Meet Me in St. Louis

Thank you so much Heather Schneider for this amazing debut title!

Meet Me in St. Louis by Heather Schneider is a phenomenal debut!
Genre- Romance | Teens & YA

I haven't had this much fun reading a YA Romance in some time.

Here we have Stephanie Clark who just graduated from high school living in St. Louis.
She has been dreaming and secretly wants to go to college in Miami FL
And study to be a marine biologist so she can do her part by help to save the beautiful ocean!
There is just no way she can attend college in the financial situation she is currently living.
Then something wild happens to Stephanie... A anonymous benefactor where she is from offers a very good amount of cash..... A reward if she can win a scavenger hunt!
Trying to figure these clues out and she needs to beat all her competition, Stephanie does not expect to cross paths with Camden Mills.... The popular boy from school. Who she knows absolutely nothing about him.
Do you think Steph has what it takes to win?
Or could she habe her eyes on another prize?
She can't fall for his chummy charm! Or can she?
Read this phenomenal story to find out!

This is truly a unique, different, sarcastic, extremely hilarious story!
I felt like I was in side this story watching it on the big screen!
Heather made her characters come to life and that's what made this book so damn enjoyable.
Her writing is awesome. She kept me wanting to flip the pages well into the night.
I was a bit upset when I reached the so quickly because I wanted to savor every page of this book!
4.5 ⭐

Thank you again for this amazing opportunity!
I look forward to reading much more from her!
I will post to my platforms closer to pub date!

I don't usually read a lot of young adult books but I absolutely love Meet Me in St. Louis by Heather Schneider. First, I'm originally from St. Louis and I love how the author takes us all over the city on a scavenger hunt with the couple who is falling in love along the way. I felt like I was on this hunt with them as the landmarks as descriptions were spot on. You don't need to be familiar with the city to enjoy this book. If anything, it might make a reader want to visit!

Much like Stephanie, I spent the better part of 18 years running away from St. Louis, so when I first saw this cover, I knew I had to read it.

It is very YA written: heavy descriptions, characters who make questionable decisions (gahhhh!!! a pet peeve of mine in YA!!), stream of conscious writing, and to be honest, most of it is skimmable. The characters are forgettable, the writing is overdone, but the plot is wonderful. A scavenger hunt through the city. Love it. If I hadn't been so interested in revisiting my hometown, I would have DNF'd this one. For those not familiar with the city, you get a grand tour of St. Louis's hidden and not so hidden gems. It comes across very tour guide, but as I grew up there, I can't comment on that fully. I obviously knew of all the places the book took place.

I had some minor quibbles with this story, but nothing that detracted from my enjoyment of escaping back to St. Louis for a bit.
1. I could tell the author wasn't originally from St. Louis. I don't really have an issue with that, except that I 100% believe that played into me feeling like this book was part tour guide, telling you, rather than showing you the city. Turns out the author was raised in northern CA and only came to StL for a grad program. She proabbly wasn't around long enough to know that StL does not, in fact, feel like "it's like a million degrees out here" at a graduation in May to locals. Is it hot? Yes. Is it humid? God yes. Are locals used to it? Yes. But May is not when I'm complaining about it.
2. The other reason I knew the author wasn't from StL is that Stephanie was "secretly hoping my family would buy me a lei" for her graduation. I don't understand this as a "thing" that happens at high school graduations but I know it only happens on the west coast. Not in the middle of the country.
3. Why can't we call the Metrolink the Metrolink? Why does it have to be the Muni? Especially when the Muni is actually something in StL--and it's not a subway. This reeeeeally bugged me.
4. The random lines about "swearing off all single-use plastic." Unnecessary to the story. I think it was supposed to add depth to the characters. It just made them come across as uber annoying.
5. Stephanie's relationship with her family was weird. She never told them she applied to her dream school in Miami? She never talked about it? She didn't have to ask them for the app fee? And then she graduates high school and hasn't committed to a school yet? Wut.
6. I wasn't a fan of how the romance played out. At all. There was no chemistry, but there was also not a lot of sweetness. Did it read as realistic? Yes. But that's not what I come to fiction for. I need a little more. And I don't mean some random lady saying "that boy is clearly in love with you" which actually happened. Barf. How cliched. How boring. And what bad writing. SHOW ME don't tell me. Stephanie likes Cam because he's so hot, but then there isn't a ton of substances as he then just becomes her bestie-like character. He likes her because she's hot, too, I think? They've barely spoken and he's like, Oh this is a date. Idk. I expect much more from the romance plots I read, even in YA.
7. Ratatouille is not a Pixar classic. Period. It's a fine Pixar movie. But it isn't a classic.

One thing that really stood out to me: There wasn't really a big twist around 75-80% like I've grown used to. Cam and Steph don't break up. Steph doesn't not win. Her family doesn't disown her. It just...went right. It was interesting to me! And very much unexpected.

Overall, should you read it? Yes! Whether you grew up in St. Louis or have never been, this is a great tour de city. It's very clean, it's very straightforward, and it's a super fun plot.

-Meet Me In St. Louis- by: Heather Schneider

I wanted to thank NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of Meet Me In St. Louis. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Genre: Young Adult, Romance

Synopsis: “Stephanie Clark has just graduated from high school and secretly dreams of going to college in Miami to study marine biology and help save the oceans. Her finances, however, are making the dream seem impossible. When an anonymous benefactor in her hometown of St. Louis offers a large cash reward to the winner of a scavenger hunt, she dares to hope her dream may come true. While deciphering clues and trying to beat out the competition, Stephanie never expects to cross paths with Camden Mills, a popular boy from high school that she knows little about. Will Stephanie have what it takes to win the scavenger hunt, or will she be sidetracked by Cam’s charms?”

Review: I have to say that I might start this review a little biased. I have lived right by St. Louis my entire life, meaning I have experienced many areas there on multiple occasions. And let me tell you, this novel did not disappoint. This book gave me such an amazing experience, to the point of me reading it in the span of 6 hours! I literally could not put the book down. I loved the writing style and the growth of the relationship between Stephanie and Cam. The scavenger hunt made me sit on the edge of my chair and made me feel like I was competing right along with them. The way Heather explained the different tourist attractions was as if I was experiencing them for the first time again, which I did not even think was possible! I will definitely have to add this to my physical collection!

Rating: 5 Stars