This was a great read about dealing with trauma and finding people to talk to. It definitely did not go how I thought it would - and that's a good thing. Great, quick read.

"A Walk Between Raindrops" by Amalie Jahn is an exquisite masterpiece that transcends the boundaries of YA fiction, offering readers a profound and emotionally charged narrative. This poignant story, centered around the complex relationship between two sisters, Elise and Wylla, unfolds against the backdrop of a transformative journey through ten amusement parks. Jahn's writing is a symphony of emotions, leaving an indelible mark on the reader's heart.

The novel masterfully explores the intricacies of sibling relationships, forgiveness, and the healing power of shared experiences. Seventeen-year-old Elise's desire to mend her strained connection with her younger sister, Wylla, sets the stage for an emotional rollercoaster that mirrors the thrilling rides they encounter throughout their journey. The narrative deftly navigates the complexities of family dynamics, trauma, and the quest for redemption.

Amalie Jahn's character development is nothing short of extraordinary. Each character, from the resilient Elise to the enigmatic Wylla, is crafted with depth and authenticity. The supporting cast, including a licorice-eating biker, a sorority president, and an Irish sweetheart, adds layers of richness to the narrative, creating a diverse and dynamic ensemble that captures the essence of shared humanity.

The journey through ten amusement parks becomes a metaphor for the sisters' own rollercoaster of emotions, highs of hope and lows of despair. Jahn's storytelling prowess shines as she weaves a tale that is not only emotionally charged but also beautifully nuanced. The exploration of trauma and secrets adds layers of suspense, keeping the reader captivated until the very last page.

The pacing is expertly crafted, allowing the story to unfold organically, and the vivid descriptions of the amusement parks create a vivid backdrop for the emotional journey. The thematic depth, combined with moments of humor and heart, elevates "A Walk Between Raindrops" to a literary gem that transcends genres.

In conclusion, Amalie Jahn's "A Walk Between Raindrops" is a five-star masterpiece that captures the essence of family, forgiveness, and the transformative power of shared experiences. This novel is a resonant exploration of the human spirit, leaving an enduring impact on anyone fortunate enough to embark on this emotional journey. Highly recommended for readers seeking a transcendent and unforgettable literary experience.

This was an almost five-star read for me. The reason it was almost so was because I found it unexpectedly emotional and very impactful, but on later reflection, I was not sure what to make of how the author used her words to set the scene (I cannot go into more details than that for obvious reasons).
The story revolves around two sisters, one of whom is a fan of roller coasters and participates in a contest, the winners of which will be taken on a roller coaster road trip. Her younger sister and she have had a tumultuous relationship, and despite a lack of fondness for the ride, Elisa sees Willa participate and also win a seat on the road trip. After being talked into it, Elise goes on the trip but is tormented by multiple issues that she feels are unresolved. Each section increases the emotional gravity of the situation.
We get to know more about the past and what weighs on our young protagonist's mind. She struggles with her increasing attraction to another of their team, as well as with the idea of enjoying herself. With the help of good new friends and a better understanding of what she wants in life, we are taken on a journey of growth.
I would recommend this book to those who are on the lookout for something different with an emotional punch.
I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers, but the review is entirely based on my own reading experience.

It’s a journey of sisterhood and friendship, forgiveness and self acceptance, and so, SO much more. I felt so drawn to the characters at the start and so incredibly connected to them by the end, Jahn has a wonderful artistic touch that pulls at your very soul. Beautiful and heart wrenching—with a twist to boot. What more can you ask?

Elise and her younger sister, Wylla, haven't spoken to each other in months, in a silent stand off Elise is finding increasingly painful. When they both win tickets to go on an all expenses paid road trip of ten theme parks in two weeks, Elise hopes it will be the opportunity to clear the air between them.

I really enjoyed how this story explored the often complicated relationship between sisters and how they fit into their family. Both the pressures of being an older sister (from Elise, the narrator's perspective) and what she learns to be the difficulties faced by her younger sister Wylla, felt very familiar and it felt validating to read about them.

The book was best when the relationship between the sisters was front and centre. At times, Elise is slightly dramatic and self-centred, but not more than you can allow a 17 year old to be. Her earnest need to mend her relationship with her sister, while also feeling frustrated with her and jealous of her, was a great reflection of how your relationship with your siblings can be one of unconditional love and also extremely complicated.

I struggled a bit with the pacing. At times, the plot was drawn out unnecessarily. Also, even thought the theme park back drop is sweet, it sometimes dominated the story a bit too much. I think the pacing would have benefitted a bit from an earlier confrontation between the girls. I also didn't find the romance between Elise and Seamus terribly convincing, although all of the other supporting characters are quite sweet (besides the two trouble makers of the group...).

Overall, while at times slow, it was a lovely story and led me to reflect a lot on my own family relationships.

I really enjoyed this book. It was a sweet tale of two sisters reconnecting and recovering from their own traumas.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and netgalley for this review copy.

When I requested this book, I thought it would be a cute story about sisters reconnecting and finding a way to be friends again after a betrayal. The added bonus of a road trip to different amusement parks, including one I grew up going to, was icing on the cake. But this book was so much more. It was a journey into understanding why we feel the way we do and the slow road to recovery, both physical and mental, from a traumatic car accident. The twist at the end caught me by surprise because I wasn’t expecting one. This whole book truly surprised me. Highly recommended!

“Sometimes you share blood, like me and Wylla, and sometimes you’re sort of slung together by the whims of the universe…”

It takes some damn good writing to make me gasp, and when I say I gasped at the 88% mark of this book, I. GASPED. Bravo! Still reeling…

Jahn brilliantly wove heartache, humor, and hope throughout this entire story, giving each their rightful time on the page so readers could reflect and empathize with each. Like the loops, dips, and spins of the coasters to which she gave us a front seat, Jahn mirrored those same effects with her character development.

Similarly, I thoroughly enjoyed the budding attraction between Elise and Seamus as much as I did the coasters and adventures in each of the theme parks! Props again to Jahn for writing a romantic relationship built on the importance of honesty, trust, empathy, and acceptance — all of which needs to be more front and center with more YA books. Toxic, misogynistic male love interests are out, y’all!

So here’s to more books like Jahn’s that don’t shy away from topics of PTSD, anxiety, and/or the importance of paying attention to and being mindful of one’s own mental health. I hope this book finds its way into the hands of any reader, teen or otherwise, who feels as though they must have it all figured out.

Just remember Elise’s words of wisdom: “I don’t know if I’ll ever get all my feelings sorted out…but I’ll deal with them on my own terms…”

This one hit me right in the feels. I love Amalie Jahn’s dedication to accurately portray mental health without stigmatizing it, and she does that so beautifully here. I saw a lot of myself in Elise, specifically how her distorted thinking warped her view of the world, and it was a reminder that it’s important to acknowledge your feelings while also accepting that facts do not always equal emotions. My full spoiler-free review is at the link below.

Elise, and six other people including her sister, won a trip to a bunch of amusement parks by staying on a roller coaster the longest. Elise hopes this trip will help mend the relationship between her and her sister that has been on the fritz for some time now. Elise also had a traumatic event happen recently that is causing her some issues. Along with the other 5 people and the drive, Elise and her sister set out on the journey.
Opinion
I personally have been to a lot of the amusement parks they visited (with Carowinds being my current home park.) I can truly appreciate the amount of effort that went into researching each park so that the scenes based there would be realistic.
At times, I was a bit frustrated with Elise. She was really stuck on being envious of her younger sister and could not see any fault in her actions. It was a bit frustrating. However, as I held out and finished the book, I completely understand why Jahn wrote her that way. It made the ending that much sweeter.
As a parent, I would hesitate before putting this book into the hands of a child. It does mention mental health and alludes to sex. I would warn parents about that and let them make their own decisions. That being said, I thought this was a great book and loved how it wrapped up.
Many thanks to Net Galley and to BooksGoSocial for providing me with an ARC of this book.

I love, love, love books set in amusement parks and this one featured several of them. The author definitely did her research on the various parks as I felt like I was there with the characters, especially Kennywood and Dollywood, which I've visited.

The story was about sisters and brought me to tears by the end. I loved the balance of sweet and sad. I read this book in a day and was sad to see it end. A beautiful, touching young adult story.

I LOVED this book!

This is hands down one of my all-time favorite YA reads. A Walk Between Raindrops is such a beautiful journey, with complex issues, believable characters, and so much heart that I could not stop reading, or talking about this book once I finished.

The way that Amalie Jahn handles mental illness in this book was so refreshing. There is compassion and acceptance instead of judgment.

Do yourself a favor and buy this book! You will not be disappointed.

I loved this book!

As a mom to four girls you hope they are never in situation to be apart like this at this age but if it happens they try to find their way back to each other.

Go on this emotional journey as told from the point of view of older sister Elise. There is trauma. There is feeling. And the ending!!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a chance to read and review.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with this book.

I enjoyed this book! The twist definitely kept me on my toes.

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Elyse and Wylla haven't spoken for months but when they win a paid trip across to visit theme parks Elyse finds the perfect excuse to reconnect with her sister.
This was a remarkable story, I couldn't put the book down while reading it. The author did a good job at portraying family dinamics, teenage experience while also tackling mental health. I loved to see how the group grew together while Elyse was also trying to get her sister back. The ending truly surprised me.

I feel a little uncomfortable giving this book three stars because I see a lot of four and five stars, but unfortunately I didn't feel it with this book. There is not much to comment on the writing style or the story (except for a few editing and spelling errors), especially considering that the book is intended for YA readers. While I can normally enjoy a YA story, this time I wasn't in the right state of mind I guess. The book took me a very long time to finish. However, I didn't see the twist at the end coming at all and I liked that there was a lot of focus on mental health, so for that I congratulate the author! I can very well imagine that this book could become very popular with the target audience.

3.5 stars for me!

Thanks to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for providing me with a free advanced reader copy of this book. This did nog affect my review in any way.

Up until the last leg of the book, this was a solid 4 star read for me. I love the reconciliation between Elise and Wylla, delving deep into their relationship and why it's so strained. My heart was going out for Elise, for the most part, but hearing Wylla's side of things revealed how much in her own head Elise was.

The rest of the cast were also pretty good. Mikal and Travis, especially, have a nice side plot where they form a bond in the background of the story and it's really sweet. I also loved how subtle the romance was. At first, Seamus was just some guy to Elise; she even picked through his looks a bit. But it's only after they start spending time together through the scavenger hunt do feelings begin to bloom. It was really cute and, more importantly, it didn't impede on the main conflict between Elise and Wylla. I would dare say it is essential, because it forced Elise to really open her eyes.

Okay, I can't avoid it any longer. I have to talk about the twist because, despite my proudness of my ability to predict pretty accurately, I did not see it coming.

So, it turns out Wylla was dead the whole time. She died in the car accident that happened a couple months before the story, which also gave Elise intense PTSD that caused her to block out her sister's death. Whether Wylla is only a figment/manifestation of Elise's trauma coping or an actual ghost is left ambiguous (I personally it was a bit of both, depending on the scene); either way, the final scene between the sisters after Elise finally confronted with the truth is so beautiful. When the twist was first revealed, I was bewildered because 1), as I said, I didn't see it coming and 2) my previous experiences with the "they were dead the whole time" trope lead me to dislike it a lot. But it was only after I reread some proportions of the book did I realize how fantastic of a writer Jahn is. Despite Elise purposely making note of Wylla in scene, no one in the group directly talks to Wylla. Elise sees Wylla tag alongside people, her talking to them, her responding in group settings, but there are no dialogue exchanged from anyone with Wylla except Elise when it's only them one-on-one. I cannot emphasize how clever this was on Jahn's part and made the twist all the better, because you can go back and pick up on these clues leading to the twist yourself and that's so cool! That alone is worth the 5-stars this book ripped straight out of my heart.

Anyway, this was such a great surprise of a read and I'm so glad I picked the ARC up on a whim.

I really liked this. I love YA novels still as an adult. They make me feel nostalgic for my teenager years, and reading this took me right back. I am also a huge coaster fan, so the setting was so fun. It was touching, yet not too heavy. I don't know if it will stick with me, but it was definitely worth the read.

This book is going to be a hit. Elise and Wylla are sisters that are no longer on speaking terms. This books follows them through a trip that last 2 weeks, and Elise hopes that it can heal their fractured relationship. Amalie Jahn wrote an amazing novel. This is a perfect combination of what it is like to be a teenager and experience trauma. Elise and Wylla both have some very large emotions, and are learning to work through them and process them together. It was beautifully written.

Another positive for this book is the mental health rep. I was glad to see the de-stigmatization of mental health in adults as well as teens throughout. It was tastefully written, and not talked down upon by the other characters in the book. The writing style was fluid, and had wonderful pacing.

The ending tool me by complete surprise. I was not expecting it at all, yet, I was not in total belief. I read this book in about a day, and the ending stopped me in my tracks. I had to re read the page a few times, and that means it was well written. I will definitely be reading this book again.

Thank you to Netgalley and Amalie Jahn for the opportunity to read this ARC. This was a honest and thoughtful review, and I thank you. All opinions expressed are my own.

okay, this book was so adorable!! i know a lot of people did not like this one, but i really really did! it was so fun and sweet and precious! thank you so much to netgalley for letting me read this one early!!!