Fan of Emery Lord stories.  Purchased for my ya/middle grade collection. Poetic characters, authentic world building and compelling.

I absolutely adored this book. Emery Lord is one of my all-time favorite authors and this may be her best book yet. The depictions of anxiety were so accurate and real. This is a book I will definitely be purchasing a finished copy of and re-reading!

I have been a fan of Emery Lord's since her debut, Open Road Summer, and The Map from Here to There did not disappoint either. It is not as good as The Start of Me and You, which I am absolutely obsessed with, but nevertheless, it was a pleasure reading Lord's prose and get to know more about characters so near and dear to my heart.

Navigating the possibilities for future and dealing with the unknown felt relatable even though my teen years are only a hazy memory. Lord writes so incredibly beautifully - she truly has a way with words!

A brilliant sequel by Emery Lord. I loved Paige even more in this one and everything that she went through. The growing up and uncertainty of the future. Emery really knows how to pull out all the stops to create such a fantastic novel.

This was such a fun coming of age story that hits on topics that most young adults can relate to and even adults who can read this and reminisce. Paige's story is one that has grown so much since the first book and it was so fun watching her grow from the first story to now in this book. I loved seeing Paige's character arc from the beginning of the story to the finish. She grows in maturity and in her ability to make decisions. It made me reflect on when I was Paige's age and when I began college. I think so many young adults and teens can relate to this story, especially right now with everything going on. This wasn't my favorite Emery Lord story, but it definitely won't be my last. Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for providing me my ARC of this wonderful book!

I felt like this was a book that I needed to read the prior book to better enjoyment out of. If I had read the first book, it would have been better.

This book was pretty good! Not my favorite Emery Lord book, admittedly, but still pretty solid, as far as YA novels go.

‘The Map From Here to There’ is the conclusion to ‘The Start of Me and You’ and while I enjoyed the first book (perhaps even more so than this one), it also wasn’t quite up to par with Emery Lord’s other novels, in my opinion, so maybe that’s why I didn’t love this one either.

Still, ‘The Start of Me and You’ definitely had me all up in my feels enough to get me interested enough to wanted to read the conclusion and find out more about Paige’s story, and when all was said and done, I did really enjoy it and found it to be a solid read.

In true follow up novel fashion, this book picks up with the same main character from the previous book, Paige, and follows her and her friends as they navigate their way through their senior year of high school.  As they experience their last year of high schoolers, and wonder what’s in store for their futures, This story also really highlights and focuses on all the ups and downs and best and worst parts of being a high school senior. And the way in which Emery Lord penned the story really captures the nostalgia, excitement and trepidation of what that experience is like and that is part of what makes this a really great YA novel!

It’s been quite a while since i’ve been a high school senior, but reading this made me very nostalgic and brought me back in time to my high school years!  That being said, I felt that Lord’s portrayal of the high school senior year experience was very realistic and relatable, and she shows the growth that occurs and the way in which relationships can change and complicate during that period in time.  

I had a lot of fun experiencing senior year all over again alongside Paige and her friends, and Paige and her love interest, Max, were super cute and stole my heart! 

Although I may have slightly enjoyed the first book more overall, I still thoroughly enjoyed this one as well, and was really immersed in this chapter in Paige’s life story.  

This a cute, somewhat nostalgiac and emotional book about self discovery, making choices, falling in love, friendship, and finding yourself!

This was a fun book which many high school students will relate to, especially seniors trying to make decisions about college, relationships, jobs, etc.

After reading and enjoying the first book in this series, I was dying to get my hands on this installment. Paige and Max are the best nerd couple I could have ever imagined. I love seeing their year together trying to figure out what the next step is going to be. It’s all discovering who you are and where you fit in life.

I was super excited to get my hands on The Map From Here to There by Emery Lord, especially after I discovered it was the sequel to The Start of Me and You, a book that I read a few years ago and really enjoyed! I’m a huge fan of Emery’s wiring, and I couldn’t wait to get started on this newest book.

I had hoped to re-read The Start of Me and You before starting this sequel, as it’s been a few years, (and a LOT of books), since I read the story, and I couldn’t quite remember what happened. Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to read it again, but once I started this sequel, the story came rushing back! Emery also does a good job of reminding us of things we may have forgotten, so that’s a plus as well.

One thing I do remember from the first book was how relatable I felt to Paige, especially with the anxiety and all. I get it, I really, really do, and because of that I totally understood how she felt as the story went along. Thankfully she has a pretty amazing support system to help her along the way, including a great family, lots of great friends, and a wonderful boyfriend as well. Yet, at times, she finds her way all on her own, and that is excellent growth from the first book.

The storyline for this book was lots of fun, and very easy to read. A lot of young adults are going to find this book super relatable, especially those in their last years of high school. The characters in the book are all SO great. I especially love the relationship between Paige and her best friends. Everyone should have a group of friends like that! They are all great and supportive, and I love them all. Along with the excellent family life as well!

Overall; The Map From Here to There was an excellent sequel to The Start of Me and You, and I’m so glad to have read the book! If you liked the first book, then I definitely recommend you check out this sequel. If you haven’t read the series yet, and love a good contemporary, do check out both of the books in this series!

Happy Reading!

Fans of The Start of Me and You will remember Paige Hancock and her swoon-worthy relationship with Max.  Now it's senior year and Paige has spent her summer in New York City focusing on screenwriting, which is her passion.  However, with senior year comes changes and big choices that have to be made.  Paige has to figure out where she wants to go to college, all while wondering where Max is going to go and the future of their relationship.  Of course, she is worried about how going off to college will impact her relationship with him as well as her close-knit group of friends.  Her adorable group of friends made a senior year bucket list, but despite all of the fun they had, there's still the ominous cloud of separation that hangs over her head.  Emery Lord truly captures how exciting senior year can be, but also how terrifying it can be to leave your comfort zone in The Map From Here to There.

If you are an avid reader of my blog, you know how much I loved The Start of Me and You. It was one of my favorite books of 2015.  I adored Paige an her group of supportive friends, which you don't often see in young adult literature. I still adored them in The Map From Here to There, especially as they go through the many changes that senior year brings. I also appreciated that they were a diverse group and not just the usual group of girls that you encounter in YA.  Also, I love that Paige is such a well-rounded character. She is smart, she is loyal, but she also deals with many issues that young adults deal with today: anxiety, fears regarding the future, family issues, and more. I think many young adults can relate to Paige and appreciate her journey. 

I really loved Max in The Start of Me and You.  He was just ok for me in this sequel. As much as I liked Max in the first novel, I found myself not wanting Paige to be tied down to Max as she goes off to college.  Nonetheless, as far as YA boyfriends go, he is a good one.  I also appreciate that Lord gave Max a few of his own issues to tackle in senior year, which made it feel even more realistic.

What I love most about Lord's writing is her ability to make her characters and their situations very realistic. The Map From Here to There explores so many of the issues that many us had senior year of high school and she brings it to life well. I wish I could have read this novel back when I was in high school. I think it would have really spoke to me and help me navigate the waters of change that senior year inevitably brings.

If you are a fan of The Start of Me and You, you should definitely pick up this sequel, The Map From Here to There, to see how things ends for Paige.  While I didn't love this as much as the first novel, I still appreciated Paige's journey and I think many young adults will too.

I didn’t realize when I started the ARC that this was a sequel, though certain times I wondered. Beautifully written and I was able to enjoy it just as much anyway, which speaks to the way the author continued to develop the characters.

I did not/could not finish this. I didn't feel like there was a plot to this book, so to speak and similar to my other DNF books, the characters felt almost one dimensional and kind of flat.

Maybe one day I'll try rereading this and maybe then my review for it will be better, but as of now, it's not what I hoped it'd be.

When I first requested this novel I didn’t realize it was a sequel to another contemporary story, The Start of Me and You. I went into this without having read the predecessor and I still found I enjoyed this. It’s about our main character named Paige and how she and her friends all deal with senior year of high school and all the ups and downs that come with it. It was very emotional and impacting. I will definitely be on the look out for what Emery Lord puts out next.

I super duper loved The Start of Me and You and part of me longed for more to the story but I was also really liked how it ended. Then when I heard there was a sequel actually happening? Well....I had mixed feelings. So many mixed feelings. But everyone who read it seemed to love it so I walked into this one feeling hopeful. Sadly, I was super disappointed and ended up withisg I hadn't read it at it. It was long, too long, for the story that was being told. Not only that but every single character seemed to regress so much from where they all ended up at the end of Start of Me and You. Map isn't a bad book...it just wasn't a book for me.

How do you review a sequel to book you never read? Well you just jump right in and let the writing guide you. That being said I felt all of the characters seamlessly interacted with one another and a picture of their friendship was fully formed. Paige is excited to finally dive in to her relationship with Max after a summer apart. This is her chance to prove she has finally healed from the traumatic events regarding Aaron. Yet that's not how things turn out because trauma resurfaces and Paige's anxiety makes it difficult for her to see a future. Rather there's too many options for the future and she can't decide which one will be the Right one.

I found this book to be authentic and its portrayal of teenage anxiety. Never mind the circumstances that happened to Paige, there's a lot of pressure when you're expected to know what you want and yet the adults in your life don't trust you to make that decision either. The conflicts were absolutely grounded with financial decisions to the prospects of staying in touch with your friends influencing what you want in life.

I think this is a great book for not only young adults, but for adults remembering we still don't have our lives together. The central conflict also changes Max and Paige's relationship. With expectations within their friend group to be the OTP, it stands to reason that this may not be what they necessarily want forever. I related to Paige's crippling anxiety too. Lashing out due to your own frustration can happen. Exploring who you can be instead of who you should be is a reoccurring theme and there were times I was annoyed Max let his insecurity limit Paige. To say the least, these two doofuses are meant for each other for however long they have.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bloomsbury YA for an advanced readers copy in exchange for a fair review!

COVER REVIEW:

I love illustration especially the personal touches on what I assume is Paige's desk. The colors compliment each other and I prefer this to the first book's cover with the generic sunset photography that doesn't say anything.

A sequel we didn't know we needed but Emery Lord delivered for fans of The Start of Me and You and its beloved characters. Emery knows how to write such real and flawed characters who navigates through life, school, friendships, anxiety and other things life throws at us especially at a young/coming of age.

I couldn't believe I got approved for this book! I'm pretty sure I shrieked when I found out. I read The Start of Me and You because I was going to meet Emery Lord at Yallfest. This book was soo dang good. I couldn’t put it down. When I found out that there was going to be a sequel I totally freaked out. I loved Max and Paige, even though they had been through so much in the first book I thought they were perfect together.

I was so excited to see what happened next to them. Because I read the book, I decided to listen to The Start of Me and You. The audiobook was great. The narrator really brought Paige and Maz to life. I totally forgot how much I loved these two together, which made me very scared going into it.
Paige and Max go through so much in this book. But every single thing is believable. It’s hard to keep a relationship going when you are about to graduate and go to different colleges. I haven’t actually experienced it first hand, but I can’t even imagine leaving the one I love. This book was still super cute and rom-comish, but it was so much more than that. We get to see the struggle of this relationship in so many ways. It is heartbreaking to read at times, but so dang worth it.

If you loved the first book, you will absolutely love this one! If you love contemporary YA I totally recommend this book to you. But of course, read The Start of Me and You first. Come back and tell me your thoughts.

I fell for most of these characters in The Start of Me and You, so I was so excited to jump back into the world of Paige and Max and all of their friends. I was also a little scared to see what would happen to them as a couple through their senior year. I was right to be a little scared, but I was definitely not disappointed in the end.

Paige has always been a little neurotic, which is part of her anxiety and to be expected, but I feel like she takes a step back from all of the progress she made in the first book. In many ways her fears take over and cause damage in her relationships. In other ways, she continues her growth and comes to understand her dreams a little more clearly.

I adore Max, and that has not changed since reading this book. He is in no way perfect and has a really hard time facing up to his own decisions, but he is still so sweet and genuine. He has his own issues when it comes to dealing with his insecurities and contributes his own fair share to the difficulties in his relationship with Paige.

The friend group is as awesome as ever. Tessa and Morgan have their own share of issues that they are dealing with in the story. Malcolm joins the friend group as well, along with his boyfriend, rounding the group out.

New friends are also made outside the friend group, for both Paige and Max. While I think Hunter is amazing {and wouldn't mind seeing a companion book that follows Hunter}, his presence does cause some issues. But I am so happy that he came into Paige's life.

Paige's family continues to play a huge role and that relationship between her parents continues to progress. Paige and Cameron experience growth in their relationship as well.

As I said, I absolutely loved this story... and I would love to follow the characters as they navigate through the next phases of their lives... but I may just have to do that in my imagination, and that's ok.

Disclaimer: I received an eARC of this book through Net Galley and the publisher {Bloomsbury} in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Did not know this was book 2.. will not being doing feedback because I dont know when I will get to book 1.