Mini Reviews / Standalone Sunday

Standalone Sunday | I’ll Meet You There

Melissa @ BookNerdMomo51 Comments

standalonesunday

Standalone Sunday is a weekly feature created by Megan @ bookslayerReads that features a standalone novel that you loved or would recommend. Be sure to check out her blog and original post by clicking on the above link! 😊

21469068If Skylar Evans were a typical Creek View girl, her future would involve a double-wide trailer, a baby on her hip, and the graveyard shift at Taco Bell. But after graduation, the only thing separating Skylar from art school is three months of summer…until Skylar’s mother loses her job, and Skylar realizes her dreams may be slipping out of reach.

Josh had a different escape route: the Marines. But after losing his leg in Afghanistan, he returns home, a shell of the cocksure boy he used to be.

What brings Skylar and Josh together is working at the Paradise—a quirky motel off California’s Highway 99. Despite their differences, their shared isolation turns into an unexpected friendship and, soon, something deeper.

Compelling and ultimately hopeful, this is a powerful examination of love, loss, and resilience.

-Goodreads Synopsis (x)

I’ll Meet You There is another one I’m pretty sure I’ve recommended a few times on my blog. As far as contemporaries go it’s one of my top favorites. There’s something so realistic about the story and I’ve always felt it deals with the topic of PTSD in a great way. It isn’t one of those novels where romance cures all (though there is a cute romance). And the characters are so relatable. It’s heavily about trying to figure out who you, overcoming hardships and grief, and it has some fantastic friendships. It’s also a book with multiple POVs so you get to experience Skylar and Josh’s story together as well as separate and it really flowed in that aspect because it helps when trying to understand why one of them does something. So, if you’re looking for a powerful and moving contemporary I highly recommend this.

Have you read I’ll Meet You There? Did you like it? If you participate in Standalone Sunday be sure to link me to your post so I can see it. 😊

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51 thoughts on “Standalone Sunday | I’ll Meet You There”

    • I love them too and agree about them being important. The great thing about this one is the author actually talked to people who had been or were in the military while writing it. And I think she was also raised in a military family. She talks about it in the acknowledgments. It really shows with how she handled the topic in the book. 😊
      I hope you enjoy it as much as I did whenever you read it! 😊

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      • That’s really cool. I like when the stories are real and authentic. I worked with the military for nine years so I’ve heard tons of sad stories. These kinds of stories always hit me because I think of the guys who told me their stories. My dad is also a Marine, so I think the military would’ve interested me even if I didn’t work with them. I have a bunch of military books on my kindle I need to read. I bought them for Memorial Day and haven’t had much time with all the ARCs. I want to read a book called Personal Effects soon. I’ve had it on my kindle far too long. I’m adding this book to my list. Awesome rec, Melissa! 🙂

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      • I do too.
        Wow, that must have been an interesting and eye opening experience – working with them and hearing stories first hand. I have to admit beyond watching documentaries or videoed stories I’ve never met anyone who was in the military.
        Though both of my grandfathers and one of my great grandfathers all served. Two of them in the Navy and one in the Air Force, I think. I didn’t get the chance to meet them but just that fact has always made me interested in the military.
        I need to find more military books. Is that book Personal Effects by E. M. Kokie? Because if so I’m definitely adding it to my TBR. From the synopsis it sounds like a really powerful book.
        Thanks, Jill! 😊

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      • Yes, it’s that Personal Effects. I’ve had it on my Kindle for months now. I really want to read it. All these ARCs I swear make me feel like I can’t read anything else. 😂 It’s definitely a much different experience reading a book about the military when you’ve known them personally. I’ve heard some really heartbreaking stories and my friend was also stationed in Afghanistan for six months. She’s one of those career military who loves it.

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      • I know what you mean. That’s going to be me after this month. 🙈
        I bet. It probably hits closer to home, knowing someone who is in the military and then reading books that have characters who are or were.
        Oh wow. I have so much respect for the people who are in the military or were. In my opinion they’re some of the bravest people in the world for doing for what they do.

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  5. This one sounds good! I haven’t heard of it before, I don’t think. I’m starting to get to where I really enjoy multiple POV’s too, so this one sounds right up my alley! Thanks for the rec!

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  6. Great pick for this week Melissa. I keep forgetting I want to take part in this weekly feature and then when I see yours/other people’s posts I just kick myself. I may have to set up a reminder for next week or something. 🙂
    I haven’t gotten around to picking this book up but I saw a brilliant review for it a little while back and just had to add it to my to-read list. It sounds amazing and I love that fact that it deals with difficult subjects, like PTSD, and doesn’t have the romance be a cure-for-all because that’s not how it works in real life.
    I need to get around to this book soon, seeing you featured it this week just means I need to move it higher up on my to-read list! 😀

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    • Thanks Beth!! I almost forgot to post it myself this week. 🙈
      It really is a great book and handles the topic of PTSD well. In the acknowledgments the author talks about having talked with people who were in or currently are in the military and it really shows. And exactly! I wish more books involving things like PTSD that also have romance wouldn’t make it a cure.
      When you do get around to it I hope you enjoy it as much as I did! 😃

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      • I am definitely putting a reminder in my calendar for next week. I’ve had a few perfect books I could have featured but for some reason it just slips my mind. Then again my memory is terrible for everything except random trivia facts.
        Oh that’s even better. PTSD has got to be a hard topic to write about realistically if you haven’t suffered from it yourself so it’s great the research has been done into that. I’d just like to see other books about mental illnesses where romance isn’t a cure all. I want realistic fiction when the characters have a disability like this.
        Thanks Melissa, I’m sure I will! 😀

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      • I can’t wait to see what you end up featuring. I’m the same way 😂. Especially when it comes to random history facts or book stuff.
        I’d really like that too. I get that fiction is supposed to be fictitious but there are so many important things that need to be represented in a realistic way. Especially in contemporaries where it’s more of a mirror of real life than anything.

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      • I’m not sure it will end up being worth the wait but as long as I end up posting something right? 🙂
        Yeah, you can definitely be surprised what you remember. I pick up a lot of things from books I’ve read and never normally realise it until it pops up during a random conversation with friends or colleagues.
        Exactly, a good story is important don’t get me wrong but representation is just as important. 🙂

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      • True. I’ve been struggling to get more than one post out a week. But there’s a light at the end of the tunnel because I have posts planned. I just need to write them. And finish a book. 😂
        Same! Or my mom will come to me asking me something specific about a book I read over a year ago and I’ll know exactly what it is and be able to tell her.
        Yep! Balance between the two in a book is always the best. 😊

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      • I’m wondering if I should cut back the amount of times I post each week, give myself a bit of a break and also more time to write them and comment and everything.
        One of the best things about reading are all the random facts it stores in your brain. They’ll come in handy one day! 🙂

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      • For me, I think it’s the blog hopping that takes up most of my time. I’m going to start doing mini hops instead of one big one. Kind of like frequently checking out the blogs for everyone I talk to regularly and then doing one giant catch up on the weekends for everyone else or something.
        True! 😊

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      • I haven’t blog hopped in a while. I check out the blogs of people I talk to regularly but it’s something I’m a little behind on at the moment. I’ll have to use the next few weekends to catch up on some of the amazing blogs I know are likely out there! 😀

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      • It’s so hard to keep up with sometimes but I love blog hopping lol. I’ll probably be a bit behind myself though for the next few weeks because of school. I’m gonna keep up with the bloggers I regularly chat to and then play catch up. 😊

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  7. I love this book! It was sweet and serious and well-written and quite… mature? Like I love cute and fluffy contemporaries but emotional ones are great as well, and I think the themes IMYT deals with are so important. I can’t wait for Heather Demetrios’s next contemporary. ❤

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    • That’s the perfect way to describe it! It definitely had a more mature air. I completely agree about emotional contemporaries. I’m all for fluff but I think the emotional ones are always the most memorable.
      It really did deal with a lot of important themes and all of them were captured so well. It shows how much the author put into it.
      I can’t wait for her next book either! 😊

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  9. I’ve had this book on my TBR for ages. I’ve heard nothing but great things about it. I love when a contemporary is very realistic and relatable. I find it’s so much easier to connect to the story and with the characters. I need to bump this one up to read ASAP next year!

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    • It’s a fantastic book. I don’t really know anyone in the military either and I loved it. It’s actually not completely about the military or PTSD, though those play a big role, but it’s also about Skylar trying to figure out her life after high school and who she is/what she wants to do. If you ever do give it a chance I hope you enjoy it! 😊

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  11. Very intriguing, the cover would definitely put me away from picking this up if I hadn’t read the blurb. The cover looks like something straight out of Bates Motel.

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  13. I just added this to my Goodreads because that blurb is pulling me in from the get-go! And hilarious how the top reviewer is hoping that this will be turned into a series :’). I’m wondering now if Skylar ends up with a baby on her hip anyways and just dying to find out. Awesome rec, Melissa! 😀

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  18. […] I’m pretty sure I recommend this book as much as I do The Bone Season. It’s just that it really is a fantastic book. Sky is one of my top favorite female characters as far as contemporaries go. She doesn’t have an easy life nor does she have a great relationship with her mother and throughout I’ll Meet You There a lot of uncertainty about her future creeps into her life. What I love most about her character is how much she cared for everyone, even her mother who wasn’t the best person. She feels like she has to take care of everyone and everything even at the expense of her future. And she starts to learn that sometimes it’s okay to put yourself first. The journey she goes through in this book is beautiful. You can check out my mini review for I’ll Meet You There here. […]

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