while reading. It held my interest enough that I read it mostly in one sitting, and I'll probably think about it for awhile still -- it touched a lot on what love means, which was an interesting topic and gave me a few things to consider. I don't think it met all of my expectations, but I also know I had high hopes going in, and so that might not be entirely the book's fault.
paginasdealex's review against another edition
4.0
“Bienvenido. Como todas las historias, la que estás por leer es una historia de amor. Si no lo fuera, ¿qué caso tendría?"
Hace dos años que espero para leer un libro de Leila Sales. Cuando This Song Will Save Your Life salió al mercado escuché sólo cosas buenas sobre el libro.
Sin embargo, dos años después sigue entre los libros que compré y por una u otra cosa no he podido leer. Es mi primera vez leyendo a Sales y no he sido decepcionada.
Los personajes fueron muy bien desarrollados. Desde sus apariencias, actitudes y opiniones, hasta sus aspectos más complejos como sus reacciones en momentos de estrés, su crecimiento como personajes y sus descubrimientos personales fueron creíbles en todo momento. De verdad podía imaginar ver a estos personajes como personas reales. Incluso hubo momentos en los que no estaba de acuerdo con ellos y que llegué a detestarlos. Pero siempre mantuvieron su esencia personal.
La idea detrás de este libro es que cada persona tiene su propia historia, y aunque la escuchemos, algunas veces la historia que se muestra al mundo no es la verdadera. La realidad puede ser muy diferente de lo que dejamos conocer a otros.
La manera en que el libro está escrito es en extremo cuidadosa. Un perfecto balance entre la trama principal y las anécdotas de nuestra protagonista. No hubo momentos lentos ni largos. De cierta manera la historia principal se teje entre otras historias y nos lleva en la búsqueda del punto entre ayudar a aquellos que lo necesitan sin destruirse uno mismo.
En definitiva un libro excelente.
vll295's review against another edition
3.0
faithl's review against another edition
3.0
AN INTERESTING READ ABOUT FINDING YOURSELF AND DISCOVERING THE TRUTH ABOUT THE PEOPLE AROUND YOU. A FEW ANNOYING PARTS YET YOU'LL STILL KEEP READING.
Tonight the Streets are Ours is a captivating but confusing read. It's one of those books that you finish and you're like 'It's really really good!!! But then you stop, think about it and then remember all the things that annoyed you. Well, that's what happened to me, anyway.
Arden is a girl who does everything for everyone. Her compassion and kindness knows no bounds. She's suspended just for her best friend's wrongs, she blames herself every time her boyfriend does something else douchery, she endlessly looks after her brother and her household each time her father forgets about it without complaint. And when she is nearly at her wit's end, she finds a blog written by Peter, a New Yorker with a lot to say about his life. Seriously, ALL HE TALKS ABOUT IS HIS LIFE. It was irritating and obnoxious. He's a rich New Yorker who parties every weekend and all he does, is complain about his life. URGH.
DUDE, YOU'RE RICH, WORK IN A BOOKSTORE & LIVE IN NEW YORK. WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO COMPLAIN ABOUT???!!!!!
Honestly, I didn't see how she thought Peter understood her. He was annoying and soooooo self-centered. Not spoiling anything, but he does a lot of douche things.
The book's pacing is very fast and slow at times when they shouldn't be. Arden road-trip to New York (stalking journey?) and actually meeting Peter doesn't actually happen until past halfway through the book. And before then, the book drags on about Arden's background story and her inner turmoil. Whilst, I liked reading about Arden and her inspirational selflessness, I just wanted more things to happen. I wanted more conflict, action, plot driving scenes. A lot of the book was every-day things in Arden's life like school, driving, doing homework, extra curricular activities. It was like I was following her life and honestly, it got pretty boring.
The romance isn't as obvious as the synopsis suggests. There are relationship problems between Arden and her boyfriend and all Peter acts as is a distraction instead of a genuine love interest.
It probably sounds like I hated this book but it WAS interesting and I definitely enjoyed reading it. Arden learns valuable lessons about her naivety and at the end, she dumps everything that makes her life worst and picks things up that make it better. It's something a lot of us can learn from this books as well - how to make our lives happier by dumping those that don't make us any happier.
Overall, an enjoyable read with a lot of life lessons learnt. It's insightful whilst also entertaining. At the same time, pacing is uncomfortable and some characters have an insurmountable amount of annoyance and arrogance (*cough* Peter *cough*)
bookworm097's review against another edition
jordynandherfriends's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
golden_lily's review against another edition
4.0
I related to Arden, but the pacing was off and the end was too saccharine.
allibruns's review against another edition
4.0
owls_rainbow's review against another edition
3.0