Published by Bloomsbury, Bloomsbury Publishing USA, Bloomsbury USA Childrens on 2014-04-15
Genres: Friendship, Love & Romance, Music, Performing Arts, Social Issues, Young Adult
Pages: 352
Source: Publisher
Goodreads
After breaking up with her bad-news boyfriend, Reagan O’Neill is ready to leave her rebellious ways behind. . . and her best friend, country superstar Lilah Montgomery, is nursing a broken heart of her own.
Fortunately, Lilah’s 24-city tour is about to kick off, offering a perfect opportunity for a girls-only summer of break-up ballads and healing hearts. But when Matt Finch joins the tour as its opening act, his boy-next-door charm proves difficult for Reagan to resist, despite her vow to live a drama-free existence.
This summer, Reagan and Lilah will navigate the ups and downs of fame and friendship as they come to see that giving your heart to the right person is always a risk worth taking.
A fresh new voice in contemporary romance, Emery Lord’s gorgeous writing hits all the right notes.
Summer, Road trip, Friendship and celebrities – Open Road Summer by Emery Lord  sounds like a fantastic summer read and I was super excited when I got a copy to enjoy!
Best Friends, Country Music and a Road Trip!
The setting of Open Road Summer was just great. Dee and Reagan are best friends, and even though they seem like total opposites. Dee is little Miss Sunshine and teenage country star, while Reagan seems like a typical Teenage trouble maker. But they love each other so so so much! The friendship between them totally drives the story and I loved this the most. You really felt how these two girls were deeply connected by their love for each other. They are always there for each other and even if Reagan really did a lot of bad things in her young year, Dee never judged but just was there for her. Just like Reagan is now there for Dee, going on a cross county tour after Dee and her boyfriend broke up.
The Country musical setting, together with Dee’s celebrity status and the road trip made up for a great setting.
Love, Romance and .. healing!
The story is told from Reagan’s POV who has a ver difficult backstory, which we are slowly getting to know. She’s not entirely broken, and I actually admired her strength, wits and her loyalty. Still, she just now begins to understand what she did to herself and more importantly, why she did it and this road trip is helping her a lot in realising the self destructive path she choose for so long.
Of course helping is the wonderful Matt – Popstar who’s is joint Dee’s tour. He’s the perfect boy and the opposite of Reagan – or so it seems! Together, they fit perfectly and complement each other in a way they didn’t expect, not saw coming. Their romance was super sweet and their chemistry undeniable. Of course not without problems though….
And here is my only complain about this wonderful, beautiful story! When the inevitable drama started Reagan just shut down and didn’t give Matt a single chance. She didn’t even listen even though it was obvious what had really happened. It was somehow understandable given  Reagan’s personality and experience, but still her reaction was too much.
Bewitched Rating
Bottom Line
Open Road Summer by Emery Lord  was a beautiful, touching story about friendship love and healing. The friendship between Dee and Reagan clearly was the heart of the story and drove the development of the plot. The romance between Reagan and Matt was full of chemistry and nicely added to the overall exciting tale. I can only highly recommend Open Road Summer to all fans of Contemporary YA with a strong friendship them, music and romance!
 
Don’t you also love Road Trip books? And how about books with music? Excited for Open Road Summer?
Latest posts by Danny (see all)
- INTENSITY by Sherrilyn Kenyon – Excerpt & Giveaway - September 8, 2017
- Locked in Temptation – Q&A withBrenda Jackson & Giveaway - August 4, 2017
- Locked in Temptation by Brenda Jackson – Exclusive Excerpt & Giveaway - July 26, 2017
Weee! I am so excited for this one. I love books with friendship as the center of the story, but also romance on the sideline!! Great review! So glad that you enjoyed this, it just escalated my interest on the book 🙂
Reply »
I want this book so badly! I’m hoping to get this one if it comes out in paperback and otherwise I don’t know. I don’t have the money at the moment. I’m glad you excited it! I love books with friendship and romance, they are probably my favorite!
Sandra @ Sandra’s World of Books recently posted..Camp Boyfriend – J.K. Rock
Reply »
This is definitely on my list for this summer!
chelsea recently posted..TODAY IS THE DAY: Birthday & Book Launch!
Reply »
I love that friendship drives this story. While I’m all for a great romance, I think we need more YA that’s friend-focused. I’ve heard SUCH great things about this story…I need to read it.
Mary @ BookSwarm recently posted..Waiting On…Ann Aguirre’s Awesome August Offerings
Reply »
I just bought my copy this weekend – I can’t wait to read it! And I could stare at that cover aaaallll day *drools* I may or may not already be in love with Matt Finch. Maybe.
Kayla @ The Thousand Lives recently posted..LA Times Festival of Books: Day Two
Reply »
I started reading Open Road Summer today. I haven’t gotten far, but I already know that I’ll be writing a very positive review when I’m done. I love the casual flirting between Reagan and Matt. There’s more sparks between them than potassium in water.
Wow, that sounded really nerdy, but I couldn’t help throwing that in because we were doing the old alkali metals in water demo in chem the other day. On really good days, we also light methane bubbles on fire 😉
Not that chemistry has anything to so with books whatsoever…
D. @ The Nerdy Journalist recently posted..DIY Bookish Jewelry
Reply »
Oh I am sorry about the overreaction by Reagan. I guess the author felt like it was more true to her character. Sounds like that’s what Reagan was learning about herself through the summer, maybe she didn’t remember or learn soon enough? Still you sound like you really enjoyed it and you recommend it. I’ve read some very good reviews of this one all saying the romance is sweet and the friendship is very real and worth the read. I definitely have this one on my TBR. Great review!!
Heather @ Buried in Books recently posted..WOW- Waiting on Wednesday
Reply »
yeees, I loved this book so much and I’m glad you did too, Danny!! I LOVED the friendship between Dee and Reagan. I totally get what you mean about Reagan’s reaction at the end of the book but yeah, it really was out of her personality and experience. Great review!
elena recently posted..(you’ve got me writing love letters) review: to all the boys i’ve loved before by jenny han + soundtrack
Reply »