This book was incredible. Natalie Blitt is an incredible talent who doesn't get enough praise for her work. This book completely captured that unbalanced feeling of getting the rug pulled out from under you when you had every plan laid out. And no one does yearning and teen romance better - the desire between Lucy and Dov was so real that I still think about it years later. It's a bit long - I would have cut some of the back third - but nevertheless, a wonderful read that draws you in completely. A great one for teens - especially Jewish teens who want to feel grounded.

Wow. I loved this. I read this over 2 sittings. I loved Lucy, she's such a great character. I was left wanting even more of this book

Thank you to Netgalley and Amberjack Publishing for the eBook. Actual rating: 4.5 stars.

I ADORED this book and I love Dov with my whole heart, but I was desperate for more relationship development and a more satisfying ending. I love Dov and Lucy together, but their relationship appears very quickly and then stalls for a bit of the text. And I'm a sucker for "and then they got married" kinds of endings in my books that are focused on romantic plots, so while I understood why the ending was left as open-ended as it is (and it does the story justice! The ending is great!), I just personally wanted a bit more conclusive ending that discusses their long-term future and if they make it. (And in the absence of that, I'm choosing to believe that they do!)

I will not be giving feedback on this book as I couldn’t really get into it but I think others may enjoy it.

I'm a little on the fence about this one.
I kind of expected a lighthearted quick read, and this book turned out to be a lot heavier than I expected, while still being a quick read.
This was a nice romantic coming-of-age story, but it just didn't feel entirely believable to me.
Some things at the end were just awfully convenient and therefore weren't very realistic.

While I loved the poetry in the book, the Israeli culture and reference, and the dancing and ballet, it's Lucy and Dov together that I'm just not sure about. While I loved Lucy as the main character, I just didn't see the spark with Dov.
I guess I'm just a little too old and cynical for this book now, but I probably would have loved this ten years ago.

This book was beautiful! Written beautifully with an amazing cover to match.
It was an easy read and I enjoyed it!

Natalie did it! I usually reach for YA Thrillers or Dystopians but wanted to beach out and I am very glad that I did!

2.5 stars. I can't remember the last time I misjudged a book by the synopsis this badly. I picked this up expecting a lighthearted read, but it quickly became clear that this was anything but. That's not the reason for the low star rating, though - I became accustomed to the tone pretty quickly, but had some other substantial problems with the book, mostly centering on the romance. (Very minor spoilers ahead.) Firstly, when a guy tells you that he's not a good romantic partner and that it's not a good idea for you to be in a relationship, you thank him for the warning and run in the other direction. Secondly, I've noticed a pattern in some romances I've read lately where I just can't root for the couple to get together by the end. This one was another one of those.

I did enjoy the storyline around becoming who you want to be when you're surrounded by other people telling you who they want you to be. There were times that this seemed to be the center of the book, but it also regularly got overshadowed by the romance. I wish this had been given more of a spotlight!

Also, I'm giving some bonus points for how Jewish this book was. I don't really realize how desperate I am for contemporary Jewish representation I am until I get it, and then I devour it. And MAJOR bonus points for sapphic Jewish grandmas, even if they weren't a focus. I want their book!

I'm completely speechless reading this book. It was intense and shattered me in a good way. I've heard great things about the author but I hadn't read her debut novel when I started this book. But after I was done, I had to pick up " A DIstance from A to Z" because that's how much I loved this one.

I liked the poetry parts of this but besides that it was just an okay read. I didn't end up loving anything else. It seemed like a lot of the things brought up were just plot devices.

Received an ARC of this from NetGalley. 2.5 stars. A lot of this book sounded promising in theory but made me roll my eyes whilst reading. I loved the poetry! But not much else. The relationship between the two main characters frustrated me, the way that Lucy interrogated Dov about his potentially very traumatic experiences was unbelievable, and I really didn't like the glorification of the IDF/conscription in general in this book. I really wanted to read a cool book about two people from different backgrounds bonding over a shared heritage (Judaism) & a shared interest (poetry) but it just felt like a lot of things were brought in only as plot devices rather than aspects of characters

It's easier said than done when it comes to putting words together that can make a reader FEEL something.

When I read this book, I truthfully was expecting a light and cute YA romance. I didn't expect to be so moved by both Lucy and Dov, and the connection they shared. I had a deep appreciation for the writer giving us both unique characters and a unique storyline as well. My only gripe with this book is that it ended- I wanted way more Lucy and Dov. We saw the two of them learn so much from each other throughout the book, but I could use at least an additional two hundred pages of just Lucy and Dov fluff. Am I greedy?

I had a hard time getting into this book. I didn't seem to connect to the characters and I've never been a fan of books that tell the story through poetry. While the entire book was not written in verse it was spread throughout enough that I just couldn't get into the story.

I loved everything about this! The writing style, the plot and the characters. Everything was so well developed and so well written i would recommend it to everyone!

*I want to thank Netgalley for providing me with an eARC in exchange for this honest review. This has in no way impacted my review and all opinions are my own. This book meant the world to me, before I jump in I want to say now that this post is NO WAY a political post. Please understand that I know that when it comes to Israel people have VERY different opinions, I am not here to discuss the politics of it, I am here to talk about this book and how much I loved it.*

Lucy’s life is turned on its head when her mom takes a job in California, her boyfriend dumps her and the new transfer student is all she can think about. But when things start to go differently than she planned, Lucy learns what It means to leave in different ways..

Dov is an eighteen year old boy whose family moves to Chicago from Israel, a vastly different culture and experience. The etiquette is different there, I will never forget feeling scared by the culture when I was sixteen (the first time I went to Israel without my parents.) And then when I was eighteen and by three months in, I was used to It and going to the super market down the block was no longer scary.

One of the first scenes when we get to really know Dov is when he is looking for a service to make sure he can say the mourner’s prayer for his brother. This moment was one that hit me hard, both my parents just finished saying the mourner’s prayer for their parents who passed away last year. It brought me back to when I was in Israel for my gap year when my family was mourning the loss of my brothers best friend.

The themes in this novel are intense. And I know not everyone will feel the same intensity that I have felt when I read this novel.

When I was reading about Dov’s life in Israel, I was brought back to my time living in Israel when I was eighteen. I was the same age as Lucy and Dov, but unlike Lucy I was living a life more similar to Dov’s. I was eighteen living in THE SAME community that Dov is from. (Baka in Jerusalem is one of the most beautiful communities in Israel with some of the yummiest restaurants I have ever eaten at before.) While Dov isn’t orthodox and I am, I was able to connect to him more than I have connected to a character in a long time.

When Dov talked about his trip out to the Far East after he would be finishing his army service, my face broke out into a smile. I was remembering so many of my friends who would tell me stories from their travels and how after those six months, all they wanted to do was travel more and more.

I was brought back to memories of running around a country that had thousands of years of my history and world history in general, singing songs and celebrating holidays in the exact place they happened.

I took a gap year when I graduated high school, so did most of my friends. We went to Israel and learnt in schools where we were learning intensive judaic studies, and learning more independence than I have ever experienced before in my whole life. I strongly encourage gap years, it doesn’t matter where you go or what you do but I strongly believe that Lucy’s guidance counselor captured why going on a gap year is so important.

I loved the use of Hebrew throughout the book, as someone who is fluent in Hebrew being able to read these words and know what every word means, made me feel so seen.

Dov to me was my gap year wrapped into a person and Lucy was me as a person during my gap year. (If that makes any sense.) Dov’s personality, emotions, culture and language is what it felt like when I was in Israel for that year. The teens my age at eighteen were going into the army, there was a divide between us Americans in the difference between where we were in life. Blitt does an AMAZING job of reminding us that eighteen is still very young, especially for the choices Dov is making. The intensity of everything, the fact that I was living in a community of other Jews who were so similar yet SO diverse from myself and learning how to just love. Lucy is me as a person, the experience and the path I took. The fact that I felt like I was lost for awhile and that I was learning how to be me, the way Lucy was learning how to be who she is.

Dov’s parents. Dov’s parents and their stark contrast to Dov and his personality shows just how extremely messy grieving is. His parents are dealing with grieving in a way that is just so different to Dov’s, shows us that everyone goes through grieving SO differently.

This was a story I loved so much. The characters in this story were pretty great, except for her mom who sucks. Lucy and her dad develop a strong, solid relationship. Her grandmother, Amy, is one of my favorite people ever.

The character growth is amazing, the banter is funny, the emotions are intense and the book is so well written. The culture we are introduced to is great. This book made me feel seen.

I really recommend this to everyone. Its a fun, sweet, heartbreaking, beautiful young adult contemporary novel that everyone needs in their life.

A beautiful romance about unexpected upheaval, Blitt's sophomore novel will likely appeal to fans of her first. It also contains plenty of nuanced representation of Jewish characters, something lacking from a lot of YA.

Lucy has spent her whole life living for other people: when her mom moves for work, she sacrifices her own time and energy to help take care of her little brothers; when it’s time to think about college, she doesn’t consider anywhere but where her parents want her to go; when her boyfriend wants more of her time, she quits dance, her one true outlet. She doesn’t know who she wants to be because she’s never given herself a chance to think about it—she just fills whatever roles are “assigned” to her in life. This book is about Lucy finding herself in a sea of other people’s expectations.

When Lucy meets Dov, her perceptions of the world start to change. This is a boy who knows what he wants, and he will fight for it. His strength of purpose starts to make her realize that she has choices, and that only she can determine her true calling. She also discovers that her “calling” might not be so easy to pinpoint, and she might need to give herself time to get there.

I loved the romance between Lucy and Dov. It was quick to spark but slow to develop, which I appreciated. They came from such different perspectives, so they helped each other see the world in a different way. I also appreciated that the characters discussed sex in a healthy way. I’ll confess that occasionally Lucy felt a little bit whiny to me, but she is a teenager after all—show me a teenager that doesn’t get this way from time to time and I’ll … well, you can’t, so I won’t bother coming up with what I’d do. I also thought Lucy became a tad bit hypocritical at a couple of critical points in her relationship with Dov, but these were blips on the radar of a book that I otherwise truly enjoyed. I love books that challenge me to look at the world through the eyes of someone completely different from me—and Dov’s perspective as an Israeli citizen definitely fit the bill. I recommend the book for that reason alone.

***Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. No other compensation was given and all opinions are my own.***

This was a great YA contemporary with the right amount of romance and realistic struggles of a high school senior. I adored both characters and loved how they slowly fell for one another. This author is going to be on my must read YA author list!

Sooooooo cute!

One of the better contemporary stories I’ve read as of late. The entire story and characters were realistic and relatable.

I was pretty interested in The Truth About Leaving initially, but it slowly left me as I continued to read. I wasn't a fan of the writing style which made it hard for me to stay invested in the story. I also had issues with some things in the story like the way Lucy talks to Dov and the things she says to him. It just bothered me and made me not want to continue on with the story.