Title: Tonight the Streets Are Ours
Author: Leila Sales
Pub Date: September 15th, 2015
Publisher: FSG Books
Page Count: 342
This novel started off strong, heavily lagged in the middle [to the point of a possible DNF] and concluded by making me realize why I love Leila Sales' books. - Nova @ Out of Time
Tonight the Streets Are Ours is the second book I've read from Leila Sales. While I didn't have a personal connection with this novel as I did with her other, This Song Will Save Your Life, I did leave with a sense of enjoyment.
I think the main reason I didn't like it as much as TSWSYL is because of the topic shift. This Song... is about a girl who feels invisible and wants to make herself known whereas Tonight The Streets... is about a girl who feels like her kindness is being taken for granted. As awful as it is to say, I could not connect to that at all. I was raised to see the intentions of people and unlike Arden, if someone didn't sit right with me, I wouldn't take the fall. Really, I don't think it's my nature to take the fall for anyone [people should own up to their own actions, right?]
Despite what I read in the summary, this book is wholeheartedly about Arden. It's about her character growth and man, it was wonderful. In the beginning, even though I couldn't connect with her, I didn't mind her. However, by the end of the novel, I admired her. She grew and found the answers to the problems she had. There was a sense of courage she gained that made me feel like a proud mom. The best part is that it wasn't due to a gushy romance. I feel like if there was a stronger sense of romance, it would've lessened the message of the story.
This was so surprising but Peter's story is very inconclusive. This is not a story where Peter and Arden fall in love [and let's face it: that would be a little weird.] In fact, Peter isn't actually a large part. His story doesn't end; it simply isn't told anymore because again, this is about Arden. Peter and Arden have such an interesting dynamic. They are not friends but they do help each other learn about themselves, as strange as it is.
The pacing, however, didn't completely agree with me. Things started off with a bang as something happened straight away but after that incident, I felt as though it was just idle drama and Arden reading Peter's blog [titled: Tonight The Streets Are Ours.] I understand the feeling of reading a person's blog and connecting with their words - after all, I'm writing my own, aren't I? However, to hear about her reading his blog and connecting with it got tired really quickly. It's only that when Arden and her friend decide to go meet Peter, things picked up rapidly. I was quickly turning pages to hear about what would happen next. Everything from that point onward featured Sales' wonderful storytelling ability. I was not bored until I closed the book.
Something about Sales' books that strikes me is that they're never what you expect. Contemporary is such a broad genre but I've always found that Sales' books make me think so hard on things I wouldn't have thought about. Like, this book is about love. It's a love story but not in the way I was expecting. It's about the love we have for our peers, for our friends, for people we don't even know. Arden's thing is that she loves wholeheartedly and she's afraid of hurting people but then she realizes the concept of "tough love" and how it's necessary sometimes.
In a short sentence, this book was very much the embodiment for the quote: I'm in love with cities I've never been to and people I've never met. This book also features an epilogue detailing Arden's life after the conclusion of the book. It felt like the ending of "Cinderella Story" [the one with Hilary Duff] and even though it was cheesy, it was also super nostalgic because it feels so weird to read a story with perfect pacing and then hear about how they ventured through life in two pages.
Despite the pacing problem, I did end up enjoying this. It's so interesting to read about a character who is nothing like you. I feel like I walked away with some new knowledge on other people, especially since Arden and I's personalities would definitely clash. If you enjoyed This Song Will Save Your Life, I definitely recommend this one.
Author: Leila Sales
Pub Date: September 15th, 2015
Publisher: FSG Books
Page Count: 342
From the author of This Song Will Save Your Life comes a funny and relatable book about the hazards of falling for a person you haven't met yet.
Seventeen-year-old Arden Huntley is recklessly loyal. Taking care of her loved ones is what gives Arden purpose in her life and makes her feel like she matters. But she's tired of being loyal to people who don't appreciate her—including her needy best friend and her absent mom.
Arden finds comfort in a blog she stumbles upon called "Tonight the Streets Are Ours," the musings of a young New York City writer named Peter. When Peter is dumped by the girlfriend he blogs about, Arden decides to take a road trip to see him.
During one crazy night out in NYC 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.
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository | Chapters Indigo
This novel started off strong, heavily lagged in the middle [to the point of a possible DNF] and concluded by making me realize why I love Leila Sales' books. - Nova @ Out of Time
Tonight the Streets Are Ours is the second book I've read from Leila Sales. While I didn't have a personal connection with this novel as I did with her other, This Song Will Save Your Life, I did leave with a sense of enjoyment.
I think the main reason I didn't like it as much as TSWSYL is because of the topic shift. This Song... is about a girl who feels invisible and wants to make herself known whereas Tonight The Streets... is about a girl who feels like her kindness is being taken for granted. As awful as it is to say, I could not connect to that at all. I was raised to see the intentions of people and unlike Arden, if someone didn't sit right with me, I wouldn't take the fall. Really, I don't think it's my nature to take the fall for anyone [people should own up to their own actions, right?]
Despite what I read in the summary, this book is wholeheartedly about Arden. It's about her character growth and man, it was wonderful. In the beginning, even though I couldn't connect with her, I didn't mind her. However, by the end of the novel, I admired her. She grew and found the answers to the problems she had. There was a sense of courage she gained that made me feel like a proud mom. The best part is that it wasn't due to a gushy romance. I feel like if there was a stronger sense of romance, it would've lessened the message of the story.
This was so surprising but Peter's story is very inconclusive. This is not a story where Peter and Arden fall in love [and let's face it: that would be a little weird.] In fact, Peter isn't actually a large part. His story doesn't end; it simply isn't told anymore because again, this is about Arden. Peter and Arden have such an interesting dynamic. They are not friends but they do help each other learn about themselves, as strange as it is.
The pacing, however, didn't completely agree with me. Things started off with a bang as something happened straight away but after that incident, I felt as though it was just idle drama and Arden reading Peter's blog [titled: Tonight The Streets Are Ours.] I understand the feeling of reading a person's blog and connecting with their words - after all, I'm writing my own, aren't I? However, to hear about her reading his blog and connecting with it got tired really quickly. It's only that when Arden and her friend decide to go meet Peter, things picked up rapidly. I was quickly turning pages to hear about what would happen next. Everything from that point onward featured Sales' wonderful storytelling ability. I was not bored until I closed the book.
Something about Sales' books that strikes me is that they're never what you expect. Contemporary is such a broad genre but I've always found that Sales' books make me think so hard on things I wouldn't have thought about. Like, this book is about love. It's a love story but not in the way I was expecting. It's about the love we have for our peers, for our friends, for people we don't even know. Arden's thing is that she loves wholeheartedly and she's afraid of hurting people but then she realizes the concept of "tough love" and how it's necessary sometimes.
In a short sentence, this book was very much the embodiment for the quote: I'm in love with cities I've never been to and people I've never met. This book also features an epilogue detailing Arden's life after the conclusion of the book. It felt like the ending of "Cinderella Story" [the one with Hilary Duff] and even though it was cheesy, it was also super nostalgic because it feels so weird to read a story with perfect pacing and then hear about how they ventured through life in two pages.
Despite the pacing problem, I did end up enjoying this. It's so interesting to read about a character who is nothing like you. I feel like I walked away with some new knowledge on other people, especially since Arden and I's personalities would definitely clash. If you enjoyed This Song Will Save Your Life, I definitely recommend this one.
Wow sounds like a very interesting story. I'll be looking for it when it comes out. :)
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Great! Hope you enjoy it xx
DeleteI haven't read TSWSYL but you've sold it to me. I read a book similar to this (there was the female main character who was overly kind to everyone and everyone was overly useless back) and I couldn't help but feel so annoyed by the main character, I wanted to shake them and tell them to move on, quit caring so much about people that don't care about you. I've heard a lot about Leila Sales though and she sounds like a brilliant YA author :) eliza x
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I can see how you mean by that however, I felt like Arden wasn't like that the entire time. She did grow and quite drastically too (:
DeleteYES she's brilliant. I love her work.
Ahh I want to read this because I LOVED This Song. Although, I do find it hard to connect to characters I have zlich in common with, althoooough, sometimes I feel under appreciated (ehhe) so maybe I might be okay?! The middle is worrying me though. o.O MIDDLE SLUMPS ARE NOT FUN.
ReplyDeleteHEHE i know exactly what you mean :P I find it interesting to read about people unlike me, unless their actions are like 180 and i just get upset.
DeleteI was a bit ambivalent about This Song Will Save Your Life (I don't even know why; I guess I just didn't click with it emotionally as much as I wish I could have?), but I think I'm still going to give this a try. I'll have to keep in mind that even if the middle is a bit slow that the it will be worth it in the end. Thanks for sharing Nova and, as always, fabulous review! ♥
ReplyDeleteI think This Song is both for everyone and not? Like that makes no sense but still. My friend read it and was like, I feel nothing but I got ALL the feels so hopefully, this one is up your alley (:
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