This Adventure Ends by Emma Mills | Review

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Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Release Date: October 4th, 2016

Trigger Warnings: the death of a parent (before the book is set)

Pages: 320

Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.

Genre: young adult, contemporary, romance

Goodreads blurb:

Sloane isn’t expecting to fall in with a group of friends when she moves from New York to Florida—especially not a group of friends so intense, so in love, so all-consuming. Yet that’s exactly what happens.

Sloane becomes closest to Vera, a social-media star who lights up any room, and Gabe, Vera’s twin brother and the most serious person Sloane’s ever met. When a beloved painting by the twins’ late mother goes missing, Sloane takes on the responsibility of tracking it down, a journey that takes her across state lines—and ever deeper into the twins’ lives.

Filled with intense and important friendships, a wonderful warts-and-all family, shiveringly good romantic developments, and sharp, witty dialogue, this story is about finding the people you never knew you needed.

R E V I E W

This Adventure Ends has to be one of the worst and most boring books I have had to displeasure of reading. I was so excited to jump into this one after loving Emma Mills Foolish Hearts. I figured it would be the same sort of sweet YA romance. No. This book did focus largely on friendship. However, the main character had no personality at all. In fact, in the beginning she says that she doesn’t feel which is mildly concerning. Not once in this book does the main character even feel as if they have a voice. Sloane is as bland as a piece of cardboard and it feels as if the star of this book is really Vera, a girl from Sloane’s new school. Emma Mills delivers a disappointing and incredibly mind numbingly boring book with This Adventure Ends and I truly do not recommend this book if you’re looking for something exciting.

This book is told completely from Sloane’s point of view and, as I said before, she is boring. There is nothing to distinguish her from absolutely everything and it infuriates me to write that. I just wish that there had been something. The whole book is her doing stuff for other people and we truly don’t get a sense of her. Throughout This Adventure Ends Sloane is on a quest to retrieve a painting for her two new friends Vera and Gabe. The pair of them lost their mother a few years prior and a painting that Gabe loved has been, unfortunately, sold. Sloane decides the best idea is to bring the painting home to them without even asking if that may be what they actually want. This book could have really focused on this finding the painting part, but it simply feels as if it becomes part of the background and I felt brain dead while reading it. Not a lot else happens throughout This Adventure Ends. There is barely any build up for the romance nor does the romance feel especially authentic or real. Ugh, this book was literally just so disappointing and I’m so mad. I know this is the section where I talk about the plot but nothing happened. NOTHING. If you’ve read any of my other reviews you’d know I’m a really big plot driven reader and this book gave me NOTHING. I’m so furious. I wasted three hours reading this trash fire.

Anyway, lets jump into what I liked (spoiler, it’s one thing) and what I disliked about This Adventure Ends by Emma Mills. I’m feeling ranty and annoyed, so be prepared.

what I did like

✗ GREAT TALE OF FREINDSHIP

I said before that this book largely focuses on friendship. It really does. Most of the page time is forming the friendships between the characters. Unfortunately, this honestly isn’t done well. Sloane feels like an outsider watching a group of friends for a majority of the book. The theme of friendship is still incredibly strong, just don’t expect the main character to be involved.

✗ BEAUTIFUL COVER

That’s it. I got nothing else I liked.

what I didn’t like

✗ WHAT A SNOOZE FEST

This is the part where I’m furiously whacking at my keyboard and clenching my jaw at how much this book truly bored me. This book was nothing like I expected and truly was useless. Not a single actually happens throughout this story and every bit of plot that this book tries to provide? It all leads to fucking nothing. It is all simply a round about way of saying that you need to find friends you’d ‘kill for’ and maybe a show about teen werewolves will inspire you. Everything the blurb of this book says it is is a lie.

It’s been possibly two days since I’ve finished this book and I think it’s put me in a slump I’m so mad at it. I’m just so mad at how boring it was. I didn’t think a book would bore or make me this made since I read Caraval by Stephanie Garber. This book may even rival Caraval.

✗ NO CHARACTER GROWTH

I’m not a character driven reader but I do like my characters to have depth and growth throughout a story. You’re not going to get this in This Adventure Ends. Not a single character actually gets some kind of backstory, bare Vera and Gabe. Not only that but Sloane never actually grows throughout this book. She feels completely stagnant and as if she is someone who always has to be right. Maybe I hate her because she’s so much like me. I don’t know. I just hate the fact that I sat through this entire book for a single character not to actually change or grow as a person. The dialogue also sucks and is not witty at all. Anyone who says this book is funny…

✗ NOTHING ACTUALLY HAPPENED

This book is really all over the place. There are numerous plot lines that carry through and brought up but not a single one is actually completed. It all feels rushed and as if it was not something the author enjoyed writing.

✗ THE FIGHT SCENE WAS UNCOMRORTABLE

At one stage of this book an argument takes place within the friend group. It’s honestly uncomfortable and doesn’t even get resolved. It is another of those points where the topic is approached and then dropped. The author seemed to be all over the place with This Adventure Ends and I feel it is really highlighted in this fight scene. The characters just start screaming at each other, Sloane hurts herself running away, and then they come to her and apologise? It just didn’t flow with the characters that Emma Mills had created nor did it actually come across as realistic.

Overall, Sloane got involved in the argument when she didn’t have to and never actually really said sorry to anyone. Which is infuriating because she really pushed the argument forward.

✗ SOLANE NEVER GETS A BACKSTORY

Literally, it’s as if Sloane suddenly appeared in Florida after living in New York her whole life. The only thing we know and find out about her old life is that she used to take singing lessons (still does) and didn’t work. That is all I could determine. She also says she had no friends? I’m not sure. I feel to have created the depth of Sloane and allowing the friendships to blossom throughout this book the author really should have included the main characters backstory and allow us to feel a lot more connected to her. I think this is why Sloane felt so flat, she was truly a one dimensional character that was just…meh.

Overall, I hate This Adventure Ends. I thought the adventure of reading this would never end, honestly. I also read I have an incredibly unpopular opinion on this book. This is easily viewed through the fact that everyone on my Goodreads friend list rated it four and above. But, truly, this book is a boring mess that is basically a fluff read. Now, there is nothing wrong with fluff and I love some fluff but I feel the execution of this book was terrible. Overall, not something I would recommend to anyone.

 Happy reading everyone!

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