ARC Review: Tonight The Streets Are Ours by Leila Sales

Blurb:
Recklessly loyal.

That’s how seventeen-year-old Arden Huntley has always thought of herself. Caring for her loved ones is what gives Arden purpose in her life and makes her feel like she matters. But lately she’s grown resentful of everyone—including her needy best friend and her absent mom—taking her loyalty for granted.

Then Arden stumbles upon a website called Tonight the Streets Are Ours, the musings of a young New York City writer named Peter, who gives voice to feelings that Arden has never known how to express. He seems to get her in a way that no one else does, and he hasn’t even met her.

Until Arden sets out on a road trip to find him.

During one crazy night out in New York City filled with parties, dancing, and music—the type of night when anything can happen, and nearly everything does—Arden discovers that Peter isn’t exactly who she thought he was. And maybe she isn’t exactly who she thought she was, either.

Published: Farrar, Straus, Giroux
Publisher: 9/15/2015

My Review:

I want to thank NetGalley and Farra, Straus, and Giroux for the chance to read and review this book.

I have to say, from the blurb, I had high hopes for this book. I really wanted to like it. The blurb convinced me I would enjoy the main character. Sadly, this was not the case.

The book was very slow for me. I'm not sure if it was because it was written in third person, or because the writing just seem to trudge along, but I could not connect with the main character, Arden, at all. For me, she was whiny and self-absorbed. And I was bored with her life. Nothing exciting happened, nothing showed me she was on a journey to change and grow and become better than she was. The very beginning of the book got me off on the wrong foot with her as she takes the fall for her best friend. It's like she was letting Lindsay step all over her and use her. Yet, it was 100% her fault. This I could see as the book went on and more and more it showed Arden to be someone who thought her only happiness was doing for others. I suppose this was the lesson to be learned throughout the book.

The plot was very slow. And it wasn't a slow build, it was just slow. Not much happened and when it did, there was no "wow" moment from the characters.

The saving grace for me was the blog Arden was reading: Tonight the Street Are Ours. I was interested to see what Peter, the blogger, would write and how his story would progress.

The twist at the end with Peter, his girlfriends Bianca, and Leo was not expected and I believe that's why I was able to trudge through to the end of the book.

Overall, I was bored during this book. It did pick up for me for about the last 10%. I'm surprised I stuck with it as long as I did. I guess I was hoping it would get better for me, which did not turn out to be the case.

Sorry to say this just was not for me. If other Sales books are written in similar fashion, I'm not sure I'd want to read more of her stories.

Leila Sales was born in 1984 and grew up outside of Boston, Massachusetts. She graduated from the University of Chicago with a degree in psychology in 2006. Now she lives in Brooklyn, New York, and works in the mostly glamorous world of children's book publishing. Leila spends most of her time thinking about sleeping, kittens, dance parties, and stories that she wants to write.