Review of Everything Leads to You by Nina LaCour

Everything Leads to You by Nina LaCour

My rating: 2 of 5 stars
Publication date: May 15th, 2014
Genres & themes: YA, contemporary, lesbian, life matters, friendship, family.

BLURB:

A love letter to the craft and romance of film and fate in front of—and behind—the camera from the award-winning author of Hold Still.

A wunderkind young set designer, Emi has already started to find her way in the competitive Hollywood film world.

Emi is a film buff and a true romantic, but her real-life relationships are a mess. She has desperately gone back to the same girl too many times to mention. But then a mysterious letter from a silver screen legend leads Emi to Ava. Ava is unlike anyone Emi has ever met. She has a tumultuous, not-so-glamorous past, and lives an unconventional life. She’s enigmatic…. She’s beautiful. And she is about to expand Emi’s understanding of family, acceptance, and true romance.

REVIEW:

Everything Leads to You is definitely not a BAD book. It was actually my first lesbian YA (romance—details later) read and I think I may continue with this genre and try to seek some gems out there—because there always are!

The story revolves around Ava, the granddaughter of a well-known celebrity who died and left her a letter telling her how much he wished he knew her and that he left her A LOT of money she can use at her sake. Now here is the thing: I thought Emi was the main character. She’s the narrator and there’s a first person POV so it makes it even more obvious. But, even if Emi was the one discovering the letter, everything else important happening revolves, as I said, around Ava. Eveything Leads to Ava. Emi has a new job and then Ava has one as well for the same people. Emi help her find the truth about her mother who died unfortunately too. Ava is struggling with finding a place where she can feel at home and Emi helps her. So, I guess there are really TWO main characters with the same importance level in this book that are connected to each other. The fact is that I was confused about who IS the main main character throughout the story. I guess I’m just not used to LaCour’s formula.

I thought the ‘mystery’ was completely predictable. I wanted to tell myself it isn’t and struggled to not predict things that were happening but it was too hard not to since it was so simple to deduct. Sometimes predictable stories are not boring, especially contemporary ones and this is one of them. Now I’m not saying that I really enjoyed it still because there are other factors that made me not enjoy this book that much.

IT’S FILLED WITH DIALOGS. The many dialogs and few descriptions of places and the world around them annoyed my reading experience. Sometimes dialogs were half page long and that made me take a lot of breaks from this book. I usually read a book in 1-2 days but this one took me 3 days.

Emi and Ava are both nice girls and characters. The ‘coincidence’ of them both being lesbian made this book unfortunately not so realistic. I mean, I believe in fate and destiny from time to time but this is too much. If she were bi, then maybe this book would’ve been more realistic.

Another problem I had with this book is that there barely is romance! There is only one single kiss in the story and RARE flirting. Of course, there is some mention of girls from Emi’s past and Ava’s as well but nothing substantial.

What I liked though was the film part of this book. Really enjoyed knowing more about how it works in that industry and how designers have an immense part in the conception. Emi’s job is one hell of a cool one. Plus, she’s really talented.

Overall, I think, if you wish to read a book in which there is mention of the celebrities’ world and film/series as well, I’d recommend The Secrets of My Hollywood Life (LOVED IT) series by Jen Calonita. Also, if you really want romance, I have no recommendations since it’s my first lesbian book but I don’t think this is the one for you. Again, not BAD but not worth of your time if your TBR pile is huge.