Every Step She Takes was such an adventurous book. Sadie, who owns an antique store and never gets our of her our town ends up hiking the Camino when her sister breaks her foot. She meets Mal who is running away from yet another broken heart and start a friendship.

I had so much fun reading this book. It made me think about if I could hike the Camino myself. Alison Cochrun is one of my favourite authors and this book really cemented that into my brain.
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Thank you yo Simon and Schuster for the eArc of this book.

This book has left me terribly conflicted.

On the positive side, I really enjoyed the story. Sadie learning who she is, accepting herself, and accepting that she doesnt need to have everything figured out right now is great. I liked the crew doing the Camino with her, and you could tell that the author knew what she was talking about in terms of the pilgrimage. The metaphorical and literal voyage of self discovery and acceptance is lovely and painful at the same time.

Negatively, my edition of the eArc is terribly copyedited, and I really hope its not the final version. Everything, especially in the first third, was a product placement - it was never just a water bottle, it was an Owala water bottle. It stood out to the point where I was questioning if the book at been deemed 500 words too short, and the way to make up the difference was to add in a brand name. It made sense in the context of the travel influencer blog posts, but not when she's just picking out candy at the airport. There were constant inconsistencies - its 8am and Mal is sitting in a laundry mat, waiting for her clothes to dry, thinks about the rest of the crew having a leisurely breakfast and not in a rush, and then they also leave the hostel promptly at 8. No they didnt, you are at the laundry mat. Typos such as name dropping Julia Stiles, but spelling her name wrong. These all seem like small things, but it was constant and distracting and kept taking me out of the story.

2.75 ⭐️ but it would be at least a star higher if not for the editing

I will admit when I first got this book, I was a bit nervous. I read The Charm Offensive and while I enjoyed it, there was something about the treatment of one of the MC that left a weird taste in my mouth. I was worried of reading the same.

I did not. I really enjoyed this book. I really wish more adult books dealt with queer questioning and I enjoyed reading Sadie's journey of learning about herself. There are adults who question and I feel like questioning really needs to be dealt with in all ages of books. Okay, that aside. Every Step She Takes has dual POV and I enjoyed it. Mal was different (and I kept reading mullet as mohawk lol) and she had a good journey as well.

I enjoyed that the main characters were older. These weren't twenty somethings. These were thirty- almost- forty year olds figuring out who they are. That is also something we need to see in books. You don't turn 21 and have your life figured out. I also enjoyed that Sadie was fat and she was unapologetic about it. It was refreshing to see it addressed but not fixated on.

I would definitely recommend this book and look forward for when it comes out.