The Distance from A to Z by Natalie Blitt Published by HarperCollins
Published: January 12th 2016
Buy on Amazon
Add to Goodreads
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 received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
I have been waiting a really really long time for The Distance from A to Z to come out. I’m a huge sucker for cute contemporary romances and I was told that this was a mere book by someone that read an early copy. But as excited I was for reading it I was weary when I saw it billed as a book for Stephanie Perkins and Miranda Kenneally lovers. To me those are hard shoes to fill. Stephanie and Miranda are two of my favorite YA contemporary authors and people so I did take pause. I knew I was going to read it but I did so with lower expectations. Now I can tell you I was wrong to do that because if you love Perkins and Kenneally you really will love The Distance from A to Z. So fun and fantastic.
I will admit if I was going to mark this book down for anything it was the French. There was a lot but the translations were always there so I couldn’t even fault the story for that. I mean French was a huge ‘character’ in the book so it made sense it was in there. Now the baseball thing in the other hand…give me all the baseball. I’m a huge huge fan on baseball so I loved that that was the thread through the story.
I loved the setting being on a college campus in New Hampshire. There is something about putting high school kids in a setting with less supervision that helps to make stories like The Distance from A to Z work for me. These kids were good and didn’t get into too much trouble so it made it make more sense that they had the amount of freedom they had. Plus I loved the trip that was thrown in. That really added to the story. It all was just written really well and just worked.
Zeke and Abby. Abby and Zeke. I flipping loved these two. They had that kind of friendship/relationship that I love reading about and watching in TV and movies. There was a natural chemistry and push pull. They had things in common but were so different in so many ways. Because of those differences I fell in love with them. I constantly found myself wanting more of them and when I finished I wanted to know more of their story.
And then there was Alice and Abby’s brothers. They were all parts of the story but in the sidelines. We got to know a lot about them through Abby but I wanted more of all of them. Abby’s family sounded like so much fun (especially as the baseball fan I am) and Alice has a story that needs to be told. I loved her relationship with Abby. As people say soul mates don’t have to be romantic and Abby and Alice proved that.
This book was just what I needed. Actually I have said more than once that I feel like it was written for me. It had everything I love in a book and it left me wanting more. After 300ish pages, which I read 97% in a sitting, I ended just wanting more words. It was fun and emotional and just really well written. I had high hopes when I heard about this one and Natalie Blitt did not let me down. Don’t miss this really great book.
Currently Natalie has a promotion going on for us readers to get #MoreAtoZ. Check out this post to find out how to get an epilogue and a bonus scene!
I also loved this book! I had a great time learning all those French words and phrases! I’m really excited for the epilogue!!
Those are big shoes to fill! Stephanie Perkins particularly, although I do like Miranda Kenneally, too. So YAY that you loved this! I’m a sucker for YA contemporary too and will for sure to read this.
I’m very much looking forward to reading this! It does sound like a contemporary read that’s right up my alley, and I truly think I’m going to enjoy it 🙂 So happy that it lived up to all your expectations!
[…] opposites attract” it made it even harder to resist. It also didn’t hurt that my friend Andi at Andi’s ABCs who is a HUGE fan of both Perkin’s and Kenneally loved DISTANCE FROM…. So I picked it up with high expectations and then found myself disappointed in the end result. I […]
[…] The Distance from A to Z || The Epidemic […]
[…] know how both of these co-bloggers managed to get out of my grasp when I did a massive push for The Distance from A to Z last year, but they are in my sights now. READ READ […]
[…] things I love about contemporary romances and putting them all in one book. You can find my review HERE. Also don’t forget to post your reviews on Amazon as Natalie is writing and epilogue when we […]
[…] a lot of people I know also read it and fall in love with it. That book was Natalie Blitt’s The Distance from A to Z. Since the I have been waiting for a new book from Natalie (I just found out about her two books […]