I can’t say I was a fan of this one. I really liked the idea of the three teenagers running around Los Angeles together and seeing the sights, but unfortunately it wasn’t executed very well and I had massive issues with the romance.

 

I didn’t mind the idea of the step-sibling romance to begin with when I first read the synopsis because I didn’t know the full story. But once I found out more about the relationship and the characters, I was a bit creeped out. Firstly, the two had been step-siblings since they were children. They weren’t teenagers who had been thrown into this situation. So even though they didn’t really grow up together (they lived in separate houses), I was still a bit creeped out. They also share a half-sibling, which is the part that I really took issue with.

 

I thought the characters made some really stupid decisions, like ditching their phones as they left the airport. Of course, they’re teenagers, and teenagers do stupid things, but it really aggravated me. I could buy them wanting to rebel to keep their (step-)parents together, but I couldn’t get over them getting rid of their phones.

 

I also really disliked Amos, the male main character. He was a complete ass. And the female main character, Flynn, kept going on about how she wasn’t like other girls. So yay.

 

I’m really disappointed with Layover because I really liked the concept. I just wish it had been executed better, and the characters had been given some development instead of staying so awful.

I really wanted to enjoy this, but unfortunately it's just not keeping my interest and I will not be finishing the book at this time. Thank you for the opportunity to review Layover.

This one started off okay. I was a bit on the fence about the stepbrother/stepsister thing but it was described in the blurb. Then they all land in LA with their younger special needs sister and I just was not happy about the direction. I know I need to be better and not always think that teens are so immature/irresponsible in YA. That being said, I feel like a 16 or 17 year old with a special needs sister would just once think about that child's medication and would also not allow that child to consume alcohol? Maybe that is too harsh but it changed my perspective of the characters and that was kind of unforgivable for me with the book going forward. I just didn't care for this one and I can't say I'd recommend this one.

Layover comes out next week on February 6, 2018, and you can purchase HERE. Hopefully you have better luck with this one than I did!

Maybe coming home was a bad idea. I've only been back a few hours, and already my brain just feels . . . crowded. That's another reason I went away. I needed space to think. To be somewhere else. You spend your whole life in this city, and you think it's normal to never see the stars. And just as I'm trying to remember why i decided on this detour to the city in the first place, she walks in.

Just like the book, I'll keep this review rather 'simple'. I relatively use the word 'simple' because it was a simple book to read- no unnecessary hoo-ha. It was a fun, quick book. Exactly something you'd pick on a layover :)
It's 'almost' a coming of age book... maybe?
It's told in the POV of three people- Flynn, Amos and Poppy.
I enjoyed this book but there was just something missing. I am not sure what that is but I do know that there was something missing...something that would make me go "WOW".
This book is an adventure- a moment of rebellious desires for these three young adults before their foundation is torn apart.

Layover is a feel good, fun filled book with just the right amount of excitement and hope.

I thought that Layover had a lot of potential, yet for me, it unfortunately did not live up to its potential. The story could have been fun, with teenagers siblings running away and getting into new adventures in Los Angeles, yet it left me a bit confused and disappointed.

The story was, for me, lacking a little bit, especially regarding characterization. I love it when I am able to connect and care for the characters in a story and there, unfortunately, that did not happen. I missed that connexion and also thought that the characters didn't quite develop as I would have liked them to, or / and grew. I also thought that the relationship between Flynn and Amos, as a siblings / romantic relationship, was quite problematic and did not sit well with me. I didn't really root for them, the awkwardness of the situation just prevented me to.
I loved Poppy though, she was my favorite character and thought that she and her voice in the story had a lot of potential.

I was entertained by the story and kept on reading, wanting to know what would happen next, but wasn't drawn to the story and compelled to care for the characters and what happened to them, unfortunately.

Overall, I still think that Layover still was an entertaining read, but it lacked a bit too much for me to love it.

This was...wow. I don't DNF many books (even though I've been doing it more lately), but I just couldn't make myself finish this one. I tried! Out of the three POV characters, there was one I had strong negative feelings about, one I didn't really have much of an opinion on, and one who I really liked, and I tried to keep reading for her, but I couldn't. Everything else was just too much, and the reviews that I read about this book assured me that it wasn't going to get better anytime soon.

The biggest thing that bothered me about this book was the constant deluge of the "I'm/you're/she's not like other girls" idea. Can we stop with this already? I felt like no matter whose point of view I was reading, I just couldn't escape this. I didn't literally keep track, but it felt like it was happening on every page. In any case, it was way too much.

One thing that I shouldn't personally hold against this book because I would have known it if I'd read the blurb a bit more carefully is that this is a step-sibling romance, which I feel...kind of icky about. Granted, they won't be step-siblings much longer, because - super-minor spoiler alert! - their parents are getting a divorce, but still. Even if you're not technically blood relatives, you're family, and I don't want to read about that.

The thing that I almost kept reading for was the OCD rep. At the point that I stopped, it wasn't entirely clear whether Poppy, the younger sibling, had OCD or another anxiety disorder, but it was clear that something was going on, and I am so here for mental illness representation. Especially in younger kids! Even if the book isn't necessarily aimed at younger kids, it's still important to have representation in all ages. In the end though, it wasn't enough to keep me reading. I'm also not the best authority on whether it was handled well, since I don't have OCD myself, so I'd try to find an #ownvoices reviewer for that, if possible.

The characters aren't well characterized and doesn't have a consistent plot, the trip is interesting and some scenes are entertaining but it wasn't what I expected

2 stars

Step-siblings Flynn and Amos, as well as their little sister Poppy, learn of their parents’ impending divorce. Flynn and Amos used to be great friends, but a spark between them sent them flying across the country, too scared to acknowledge what was happening between them.

During their layover at LAX, Flynn, Amos, and Poppy all decide to ditch their family vacation and run away for a short while, landing them in all sorts of trouble that will change their lives forever.

I don’t really know what I was expecting when I read this book, but I thought it had a cool cover and an interesting premise, so I requested it. But it didn’t really float my boat.

It’s not that I have a problem with the stepsibling relationship–I personally wouldn’t partake in one because there are plenty of other fish in the sea, but I’m pretty apathetic to other people’s choices–but this wasn’t actually much of a stepsibling romance like the summary implies.

I was more looking for something along the lines of full-blown romance, but I didn’t really find that here. Nor did I find a profound novel on divorce, or sibling relationships, or anything.

I’m not really sure what this book was about?

It was exciting when looking back at some of the high points–traipsing around Disneyland and touring LA and bonding with siblings, but I felt like this entire story was very stagnant and not dynamic.

It’s good to note that the authors are screenwriters and this is their debut. I feel like it would have translated a lot better into a movie rather than a book–the characters didn’t express emotion very well and it all felt like a lot of running around, doing cool things.

The plot was interesting enough, but the characters felt really flat and cliché.

Flynn is your classic case of “not like the other girls” but she wants to be until she realizes that she doesn’t want to be. It felt very clichéd and was addressed in a manner I didn’t really condone because the was it was angled made it feel like the other girls weren’t as good as Flynn.

Like, Amos mentions how Flynn isn’t like those “dumb blondes with tight dresses” and instead wears her oversized sweater with holes in them, and I just didn’t get a good feeling from how he looked at other girls and how Flynn eventually ends up looking at other girls.

This point of view towards other women and girl on girl hate isn’t something that I enjoy reading about and it really took away from the romance for me.

Amos is also very stereotypical, having “daddy problems” and struggling with his father who he hasn’t talked to because he was a drunkard. He felt very two dimensional in this aspect and I wanted more unique thought.

Poppy, however, was an interesting character and I thought she had the most potential. She’s nine and she has OCD and anxiety and struggles with how other girls look at her. I honestly think she’d make a very awesome MG or children’s book MC. I can’t really comment on the OCD/mental health rep in this book, but I don’t think it was portrayed badly.

But her voice was what really got me.

This book is told in present tense first person alternating POV, but I didn’t notice at all and I think this was a huge upside that the tense was executed so well. Amos and Flynn’s voices were fine, although they did feel a little similar to me. But Poppy’s voice was kind of weird to me. She sounded too baby-ish at times and she had a lot more interior dialogue and less external dialogue. It was like she was this third POV to the story that was added in, but she never really narrated actual events, just internal thoughts mostly.

It made her sound excessively young. In MG novels, I don’t find a huge difference in voice between the narrators. Sure, their vocabulary is less wide and there are a few differences, but it’s not like the characters act really young, and I feel this wasn’t executed well in Poppy’s part because she felt too childish for a mature nine year old.

All of the characters just felt very static to me, and I could kind of see how the authors wanted to create “change” in their characters (Flynn going to “not like other girls” and Amos resolving his “daddy problems” and both figuring out their romance and Poppy being Poppy) but it didn’t feel profound or large enough to match everything that happened.

The plot was fine and entertaining, but a lot of it felt like fluffy filler about running through LA and didn’t really correspond to the character growth.

I wish there was more substance to this whole novel. It’s a quick, fast paced book, but nothing really happens in the grand scheme of things so I wouldn’t recommend it unless you’re looking for a very fluffy read about people doing touristy things.

The links will go live on January 28th, 2018 at 8 am EST & will also be shared on Twitter.

This was a very enjoyable book. It was a quick read which I found myself not wanting to put down.
Told in three perspectives, it explores a lot of different things including a complicated family dynamic and mental health issues.
One of the things I liked so much about this book, was the inclusion of Poppy's narrative. As the youngest, she offered a unique perspective on things and I enjoyed how she was the one keeping her two siblings together. Holding their family together.
What you get with this book is a highly enjoyable contemporary, with a decent dose of romance and family drama thrown in.
I enjoyed it a lot.

Flynn, Amos, and Poppy represent the spectrum of adolescence as well as a dysfunctional, nontraditional, and white family. Their parents have been through multiple marriages with added instabilities of affairs, aloof-ism, and alcoholism. The by-products of different marriage combinations, the siblings find themselves once again caught in the selfish throes of their parents’ latest whims. In an effort to buy off the family’s understanding, the parents—who are already in Bora Bora—decide to fly Amos, Flynn, and Poppy out for an extravagant boat ride to break the news of their upcoming separation. When ten-year-old Poppy relays her suspicions to Amos and Flynn, they decide to runaway during their layover at LAX. The Hangover-style, the youth meet up with Flynn’s latest crush and find themselves touring LA, attending parties, and going to Disneyland, mostly all with the wrong crowd. During this newly found freedom, Amos and Flynn must reconcile their romantic feelings toward each other as stepsiblings while nurturing Poppy, who suffers from severe anxiety and what can only be assumed as parental neglect.

A young adult but borderline middle grade read, The Layover skims over themes of family, love, mental health, and growing up. Andelson and Meyer fail in regards to depth, instead selling out for fluff: loss of virginity, partying, money, and alcohol use. The writing is simple, and the varying perspective chapters appear contrived with the occasional confusion and inconsistency of voice amongst the characters. The one-dimensional, stereotypical protagonists and predictable plot make this title a barely tolerable read. I feel like I just watched a cheesy yet dying tween sitcom. I could not in good faith recommend The Layover to any reader.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Crown Books for Young Readers for providing me with a free ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Pros:
Use of words like contrarian, acquiesced, profiteroles, and proprietary possessiveness.
The idea siblings would skip the trip to Bora Bora to be together before the blended family is broken up.
Setting - SoCal - gatta love mentions of La Brea, In-and-Out Burger, Disneyland, PCH.
Cons:
The idea that step-siblings have the hots for each other. Ew.
The adult-ish actions (alcohol and drug use, sex) with the childish voices of the characters.
Poppy's OCD which doesn't come up until Chapter 26.

I'm not a big fan of alternate perspectives in books, either, so it was difficult for me to remember who was telling each part of the story. I was also confused by the constant flash-backs, some seemed unnecessary. The adventure story wrapped up nicely, although the prologue gives the reader an ambiguous ending.

2.5

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange of an honest review.

The description and the cover of Layover really got me even with the first glance and I think that’s a success since that’s their job, kinda. I mean it’s a freaking amazing cover. Unfortunately the problems started to show right after I started to read. First of all based on that synopsis I expected a highly different story that I actually got, alas its misleading quite a bit only loosely relating to the actual plotline. For me it’s a big problem because I go into a story with certain expectations based on the synopsis and when they are not there, well…
While the actual plot presents some potential the execution of them is not there. The whole story is kind of flat and mismatched. Could have been interesting but most of the time the details, the focus are not on the most important parts so thanks to this the story kind loses its shine.

It’s narrated from alternating point of views between the siblings and sometimes it’s hard to follow especially if you consider the kinda out of place flash-back, which confuses the storyline even more.
The biggest problem with the characters that they stay one-dimensional thorough the whole book. Yes they had an interesting bond but the authors couldn’t really capture the essence of their age range. They have a really childish voice while acting as adults would without any kind of development over the curse of the story.
My perceptions above paired with a couple of things that I generally don’t like in books just prevented me to enjoy the story. But it’s entirely possible that you would, they have a fun adventure and a lot of bonding between each other so the book has the potential for a quick and fun read. Just not for me.

I enjoyed the main aspects of this book but I just didn't really connect/like with the characters and the romance

This is a story about three kids taking a layover in Los Angeles instead of getting on a plane to Bora Bora where there parents are going to tell them that they are divorcing. Each chapter is told by one of the kids.

Flynn has recently come to live with her father Jack after the death of her mother. She had previously spent time in New York with Jack, his wife Louisa, Louisa's son Amos, and their daughter Poppy. She is sad and still coming to terms with her mother's death.

Amos left for boarding school while Flynn was away as a camp counselor. He left without an explanation which added to Flynn's sadness.

Poppy is almost ten. She suffers from an anxiety disorder and feels like a weird misfit at her school. She depends on her brother and sister to be there for her. She is the one who overhears the arguments between her parents and hears that they are going to divorce.

The three of them decided not to go to Bora Bora but to stay in Los Angeles. They want to spend time together before their family is split up and are sort of hoping that their actions might cause their parents to rethink their divorce. Flynn has a crush there who is eager to drive them around and give them a place to stay. Amos's father is there too but he hasn't seen him for a few years. His father Clay is an alcoholic and an artist. When Amos goes to visit, he finds that Clay is now clean and sober.

The kids have a variety of adventures including a fraught and scary visit to Disneyland where Poppy gets lost. Seeing the story from Amos's, Flynn's, and Poppy's viewpoints shows a picture of people who are struggling to know what family means. Both Amos and Flynn have issues with caring about others because they've both lost people important to them. I liked each of the kids though they were all emotionally damaged in some ways.

This was an interesting contemporary story with engaging characters.

An ARC has been kindly given by Random House Children via Netgalley in exchange for an honest opinion

4 stars

What a super cute book!

I read this story like I would drink hot cocoa on a winter day. I read it in one sitting because everything worked perfectly well together. I loved this bitter sweet story about a family with most of the time absent parents where the kids stick together and create their own home feel.
It really was kids against adult.
And what kids!
You have little Poppy around ten years old. She is the kid gluing her older siblings together as they were from two different families. Poppy is just adorable. She has a special condition that will never be named but that makes her the odd kid at school. The one the other children are mocking as kids can be mean. The one all alone at lunch. The one with an old soul and an irresistible smile.
““No one else gets me the way you and Flynn do. The kids at school think I’m weird.” She looks up at me, and my heart breaks for her. “They think I’m weird at my school, too,” I reply. “Yeah, right.” “It’s true. But you have to remember that weird is good. Weird means you have personality. Weird means you’re not like everyone else.””

Poppy has two fantastic siblings. Flynn her dad’s daughter and Amos her mom’s son. I swear I’ve rarely read about brother and sisters as united as these were. I guess when your parents work so much and travel all the time leaving you with the nanny/cook you learn to fend for yourself and create your own family unit.

Flynn will very soon be sixteen and has always felt different from the other girls. She is authentic. She has never had a boyfriend just for the sake of it as she wants more than make out sessions. She wants feelings too. But being the girl that “has never done it” can feel awkward too.
“I don’t know why I’ve been such a prude my whole life, or what I’m really waiting for. Even the idea of hooking up with random guys has always made me feel kind of sad. Not that I’m some romantic sap. It just seems sort of strange to be that reckless with your emotions. But now it’s as if everyone around me is not only making out, but, you know, doing more than that, too.”
We all know what Flynn is going through as we experienced it in our youth. Peer pressure. Wanting “in” and yet keeping your own personality. Not just being a copycat but remaining our own person while fitting in the teenage crowd.

Amos. Handsome and aloof Amos. Seventeen and confident Amos. Amos who left for boarding school without warning Flynn because he was falling for his stepsister. Amos who is feeling adrift without Flynn and yet can’t tell her everything. Now he is back for winter break things are awkward.
They used to be so close together but now Flynn can barely look at Amos.
He can tell she is changed.

The kids were supposed to join their parents on a trip but when learning what was waiting for them the three siblings decided to run while waiting for their layover plane in LA.
““So we’re doing this.” I look at Amos and Poppy. And then, without saying anything else, we toss our phones into a trash can outside the Los Angeles International Airport. We’re officially off the grid.”
It will be two days to reconnect. Two days to celebrate “us”. Two days to let the adults know that they matter. They are a family unit and can’t be disposed of as it pleases the parents.

It will be a time of “first”. Small acts of rebellion like every teenager put from time to time. Feelings running rampant unsaid till it’s too much and they are bursting out of chest.

I really had a wonderful time reading this uncomplicated but well executed story. I loved the kids loyalty. They have each other’s back and it was really heart warming to read especially when my own children fight to much!

Told from three POV this book broaches many topics about teenage years in a realistic way:
-how you try to fit in and should you fit in;
-what it feels to be different and mocked;
-first love, first kiss, first…;
-making mistakes at parties and regretting it;
-finding oneself. Find your own way and fight for it;
-experimenting grief and surviving it;
-…

Parents read this book. Kids notice. Kids have feelings. They want your love your support and no money can compensate for this.

Amy Andelson's Layover was a fast-paced Winter Break story surrounding topics of divorce, family, and finding oneself--topics that really resonate with young adults.

Layover is told from the viewpoint of three voices of the half- and step- siblings, Amos, Flynn, and Poppy. This is one of my favorite features of this book. I enjoy reading books that switch POV between characters so that the reader really gets an insight into the internal thoughts of each of the protagonists. This also serves to make the novel read very quickly as each chapter is no more than about 3 pages each. In my copy of the book, there are location "pins" for the chapter numbers which I love and next to some of these, there is a small Polaroid graphic that for the time-being is blank. I'm hoping that the final copy will have pictures from this trip taken with Poppy's camera.

I enjoy reading Winter Break books on Winter Break from school, so I'm glad to have been approved to read this one early. During the siblings' "adventure", they visit Disneyland, too, so I was all in! Haha!

I also loved reading about the loyalty of these siblings to one another and the ties that will always bind them no matter what.

I had forgotten the synopsis of the book by the time that I opened it to read and was really surprised at the direction it took; however, I really enjoyed this book and flew through it.

Thank you, Netgalley and Random House Children's, for providing me with an advance copy of Layover in exchange for an honest review.

I must admit, I was sucked in by the cover and synopsis. I am always up for a good forbidden romance type of thing, but I was pleasantly surprised to find there was a lot more to this story than I anticipated.

•Pro: At its heart, this is a sibling story, and I really enjoyed watching all three of them interacting together. I especially liked seeing the older siblings dote on their little sister, because she really needed to shown she was special.

•Pro: Poppy, the youngest sibling, just lit up the page. She had such a precious, youthful exuberance, and she was in a league all her own. I just imagine fast forwarding 10 years to where she is an "it" girl, because she is finally appreciated for her off-the-norm tastes.

•Con: This story features those not present YA parents, that I am not a fan of.

•Pro: BUT, I was glad with the way things played out, because we did get evidence that these parents did actually love their children. I was really proud of some of the decisions they made towards the end, and they were sort of able to redeemed themselves a little.

•Pro: I grew up in NYC, but I really need to go there as a tourist, because I want to visit the whisper bench in Central Park. How do I not know about these things?

•Con: The middle, the actual layover part of this book, was where my feelings became a little muddled. There seemed to be a lot of things going on during the layover portion of the book that did not really move the story forward. I wish the focus had stayed on the feelings between Amos and Flynn and the siblings.

•Pro: However, the beginning and ending of this book were great. In fact, the ending was really strong, and it left me completely satisfied.

•Pro: I thought the story flowed well. I was a fan of the three POVs, and liked that they were kept short and we constantly flipped from one to the other. The rapid changes kept me in the moment while allowing me to get input from each character.

Overall: This story was really complicated and so were my feelings about it. There was enough there to keep me reading and wanting to find out what happened next, but it didn't quite have the impact I was hoping for.

So I read Layover. When I saw the synopsis, I was intrigued, and I thought: it can be a good read for me. But... as I started to read, I felt something missing in the book, in the plot, in the characters. It's not that the writing was bad. Actually, the writing showed me that the book COULD be way better than it is now. There is potential. So, I would like to talk about two things that I think that are important for the book: first, the characters. They are interesting, but they lack of depth. Of realism (I'm sorry, but I didn't understand why Flynn acted the way she did in the book. There was no explanation, no development). And the romance between Flynn and Amos? It was not a romance at all. It felt like that the authors forgot the real reason of the story. Sure, I understand the trio (Flynn, Amos and Poppy) run away from the airport to have more memories together. I liked that... but again, there was something missing.
I liked Poppy the most of them because she was the one who had more depth on her personality, her thoughts and so on... it was not still there, but I felt something with Poppy.
Second, the plot. There so much potential... but there so many issues to the point that I couldn't enjoy the story as much I wanted. I was quite dissapointed by that... but I know that theres a way to make it better, and I hope that in the end, the book will be full of live and depth. So, I'm going give it a 2 stars, and one more because I want to cheer up the authors because they have potential to be better writers.
I will be waiting for the final version of the book.

Thank you TO: Net Galley, Amy Andelson, Emily Meyer and Random House Children's /Crown Books for this arc in exchange for an honest review :)

Noteworthy experiences while reading this book: Choices made by the characters did not seem right. It felt more like this is what an adult would think they would choose but not what they would choose for themselves. I feel that the author did not give their characters enough credit.

Check out author's other books or related books? I don't think this writing style is for me. So no I do not think I would check out this author's other works.

Recommend this book? Sadly no

Notes and Opinions: I am really not sure what I just read but this one I wasn't really sure what I was going to get out of it but what I did leave me feeling a bit confused and well to tell you the truth disappointed. I thought this story was going to be a light story with some great teenage topics but what I found wasn't anywhere near that. You have a lot of description in this one and almost no character development. For most of the story which I thought could have been very good was overshadowed by all of that describing that we really didn't need. The other issue I had was that a lot of the times the characters would make choices that really sounded like an adult was writing this book and this is what they thought teens would do. It really took you out of the story wondering what in the world? For me, this one wasn't it. I am sure there will be people out there that love this book but for this reader, it fell far from the bar I was looking at.

Go Into This One Knowing: Lots of descriptions

Postives: the cover & Poppy.

I really want to like LAYOVER. The cover gave me the impression of road trip, but quickly learned that was not the case. Okay. No big. Three sibling "lost" in Los Angeles, I can still get behind.

No. Sadly. No. LAYOVER just didn't work for me. Characters were a bit flat, lacking in development. The relationship build up was disappointing.