Tonight the Streets Are Ours

                Hey happy readers!  I hope you all have had a fantastic time.  I’ll jump right into it as I’m posting from away from home on my phone).  I have the pleasure of spending yesterday and today at book events, and due to the distance and an awesome friend letting me crash so I could save 8 hours and 500 miles whoohoo this is how it is.  Yesterday we attended the Fierce Reads event with Josephine Angelini, Leigh Bardugo, Leila Sales, and Emma Mills (pictures to be shared later or check out my twitter or facebook for faster pics) and today is the lovely Marie Lu.  Big thanks to Little Shop of Stories in Decatur, GA for having so many wonderful events through the year and generally being awesome people. 

               

                Today I actually have for you my review of Tonight the Streets Are Ours by the lovely Leila Sales.  First can I just take a moment to appreciate this cover, it's just beautiful.  This book was provided by NetGalley and the publisher as an ARC, though technically it wasn’t approved until the day it came out, as always I thank them.  Let's get right in to it.

Rating: 4 Blank Checks

                This is a story of the recklessly loyal Arden.  She is always taking care of everyone else, it gives her purpose and makes her life matter.  Though as of late she's become a bit resentful of everyone, from her mother who abandoned them, to her best friend and even her boyfriend.  She wonders something I think we all may have wondered at one point or another, 'Why does nobody love me as much as I love them?' This is how she stumbles upon a website/blog called Tonight the Streets Are Ours, an online journal of a NYC aspiring writer named Peter.  His ramblings and thoughts have become a voice to things Arden has never known how to express herself.  Though they have never met she finds in his writings understanding.  Until one night after a road trip she finds Peter.  Together they have one crazy night out on the town where anything can happen.  Everything seems perfect, but what you see on the internet might not always be the whole truth.  Maybe Peter isn't as perfect as she thought.  Maybe she isn't who she thought she was.

                This story was a really interesting read.  I went in not knowing much about it, just that it involved a road trip at one point and it was about self discovery.  That's it.  I kind of liked going in blind and just letting it unfold before me.  It wasn't super happy or super sad, more reflective.  It's about Arden and her journey in finding out how to deal with the world she is in.  She cares so deeply for people and when they don't seem to care as much for her it hurts and makes her wonder why.  I myself have always found that I am there and care for others many times more than they do for me.  Some people are just more emotional than others.  I found myself relating, in a small way I'm not nearly as nice as Arden, to her.  I wanted her to figure things out and find a way to come into her own.  There wasn't anything wrong with her as a person for caring just that she lets her devotion for others rule her world at times.  When she finds the blog and begins to read it I instantly liked Peter and his writing.  I was looking forward to when their lives would merge.  I wanted to see what would happen. 

                I found the characters to be pretty realistic, I've known people who could have easily been these people.  While I didn't always agree with them, it was told in such a way that it seemed so real.  I was caught up in the quest of self discovery. The journey is just as important as the destination.  Peter, while not our main character felt like he was a bit as most of his story was told from a journal POV and as such we were in his head and heart. It's not a typical feel good happy RomCom but it made me happy.  It also sheds light on what perspective can really mean.  One persons view of how things happen could be vastly different when someone else recounts the same events.  I liked that aspect.  It makes you think about an story you tell and how the other parties involved might have viewed it.  The epilogue sums it up pretty perfectly. 

                That's all I have to share with you today.  Anything more would ruin the journey I think.  I enjoyed Tonight the Streets Are Ours and went through it pretty quickly once I sat down with it without constant interruptions.  That's all for now.

                Until next time…