Emma Mills

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 layered with private tragedies and secret codes, and 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 most serious person Sloane has 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 crosses state lines -- and pulls her ever deeper into the twins' lives.

This adventure ends

brooke

“You’re great. You’re staying. We’re keeping you.”

★★ // had a hard time empathizing with sloane. didn’t care for the romance. hated most of the people in the circle. i was team remy all the way.

Victoria

I was wrong about Emma Mills this entire time (okay, not that it was such a long time as I only started reading one of her books two days ago).

I thought for sure that books needed to be about something in particular–a romance, a family drama, or a mystery. But as it turns out, it can be just a story about a person discovering who they are and that's it, nothing more.

That's exactly what this book (and the other one that I finished reading the other day) was about. A story about the protagonist discovering herself, who she is (for the time being at least), what she's capable of, and you know... shit like that.

Now that I understand, I appreciate it more.

mercy

dija

Can i have a Michael ( the dad ) and a Vera and a Gabe and a Frank and a Remy in my life please? I LOVE THEM

Izza

5 stars | This made me laugh, it made me cry. Perfect combo. It's just such a wholesome, heartwarming story. I absolutely love this group of friends <3

Siya S

5 Stars! 

I like this one even more than Foolish Hearts, if such a thing was even possible. 

I want to give this book 5000 stars instead of just...5? It's incredible and relatable and so so ridiculously heartwarming without overdoing it. I love the witty exchange among the kids. I love all the kids in this one: I can relate to Sloane so much and I wish I could just have a friendship like the one she had with the others in this book. It was just... It was really good.

The story was not something we haven't heard before. Sloane Finch was a newcomer in town. She went to a party and did this brave/bold/awesome thing and she won herself a group of new friends. Vera and Gabe were the "double trouble", an identical twin with personalities of their own. When the painting done by their late mother was sold by accident to a local art house, Sloane was determined to track it down for her friends. Little she knew that the adventure she was about to embark on would be the most challenging ride of her life. 

I love Sloane, gosh I feel like I was Sloane when I was younger, and part of me still remains a Sloane up to this day. Like her, I am used to being independent so much, because deep down I care about things deeply so it hurts less to stay unattached to things around me etc etc ... Oh well, when I read about her struggle, my heart hurt so much. But she was very lucky when it came to friends' department. She was lucky they understood her. 

The thing about it was that Gabe and Vera lose their mother to this sickness, and that just hit me hard because I have experienced the same thing. There would be days that I won't feel like waking up at all, because I realized I wouldn't be able to experience the same kind of love every again. The same was captured by both Vera and Gabe's experiences in coping, and it made me cry so much. 

The book reminds me of Sarah Dessen and Jenifer E Smith, but more diverse and appealing to the younger gen. Sloane's dad was a famous writer with a serious case of writer's block. After browsing the internet one day, he was introduced to a world of fanfiction, something that has opened his eyes to a whole new level. It was cute and hilarious, and I love Sloan's dad so much for this. I like how Emma Mills addresses these small things like the fandom culture, boyband craze, and obsession over fanfiction in all her books. Personally, it makes me feel warmer like, it's ok too to like something so much and be different. 

And so I laughed, and I cried so much throughout Sloane Finch's journey toward self-discovery. Just read it and you'll fall in love with the characters like I did. 10/10 would read every single one of Emma Mills' books now.

emma mills once again creates a trio that i get obsessed with

Lillian

08/03/2022 - i normally don't mark down rereads cause it makes me feel like I'm cheating but since I have this Emma Mills readathon going it really only seems fair. Anyways I think I enjoyed this more the second time around. The highlight for me is definitely Sloane and Vera's friendship. Something I really like about Emma Mills books is how slice of life they are, meaning that even if it is a romance it's also about everything else that happens in the specific slice that we're allowed privy to. It's fun! I had a fun time. What can I say.

05/02/2022 - did not like this as much as Foolish Hearts but one of the things I think Emma Mills is rlly good at is writing any sort of friendship and sibling relationship. like grinning ear to ear sort of relationship

that was soo good sloanegabeverafrankremy my little children

Lauren Tabor

Emi Gilmore 

2.5/5 stars
 Dreams don't have to be realistic- that's why they're dreams. You have to work to make them happen. Or else they would be realities. 
So hi. You don't remember me, but my name's Emi and I used to write reviews all the time on this site. I loved it, and am proud of every review I have ever written, but things happened and I ended up in a slump that lasted about a year and a half. Quite tragic, really, but like some person once said, you gotta learn from your past. Was it Mufasa who said that? I think it was Mufasa.

Anyways, I am pleased to announce that 2019 is the year that I write reviews once again. I also said that about 2018, but 2018 me was a effing liar.

Also, sorry, but no gifs. I'm typing this entire thing up on my mother's computer, and she just doesn't have a vast library of them on her desktop for some strange reason. 

And so, in this year of Emi posting reviews again, we are gonna start with this book. As you can probably read, I mean, if you are on this website, I am assuming you can read this book is called This Adventure Ends, alternatively titled  Omieffingod When Will This Book End?

Nothing against this book. I understand why so many people have thrown 5 stars reviews at it and claim that Emma Mills is Shakespeare reincarnated. But as I grow into the ripe old age of my twenties, I'm starting to not believe in love and instead in artificial insemination. Not that I'm gonna give up my ya contemporary novels anytime soon, you'll have to pry those from my cold, dead hand. In fact, my future artificially inseminated children are gonna be named Morgan Matson and Eliza (and her Monsters).

No, instead I'm officially a cynic™. Contemporary books aren't gonna be holding the same power they used to have over me. Love at first sight and kissing in the rain aren't gonna woo me like they used to. I'm not gonna go around falling for every cute contemporary boy with long eyelashes and a dark mysterious past. No, I'm cutting myself off. From now on, only about 90% of those boys will I fall for instead of the usual all of them. And Gabe Whatever-His-last-Name-Was is not gonna be one of them. To be honest, I don't think he would have been one if I hadn't become a cynic™ because Gabe was a boring af male love interest. But we'll get to that later. 

First, lets talk about the girl behind the book. Miss  Sloane Finch. Who is  so funny and so cute and so effing annoying. She's a singer, and supposedly really good, but she only sings like twice in the entire book and mostly as a way to convenience the plot. Because why else would she be in New York at the same time as the oh so important painting that we'll also get to later?

Now, Sloane is suppose to be this hilarious character, who hides her true emotions behind her humor. And like, same, but that's not the point here. The point is that, none of Sloane's jokes, much like my own tbh, made me laugh. Instead, I rolled my eyes and tried to pretend that she didn't say anything at all. Almost everything that came out of her fictional mouth was like 2014 try hard tumblr had said it instead. Part of my soul just completely died out after the third starburst candy joke. 

Well, try hard Sloane just moved to Florida from New York and this is supposedly important to the plot but isn't bc I honestly forgot all about this detail until just this moment. She never talked about New York once. I don't even know if New York means the city or the state. Like most things about Sloane, her living in New York was important to the plot only once and quickly disregarded after that. But anyways, she moves to Florida and her dad is Nicholas Sparks and they moved to Florida for his books or some shit like that. 

Oh yeah, her dad is Nicholas Sparks obsessed with Teen Wolf. Obviously, he and the show he liked had a different name, but I'm not gonna go look through the book for it. Even though he was literally the best character in the entire book, that's really the only important thing to mention about him. 

Well, two weeks into her new school in Florida, Sloane gets invited to a party. Which is one more party then I was ever invited to my entire four years of high school. There, she gets into a fight with some stereotypical jock who really only appears in the book during this scene because plot device. And because she gets into this fight, this girl named Vera decides that her and Sloane are gonna instantly be best friends forever until the end of time. 

Now, Vera is cool and all. I didn't hate her. But she's also the most unrealistic character I've ever read. She supposedly has enough social media followers to fill up a stadium or two, but lives the life of an average American high schooler. Idk, this could be realistic and I could be wrong, but I'm sure if you had as many followers as the book suggested Vera did, school wouldn't be your first priority. You'd probably be missing a class or two attending Vidcon or some shit with other popular social media scarlets. 

But anyways, Vera introduces Sloane to her not internet famous friend group and Sloane immediately becomes friends with them too. Despite the fact she's suppose to have a hard time making friends as she didn't have any in New York (or so I assume bc she literally never talks about New York). Now, if you are like me and have read the masterpiece that is Six of Crows, you get overly excited for any group of teenagers. But, unfortunately, this friend group has the chemistry of a brick. I'd write more about them, but to be honest, I think writing about that brick would probably be more interesting. Besides, the entire group was only together like three times the entire novel. There's not much to talk about. 

Now, Vera also had a twin brother called Gabe who serves as Love Interest. And the entire book, all he does is be moody, be sad over a painting that was lost but he didn't put away in a safe place, date some girl named Alice, then at the very end he asks Sloane out. That's all. I literally don't recall one conversation between Sloane and Gabe that made me swoon and believe in love again. 

Oh, that painting that I mentioned, Sloane decides after knowing Gabe for an entire 3 hours, that she's gonna track down this painting and literally goes all over the country looking for it and her parents are just like, "okay, have fun sweety." She's 17. I couldn't care less about that painting, but it's important bc Vera and Gabe's mom painted it for them before she died, so the search for it is dragged out about one book too long. Luckily, there was a book written about Vera and Gabe's mom to help Sloane on the search. 

That's right. Singer extraordinaire Sloane, daughter of Nicholas Sparks, moves to Florida where she meets social media star Vera, who's mother is famous enough to have a book written about her and her paintings. Totally believable. 

I think it's about time I wrap up my first review of 2019, mostly because the more I'm writing about this book, the more I hate it. Anyways, thsi review probably sucked bc I'm a little rusty. But have a great New Year everyone and I hope it's filled with books that are much better than this shit hole and with that, This Review Ends.

Abigail Auvray

Flavia Louise

So this was my first Emma Mills novel and I did like it.
I find her writing style to be quite special and I had to get used to that. 
This is a quiet book about a character forming and exploring relationships and discovering love.

Alexa Jade

Becky

Why did I wait so long to read this book? As soon as I saw in a review that it involved an author dad who started writing fanfiction I knew I wanted to read but then I read everything else about this book and I wanted to read it for the story as well. This is the kind of YA book I love to read and so why I put off reading it for like a year I do not know. It was the best most beautiful book. It's not fast paced. It's not crazy dramatic but it still brought tears to my eyes. It was absolutely stunning. I want to write a full review but I'll be stewing on what to say for a few days I think.

Tiffany Robinson

laura

I really enjoyed this book a lot. It focuses so much on friendship as most of Emma books does. I also enjoyed Solane character. She is very much a outsider trying to find her place in a new group of friends. I also like the arts connection that was threaded throughout this novel and also how the fandom elements were used in this novel. I also just loved the group of friends sloane fell into. It was a prefect summer read even thought it is technically set in the winter. I also loved the light mystery that was threaded in this novel. I found this to be a fast pace read as well!

Michelle Boyea

This was a very cute book. It was light, quick, fun, and easy to read. It is a great book to read when you are stressed and you want something to distract you.

While most of the story was predictable, the author did manage to have some surprises within the story also. I enjoyed watching Sloane learn what friendship truly is and learn more about herself. Her immediate dedication to her friends was a great recurring theme throughout the book.

I would have liked the story to continue and delve further into her relationships as well as the relationships between the other characters. 

This would be a great start to a series where each book focuses on one of the characters. And each book focuses on a different character

Megan Leprich

This was my first novel by Emma Mills and I’m now officially hooked. How I haven’t read anything by her before honestly blows my mind. 

Sloane isn’t happy about having to move from New York to Florida and doesn’t expect to make any friends at her new school. She unexpectedly finds herself falling in with a crowd of friends that have secret codes, personal tragedies, and has no idea how much it will change her and her families lives as they begin an adventure she never would have thought she’d be on. 

First off let me just say that I loved Sloane and her parents. They’re quick wit and heavy sarcasm reminded me so much of my own family and I found myself constantly cracking up at them. They were honestly my favorite characters in this book (besides Frank of course) and it’s mainly due to how their personalities were. They were not only a super loving family but you could tell how much fun they had with each other and how much they supported one another. 

Another great thing about this book was the relationship between Gabe and Sloane and Vera’s friendship with Sloane. I loved the slow build between Gabe and Sloan and how oblivious both of them were to each other, they had no idea how much they actually liked each other because the words were never spoken and put out there. I loved Sloane and Vera’s tight friendship because Vera really brought Sloane out of her shell and helped her find confidence that she didn’t know she possessed. All the relationships in this book were great and I loved how much the group of friends helped each other, Sloane helping Remy out was one great example. 

I honestly can’t wait to read more by Emma Mills. I absolutely loved her writing style and how she portrayed each of her characters, I fell in love with each of them for their own reasons and didn’t want this book to end.

Lindsey Watson

I'm not a re-reader, but this book has changed my mind about that. I loved this book so much, I will re-read it again and again.

Kaele Perkins 

** spoiler alert **
           I don’t even no where to begin. 😍

“You don’t know that there’s a love that just is because it is, it just exists because there’s no other way than it existing. It’s like putting your feet on the ground when you wake up in the morning. That’s how I love her. Do you get that? It’s not a thing you think about, it’s just a thing that is.” - Remy 

“Dreams don’t have to be realistic— that’s why they’re dreams. You have to work to make them happen. Or else they would just be... realities.” - Vera

“Everyone should have punched-in-the-face-for kinda of friends. Everyone should have... you know. Like the people you call when you need to hide the body... I think everyone has it in them... that kind of friendship. When they meet the right people.” - Gabe

“I would say sorry. A for-real sorry. We learned that in class. Not like ‘I’m sorry your feelings are hurt,’ because that’s a fake sorry. Say, ‘I’m sorry I hurt your feelings,’ because that’s for real.” - Laney

“Maybe I was wrong about me. About being for no one. I don’t know what the future holds. My dad is right— there are no guarantees. None. But I pick up Gabe’s hand and lace out fingers together, and that’s enough in this moment. We look out over the water, and that’s more than enough for now.” - Sloane 

I compare this to an original Sarah Dessen book. It was amazing. It had good lessons and conversations. But I wish there was more of a relationship throughout the book between the two “main protagonists” (strong air quotes used here) There really aren’t any side characters, everyone very much has a part in the story. There were a couple things I personally would change in the story. I’m usually against the “guy likes someone else/has a girlfriend” trope. Also not a big fan of the reveal at the end of a book that they have liked each other basically the whole time. I usually dislike that, but for some reason it didn’t bother me as much in this book. Everything was well explained and the reasons behind everything were pretty logical. The last few ya contemporary books I’ve read haven’t had a relatable protagonist, but I really felt connected to Sloane. We had a similar ‘ok with being alone’ feeling. But we both discovered through this book the importance of friendships and people to be close with. I have to say, I LOVE her parents and Frank. I love my parents but I wish I had Sloane’s dad. Someone to obsess over books and fanfics with me? Sign me up! I love her relationship with her parents. It was very real, and they were slightly embarrassing which was totally realistic. I love that she had so many friends in this book. Some were closer than others, but she was definitely adopted into a big group of friends. Overall, I love this book. Now I’m nervous to start another one, I don’t think I’ll be able to find something to top that for a while. Excuse me while I go find and read the rest of Emma Mills’ books. 😜

Intp and Istj I think.

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.

This Adventure Ends

Hayley 📖🌈💜🌸

Can there please be at least another 22 Emma Mills books available for me to read immediately? 
Because I’m gonna need at least another 22 Emma Mills books to read in the near future. 

I loved this little band of weirdos. Vera is pure light, Gabe is the perfect little soft boy, Sloane is snark and loyalty and love and loneliness, Aubrey - my girl, I get you on a cellular level, Remy is sweet and dopey and cute and lovely, and we should all be frankful for Frank. 
THESE KIDS. MY HEART.

Irin 

"Dreams don't have to be realistic- that's why they're dreams. You have to work to make them happen. Or else they would be...realities"
Book : This Adventure Ends by Emma Mills
Genre : YA, Contemporary
Ratings : 3.5/5 stars
I finished reading This Adventure Ends by Emma Mills a few days back. It had been on my wishlist for almost three years, and I finally got it yaaay 💙
I have always been a lover of friendship stories, and that's one of the main reasons why I wanted to read This Adventure Ends for such a long time. I really liked the storyline. Sloane, our main character, was the funniest person ever. I loved how she accepted her life in a new town so easily. She was really cool,and the way how she supported her friends (even if she had known them for a little time) really amazed me. The friendship between Sloane and Vera was the highlight of the book for me. I loved Sloane's dad so much. He has become one of my favorite fictional parents 💙 The other side characters like Remy, Aubrey and specially Frank, made the story more meaningful. The random talks and fangirling sessions by the characters on different fandoms was so much fun. I loved how the love for art was expressed in This Adventure Ends. Some of Sloane's quotes were really beautiful and heart- warming. The quotes are one of the best things I loved!
The beginning of the book was really fast paced, and that's one of the things which I didn't like about the story. I wish there were more chapters based on how Sloane's friendships developed with the people she met. If you want a light read with a character- based storyline instead of a plot -based one, pick this up!

This adventure ends

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