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

 Author: Jennifer E. Smith
Publisher: Poppy
Page Count:  352 pages, Hardcover
Date Published: April 15th 2014
Find it on Goodreads: The Geography of You and Me
Source: Purchased

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.

A story of travel, communication, family, self-discovery, and of course, love, The Geography of You and Me is another wonderful tale of two young people coming together through incredible circumstances from the one and only Jennifer E. Smith. This book was exactly what I needed and completely met my expectations and probably even exceeded them. I was hoping to read a contemporary that had depth to it, something that was more than just a surface-skimming love story and that is exactly what I got. Geography is about two teens who meet in a city wide black out of New York City, which is a wonderful setting for a story in itself. Yet their paths cross at unfortunate times in their lives, as Lucy soon leaves for Europe with her parents and Owen heads west with his father, their destination a mystery to them both. Through alternating chapters with adorable and totally appreciated parallels, (one of my favourite aspects of the book!), the reader is completely drawn in to this tale of two teens on opposite sides of the world, trying to get back to each other for even just a moment. With the use of post cards and emails, Lucy and Owen attempt to stay in contact, yet discover it is more difficult than it would seem, trying to stay connected as life continues on around them. I loved how they both had lives separate from each other, met new people and learned new things, instead of being caught up about this mysterious person they had met for one night. I hate books that have characters who only think about their 'love' or whatever you'd call it and forget about everything else in their lives, so this book was greatly, greatly appreciated in that aspect and many others. Lucy and Owen together were realistic, as well. They were awkward and a bit bumbling, but they each felt a connection and wanted to figure it out, yet circumstance prevented that from happening. I adored how the book ended so ambiguously, leaving the reader wondering what would happen to the two teens. This was an incredibly enchanting novel that couldn't have come from anyone other than Smith and I would highly, highly recommend it.

Happy reading!
~Kristy