Emmy & Oliver Hardcover – Coloring Book, June 23, 2015

This book has received a lot of hype in the last month or so. Basically I was prepared for a very cute and adorable story of a girl and boy named Emmy and Oliver. What I didn’t expect is for this book to have a lot of deeper issues underneath the cute adorableness of it (of which there was plenty). With a very Sarah Dessen-esque feel, Emmy & Oliver captures young love despite some…extenuating circumstances.First of all, let’s just talk about the two main characters: Emmy and Oliver. Emmy and Oliver grew up next-door neighbors and best friends…until Oliver’s father kidnapped him when he was 7 years old. For ten years, no one knew where he was or what he was doing. But Emmy has always held on to the hope that her best friend would one day come home. And then…he did. And he comes back and they have to face the facts that he isn’t the same kid he was 10 years ago. He had a life, he had friends…While Emmy thought about him everyday, he barely remembered her at all. That’s one thing I liked about this book. It was some romanticized thing where Oliver comes back and they immediately fall into each other’s arms declaring their love for each other. It took time and it felt like a natural progression instead of a forced relationship. As they both struggle to come to terms with all that life has thrown at them, they start to rely on each other. They grow from each other, and those are the best kinds of relationships.And Emmy (the narrator) just feels so realistic. Her voice reminded me of Cath from Rainbow Rowell’s Fangirl. Not necessarily that they’re similar people, because they’re not. But the voice. Emmy’s voice is really relatable and real and I just loved her. She has a bunch of parenthetical statements (this is a parenthetical statement right here, just in case you didn’t know) that are hilarious. I feel like they’re just these little asides to the reader. Like this one:“I had checked my phone the minute I woke up, waiting to see a text or missed call or something from him, but I just had junk emails from SAT prep programs and a few ‘Don’t you want to apply HERE?’ colleges. (Those colleges were like clingy boyfriends or girlfriends. No one wants to go to school there when they’re so desperate to get people to do just that. They needed to start playing hard to get, I thought, or no one was going to ask them to prom.)”Lol. They’re just these small moments randomly dispersed throughout the book and they made me feel closer to Emmy as a character and a person. I just wanted to be her best friend.Also let’s talk about the moment when I realized why Emmy & Oliver is called Emmy & Oliver. You might be thinking: Carlisa, it’s about a girl and a boy named Emmy and Oliver. Of course that’s the title. That’s what I thought, too. Until I read this line about two thirds of the way through:“My dad set down his food, too, then hopped up on the counter next to me. ‘So. You and Oliver.’I looked up at him, surprised. ‘Me,’ I said. ‘And Oliver.’‘Those are two very different sentences, Emmy.'”I read that and it really struck me. Emmy and Oliver have made it through a lot…and even though they were apart for 10 ten years. They’re in it together, you know? Emmy and Oliver. Emmy & Oliver. Also, I have this strange affinity for ampersands (&) so there’s that.And their relationship was just super cute. Of course. They have a real chemistry and I loved to see it. And I was reading it at work one day just sitting there smiling like a fool. Emmy at one point says, “I might die of adorableness” and quite literally, that’s the entire book summed up into one sentence.BUT there were much deeper topics throughout the book as well. This book, while pretty fluffy, is not purely fluff. It has substance. It really, really does. Without going too far into it, let me just list some of the messages portrayed throughout its pages:Friends matter. And it’s easiest to take your friends for granted…but they’re not always going to be there. So take advantage of them while you have them here and don’t just forget about them. Also, I’m not talking about how 7-year-old Emmy took 7-year-old Oliver for granted. Different friendship I’m talking about here.Sometimes things are complicated. Especially family things. It’s never just black and white. One side is right, one side is wrong. No. That’s not how it works. Relationships and family and friends–they’re all kinds of shades of gray (I kind of hate how I can’t say that without thinking of a certain erotica book…). There’s no line, no way to know for sure…But that’s just how it is. You have to take what’s there and just make it work. Take it for what it is: messy and complicated.Don’t let fear hold you back.People are who they are and that’s just wonderful. Don’t be ashamed or afraid to let it show. And if people care about you, they’ll love you all the same. And if they don’t react well…well, there are people who will.Those are just a few. But it’s awesome. If I could rate it on the fluff-o-meter (with 0 being very heavy and serious to 10 IT’S SO FLUFFY fluffy)…it would probably be like a six or seven.So, all in all, I really loved this book. It was just perfect and if you’re a fan of Rainbow Rowell or Sarah Dessen, I think you’d really like this book, too.On my island, you’d already be reading it. [Hint: You’d get this reference if you’ve read the book]

Emmy and Oliver were childhood bestfriends who got separated when Oliver was kidnapped by his father at seven years old. Ten years after, Oliver is finally found but his father is still on the loose. He started living with his mother again who, during Oliver’s absence married another man and had a twin. When Oliver came back, the whole town was abuzz again especially Emmy, who was the closest to Oliver, as well as Caro and Drew. The four were friends from childhood but after Oliver was kidnapped, it seemed like they didn’t know how to act around him anymore so he’s usually left alone at school. Except Emmy. She wants to continue where their friendship left off.It was a big deal in town when Oliver vanished that most of the parents became overprotective of their kids. Emmy’s parents for example, became extreme worrywarts over her. It’s normal for parents to be protective of their children especially if they’re only seven, but Emmy’s parent’s protectiveness of her continued on even when she was 17. They don’t want her to pursue her surfing for fear that she might die from drowning and they want her to go to community college instead of enrolling to a university far from home.Emmy’s far from being a bad kid. In fact, she has a really close relationship with her parents, one that I find interesting what with how she speaks to her parents because they all understand sarcasm. She is also obedient to a certain extent. They talk about a lot of things except about what Emmy really wants to do with her life because she knows that her parents won’t approve of it, so she ends up lying to them instead.Oliver, on the other hand, has a lot of adjustments to do. People are awkward around him and even his mother doesn’t seem know what to do about him. Only Emmy has the nerve to stop giving him a “space” and soon, Caro and Drew joined in as well. Oliver’s mother also became very protective of him and she’s set to jailing his father once found, not taking into consideration what Oliver feels about it. But what angered me here is how Oliver just goes along with whatever his mother wants him to do. She buys him clothes, he wears. She tells him to sit for an interview about his kidnapping, he does. She wants to do a TV show to help locate his father faster, and he goes along with it. But it also made me sad because it’s like he has given up and just lets his mother do what she wants because somehow, he also feels bad for his mother. Oliver was constantly making amends for the things that were never his fault to begin with.Emmy also has an interesting relationship with Caro and Drew. Most dialogues here drip with wit and sarcasm which makes the reading easy and absorbing. Add to that is that Caro and Drew really are just likeable people. Drew is gay and I love him. I ship him and his boyfriend as much as I ship Emmy and Oliver.Emmy & Oliver is one novel I can relate to. My mother is somewhat overprotective too. I can’t count how many times I agreed with Emmy and Oliver about their parents no matter if what they’re doing is wrong. Even that thing about only telling your parents a decision you’ve made a day before actually doing it? Been there, done that and I’m about to do it again next week. I love my parents though, lol.While Oliver’s disappearance is no doubt the key point in the story, the story actually focuses on familial relationships with friendship and romance only second to it. There’s no love triangle and the only school drama present is also tied to the familial conflict. I feel as if there’s no wasted element here because everything that happened is a necessary plot point. And in spite all the drama, the sarcasm adds lightness to the story. The romance, although not the focal point, is naturally swoon-worthy. The character development is superb! The only flaw to the plot that I can think of is what Oliver’s father did at the end because it’s just way too perfect and convenient for me, but overall, Emmy & Oliver is a relatable read with a captivating plot and characters that will grow on you.

Emmy, oliver, Drew and Caro are officially my favourite characters in any book I have read. To read what everyone went through after Oliver was kidnapped just broke my heart and made me want to gather up my 20 year old daughter and put her in bubble wrap.This book was so beautifully written. The author could not have done a better job in my opinion. It was so good I cried quite a few times and that says alot. It means that you have done a heck of a good job when you can bring out emotions of your readers.Good job Robin Benway and congratulations on the 5 stars from me, would have been a million if I could have.

For some reason, I felt the first half of the book before they *spoiler alert get together was better. The second half was just meh.

great

I really liked the idea behind this book as its not something I've come across before and it was very well written. My problem was I was interested in Oliver, what had happened to him and how he was dealing with it all. Unfortunately the emphasis was solely on Emmy and I just wasn't as interested in the fact her parents didn't know she loved surfing. I think a duel POV would have transformed this book into something really special. As it is its good but not great.

I always end up adoring books that I have been putting off for a while. I bought Emmy and Oliver almost a year ago and only now did I choose to take it off the shelf and dive into it and now I regret putting it off for so long! It doesn't really matter anymore because I loved it, it made me laugh, cry and sometimes there were moments which seemed to hit home for me. I think it was the general environment and attitude of over-protectiveness that featured throughout the plot because that is not something strange to me at all!The characters really shone in my opinion especially the eponymous characters who triggered the most emotions out of me and the relationship between them was so sweet to witness as it reignited and grew