READING COMMENTS:
<i>ugh, so this book was a prime example of what editing doesn’t look like. I know this is an ARC but some of the paragraphs were so badly edited its making me cringe.
okay, but why is this book so slow?
this reads like a 2013 wattpad novel.</i>

Okay, so this is one of those books I picked up and put down about five times and for that, it shows this isn’t the book for me. I either am interested in reading it or not and this book fell in the realm of being not.
I didn’t vibe with the characters or the story although I could see where the author was trying to direct this book. I appreciated how she tried to explore grief and what it means to be so bogged down by grief that what we know as being depression isn’t as black and white as it seems. However, this book felt very bland and I felt like there was a lot of room where things could have been developed.
I also didn’t enjoy the writing and this could definitely be due to personal opinion but it read very young to me for a MC who is supposedly nineteen.

Without spoiling much more of this book, it just wasn’t for me. It’s a shame because the cover is so pretty!
<i>I received this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.</i>

*Thank you to Netgalley, Mandi Lynn and Stone Ridge books for sending me a free e-ARC copy of Meet Me at the Summit in exchange for an honest review. All quotations are subject to change upon publication.*

Meet Me at the Summit is due to be published on the 31st of August 2021.

Stats:
Overall: 3/5 stars
Characters: 4/5 stars
Storyline: 3/5 stars
Writing: 3/5 stars
One-line review: If you enjoy a quick, wholesome book then Meet Me at the Summit may just be the book for you.

Meet Me at the Summit is the first book in Mandi Lynn's new series following Marly, who has recently experienced the traumatic death of both of her parents. The novel explores Marly's stages of grief and the development of her character is clearly shown throughout the book with Marly coming to terms with her loss.

'I struggle to grasp the finality of death, how someone can be alive and smiling one day, and then gone forever the next.'

----Plot----

After being introduced to our protagonist, Marly, we swiftly learn of the less than fulfilling life she leads after the death of her parents. That is, until she goes to a family gathering and is unwilling coerced into a hiking trip with her uncle. On that same hiking trip she rediscovers her passion for walking and scaling mountains. Rather unwillingly, she is persuaded by her family and friends to take a solo trip in her late mother's campervan. It is on this journey that she explores her love for photography, meets new fellow hiking enthusiasts (and of course the love interest - Dylan) and learns to deal with the loss of her parents.

My main criticism of the plot is that it is rather slow, which is the primary reason for my review being three stars instead of four. There are points in which things are over explained or drawn out which dissipates any sense of anticipation.

----Characters----

Personally, I think the characters were the best part of the plot, primarily due to the clear development of Dylan and Marly's relationship and Marly's copings with grief. Instead of being a more intimate couple, Marly and Dylan appeared to be the sort of people who were purely there to help one another, with Dylan's patience and affection for Marly having no bounds.

'You've seen me at my worst, and for some reason, you chose to stick around...'

Furthermore, I loved the unconditional friendship Marly and Lori had, even if I did feel as it lacked depth, I suppose that was because her friendship with her wasn't the primary focus of the storyline. The main problem with this lack of depth Lori's character had was that she was easily forgettable, which I found whilst reading.

I would of loved to have seen more of Sarah though, as I feel as she was promptly written out of the novel to pave way for the development of Dylan and Marly's relationship, I just felt as her story was inconclusive and hope that in the next book we get to see more of her.


----Writing----

Mandi Lynn writes beautifully. Although she can stray from the storyline to go off on a tangent at times, her dealings with describing grief and making us empathise for Marly as an audience are sublime. Whilst I wouldn't say she is the best author at writing romance, as I felt Marly and Dylan's conversations and passionate moments lacked depth, she certainly created a realistic perception of the inner thought process of some one who has experienced extreme grief. Her handling of the panic attacks and anxiety felt by the characters was respectful and accurate.

Additionally, this book really inspired me to go on a hike! For readers in the US, your thirst for the great outdoors is quenched by information links to all of the hikes our protagonist experiences in the book at the ending, which I believe is an excellent way for us to truly connect with the character. For me, this sudden burst of inspiration for the outdoors shows how brilliantly Lynn depicts the natural world through Marly's eyes.

Mandi Lynn's descriptive use is amazing. She easily created beautiful layouts that I found easy to visualize. There were a few grammar errors but nothing too major to distract from the story. My biggest complaint would be the main character. I found her a little annoying while her actions were over the top. Overall I think many people will connect with this coming of age story.

In Meet Me at the Summit Marly Price is stuck in her grief 9 months after the death of both her parents. She's now a college drop out and works a minimum wage job that she hates but keeps her busy. Until during a family reunion her family and best friend push her to take a road trip across the US in an old school VW bus, to reconnect with herself and the memories of her parents.
This book is a great exploration of grief and the guilt that comes with having close-ones die unexpectedly, as well as a fantastic way to make readers want to hike and photograph the wilderness. Despite the writing not always being the most fluid to read, the story was captivating enough to make me finish the book in under 24 hours. The copy I got was an uncorrected proof, so my hope is that the final version will get some editing as I felt some passages felt repetitive or unnatural as dialogue. This was however mainly pushed to the back of my mind as the characters were easy to get attached to and their adventures made me want to plan a long hike through my closest access to wilderness.
All in all, I think this is a great summer book that manages to be both light enough at times while touching the very serious subjects that are grief, anxiety, depression and trauma.
Actual rating: 3.5/5

This was a wonderful contemporary coming-of-age story about dealing with grief and the aftermath of personal tragedy. It had a beautiful meandering feel to it and whilst it sometimes felt like Marly was going in circles it was understandable for her character and the plot and added to the feel of the novel rather than detracted from it.

The story follows Marly, a college dropout who has recently lost her parents and who is struggling to grieve and to find a way to live her life. She gets talked into taking a road trip to various hiking trails across the US.

The imagery in this was gorgeous and the pacing was fantastic. I really empathized with the characters and found myself engrossed in the story. I read this pretty much straight through once I started.

Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC.

•I reviewed this ARC in exchange for an honest review.•

This was a really lovely book, well written, with a very clear amount of effort and research put into it - the world building and descriptions were beautifully done, and I actually feel inspired to go hiking now haha. I absolutely love the links and references to the real hiking trails given at the end of the story, its a super nice touch.

Our main character did annoy me sometimes, but her reactions etc were also very understandable, so the not so great aspects of her were easy to ignore. I really liked the sweet friendship, and even the romance, which moved at a decent pace given the storyline. I felt that each character had good growth, and a unique and different personality.

Overall, I found this to be a very enjoyable, attention grabbing read, with some good life lessons. There were a few spelling errors, but nothing too serious. I would definitely recommend this book to a friend, and I look forward to one day hopefully reading the sequel!

I have marked this book as DNF because it was not for me. I read about halfway through, but find that I am unable to get into the plot. I would definitely recommend this to somebody else which is the reason why I gave it three stars, but I found it difficult to get into and was unable to give it the attention I think it deserves.

A bit slow for me. This book follows main character Marly, a college dropout, after the loss of both her parents. The focus of this book is Marly's journey through the grieving process, as well as her travels across the country in her mom's old VW Bus. And that was really the whole book. Marly travels from state park to state park to hike the trails she finds there. For a lot of the book, Marly doesn't want to face her losses head-on. I wish more had been made of the VW Bus because let's face it, a restored VW Bus sells for over $100k and THAT could have been a huge part of this story. If I had a 1978 teal VW Bus, it would be in every single one of my instagram photos and would have it's own TikTok. There was a lot that could have been done with this, beyond a short description.

Many, many errors in word choice and grammar detracted from the storyline itself.

Goodreads Feedback:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4059916029

t was a really excellent coming-of-age story and you really get a sense of character relatability that you miss out on in a lot of novels. This book is an absolute tear-jerker. However, it reads a little bit like fanfiction in the way that the writing is a little dramatic and descriptions don't really come naturally, they're just kinda forced in and it sometimes disrupts the flow of the story. The actual story definitely gets 5/5 but the writing style wasn't for me so I gave 4/5.

I actually read this in one day, it was captivating and the way the author depicted grief and her stance on it was done really well. This story however was not the best nor was it the worst but I still enjoyed it and suggest others read it too. Overall, I would give this book 3.5 stars. Thank you to Netgalley for letting me read this early!