bellaklatan 's review for:

Amelia Unabridged by Ashley Schumacher

3.0

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Amelia Unabridged was gorgeously written, creating a lush landscape readers can immerse themselves in. It was a beautiful story of friendship, loss, grief, love, and finding oneself. Unfortunately, despite the beautiful writing, there were a few things that didn't work for me. I was enchanted at the beginning of the book, but my interest seemed to falter around 60% of the way in. The romance was sweet, but it felt rushed and a bit too much like "instalove" for me. I also didn't really care for the romance because it seemed like they both idealized each other more than they should have. I did, however, enjoy the strong friendships between Amelia and Jenna and Nolan and Alex. I also loved that this book so clearly understands the experience of what it's like to truly and wholly love books. Additionally, Amelia's struggle with identity and figuring out what she wanted to do in life was one that can resonate with many readers, including me. I can see why so many people fell in love with this book, but ultimately it fell flat for me. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

trigger warnings + content warnings: death, car crash, drowning, grief, anxiety, parental divorce, infidelity (mentioned)