More A to Z! | Review: The Distance from A to Z

Posted January 16, 2016 / Book Reviews / 14 Comments

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More A to Z! | Review: The Distance from A to ZThe Distance from A to Z by Natalie Blitt
on January 12th 2016
Also by this author: The Truth About Leaving
(316 pages) • GoodreadsAmazon Barnes & Noble
four-stars

This full-length novel by debut author Natalie Blitt is a pitch-perfect blend of Stephanie Perkins and Miranda Kenneally that proves the age-old adage: opposites attract.

Seventeen-year-old Abby has only one goal for her summer: to make sure she is fluent in French—well, that, and to get as far away from baseball and her Cubs-obsessed family as possible. A summer of culture and language, with no sports in sight.

That turns out to be impossible, though, because her French partner is the exact kind of boy she was hoping to avoid. Eight weeks. 120 hours of class. 80 hours of conversation practice with someone who seems to wear baseball caps and jerseys every day.

But Zeke in French is a different person than Zeke in English. And Abby can’t help but fall for him, hard. As Abby begins to suspect that Zeke is hiding something, she has to decide if bridging the gap between who she is and who he is is worth the risk.

I thought this book looked really adorable when it first came onto my radar, and I decided to preorder it. ($1.99? Why not?!) I ended up reading it right away because I heard so many awesome things from lots of blogger friends. Andi was talking about how she wanted more from the characters she grew to love, so she asked some of us to hop on and help out the author with a little review campaign. I take Andi’s book recs for me VERY seriously, so I was happy to come on board even before reading the book. After reading it? TOTALLY AGREE.

Like I said, I started this right away when it was delivered to my kindle, and finished in the day. IT WAS SO CUTE. I absolutely loved the characters (main and side) and seeing their relationship grow throughout the summer.

Why you should read this one:

  • The main characters speak French to each other throughout the book, and that makes it pretty darn romantic. I don’t speak French and didn’t find myself confused.
  • There’s a lot of baseball talk (which was fun, even for this football fan), but nothing that would make non-Sports-fans run the other direction.
  • The book is an incredibly quick read. Once I started, it was really hard for me to stop. (And I didn’t! Totally finished in one day.)
  • The best friend character has a real personality and is completely fleshed out. We know so much about her and can easily see why Abby and her get along so well as roommates.
  • It leaves you wanting more! Anytime a book has adorable characters that I want to see more of, I count that as a success. I want to know what happens next for these two.

There was some classic miscommunication towards the end that led to conflict, but that’s to be expected in this situation. It actually was quite the curveball (sorry, had to use the baseball pun) that I didn’t see coming. I loved that it still managed to surprise me!

Zeke and Abby were so cute together; I really believed their chemistry. This book was just what I needed to get back into the contemporary groove.

more a to z graphicUPDATES:
Level 1 has already been reached! You can read a deleted scene here.
Level 2 has also been reached! You can read the epilogue-ish here.

14 responses to “More A to Z! | Review: The Distance from A to Z

  1. I pre-ordered this one as well because a friend (*coughs* Rachel *coughs*) told me I needed to! It really sounds like the type of YA contemporary that I would enjoy (particularly for the French aspect of it), and I can’t wait to read it too!

  2. I’ve been looking forward to this book for ages, and am so excited it’s already released! I’m really glad it’s not confusing to you – I don’t know ANY French and was a bit worried that might be a hindrance! I actually really love what the author is doing though – releasing excerpts based on the number of reviews. It’s a smart way to get more people reading!

    Geraldine @ Corralling Books recently posted: All Book Reviews Are Biased

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