Five strangers. Countless adventures. One epic way to get lost.
Four teens across the country have only one thing in common: a girl named LEILA. She crashes into their lives in her absurdly red car at the moment they need someone the most.
There's HUDSON, a small-town mechanic who is willing to throw away his dreams for true love. And BREE, a runaway who seizes every Tuesday—and a few stolen goods along the way. ELLIOT believes in happy endings…until his own life goes off-script. And SONIA worries that when she lost her boyfriend, she also lost the ability to love.
Hudson, Bree, Elliot and Sonia find a friend in Leila. And when Leila leaves them, their lives are forever changed. But it is during Leila's own 4,268-mile journey that she discovers the most important truth— sometimes, what you need most is right where you started. And maybe the only way to find what you're looking for is to get lost along the way.
(Summary from GoodReads)
Everything about Let’s Get Lost from the cover to the title to the premise made me believe it was a book I had to read. Luckily, this turned out to be a great decision, and one that cemented Alsaid as an author to watch. While Let’s Get Lost is definitely a feel good story like I had hoped, it surprised me with lovely prose and several laugh out loud moments.
At the beginning of Let’s Get Lost, there’s a bit of mystery surrounding Leila and what kind of loss she has experienced. I like Leila because as she interacts with other characters, we learn that she has an optimistic side: maybe a person call fall in love in one night, perhaps broken relationships can be fixed. Some of the circumstances she gets into are downright hilarious, especially with Elliott, but as someone who has worked in a national park, the character Rick in Leila’s section also cracked me up.
Alsaid’s debut has very few problems. He could’ve gotten away with slipping in about another twenty pages or so—perhaps a few at the end, and just flesh every section out a teeny bit more. I could be saying this largely because I like the prose and wanted more of it. The ending ties up quickly and it may have been a tiny bit predictable, but since it was heartwarming and I knew it was best for the characters, I didn’t mind too much.
Let’s Get Lost is fun, touching, and enjoyable. It stands perfectly on its own, but it also struck me as the start of a strong authorial career. Alsaid is only going to get better from here on out, and while I’ll always enjoy this book, I’m eager to see what he does next.
Disclosure: I received a digital galley of this book from the publisher.
Other reviews:
I liked this one a lot. I'm sad it probably got mixed in the shuffle with its release date but... I'm looking forward to more from him and I would actually love for him to try a non-YA book too. The one chapter about the wedding and the girl mourning the death of her boyfriend was my favorite. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
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