‘The Start of Me and You” by Emery Lord was a breath of fresh air after several lackluster attempts to start reading something new. The anticipation that accompanied the ending of each chapter and the beginning of each respective one was great, and the bonus chapter tacked on to the end that chronicled main character Paige’s summer was a truly welcome addition to the already almost 400 pages that the novel already included.
Paige, still somewhat reeling from the loss of her boyfriend Aaron, who drowned the previous year at the tender age of fifteen, sets out to start her life anew. This premise, while it could have been an extremely depressing beginning to the novel, potentially putting a damper on the rest of the story, hardly detracted from the sweet, optimistic tone that Emery Lord did her best to maintain throughout the book. Despite Paige and Aaron’s brief relationship, their time together meant a lot to her, and finding her way back from this loss is not something that she is finding easy to accomplish. Enter Ryan Chase – a cute, friendly guy who she finds out is no longer dating his long-term girlfriend. Adding his name under the “date” category of her to-do list, she comes to know his cousin and best friend Max pretty well too through the English class that the three share.
Along with best friends Tessa, Morgan, and Kayleigh, Paige finds that it takes a lot of heart and a ton of guidance on not only the part of her friends, but from herself, to navigate the murky, emotionally charged waters of high school, new crushes, and uncertain friendships.
When Paige joins Quiz Bowl with Max, adding a new group to her life, she finds herself jumping headfirst into new territory. The world she has lived in since Aaron died has been hard for her, and she begins to find that the ending you expect may not always be the ending you wind up with – and that can be the best thing for you more often than you might think.
Emery Lord’s wonderfully creative use of pop culture, from ‘I Love Lucy’ and its writer Madelyn Pugh, to considering how Rory Gilmore of ‘Gilmore Girls’ would handle a relationship, to ‘I Dream of Jeannie’ and so much more, was so telling and true for Paige’s character, a girl who wants to spend her summer taking classes devoted to screenwriting. This novel teaches that despite bad things happening, new beginnings are always available – and they may just happen to be right under your nose. A highly recommended addition to anyone’s reading queue!
You can find ‘The Start of Me and You’ by Emery Lord here.