The Way Back to You

The Way Back to You

For fans of Jenny Han and Morgan Matson, a witty, poignant novel about second chances, letting go, and the unbreakable bonds of friendship. Six months ago, Ashlyn Montiel died in a bike accident. Her best friend, Cloudy, is keeping it together, at least on the outside. Cloudy’s insides are a different story: tangled, confused, heartbroken. Kyle is falling apart, and everyone can tell. Ashlyn was his girlfriend, and when she died, a part of him went with her. Maybe the only part he cares about anymore. As the two people who loved Ashlyn best, Cloudy and Kyle should be able to lean on each other. But after a terrible mistake last year, they’re barely speaking. So when Cloudy discovers that Ashlyn’s organs were donated after her death and the Montiel family has been in touch with three of the recipients, she does something a little bit crazy and a lot out of character: she steals the letters and convinces Kyle to go on a winter break road trip with her, from Oregon to California to Arizona to Nevada. Maybe if they see the recipients—the people whose lives were saved by Ashlyn’s death—the world will open up again. Or maybe it will be a huge mistake.
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Reviews

Photo of Siya S
Siya S@haveyoureadbkk
1 star
Nov 29, 2022

DNF at 41% Overall the book's OK, I guess. Good for when you don't have a high stacks of books waiting to be explored. I guess...it's a very challenging task for a writer to control multiple POVs, so I'm not surprised that half way through this book Kyle ended up sounding like Cloudy and both have somehow transformed into a broken records, saying same thing over and over. I LOVE the idea behind this book, I really do. The plot and everything and I'm a real sucker when it comes to an epic roadtrip story. But the execution was a bit of a disappointment; somehow all characters ended up sounding like the same person, aka privileged first-world teenagers I couldn't get myself to care about. In fact, I couldn't get myself to care about any of the characters, including Ashlyn the dead girl, aka the force behind the whole story. The very reason why Kyle and Cloudy went on a roaptrip in the first place. Ashlyn seems like the kind of person I'd never hang out with in real life; the center-of-the-universe kind of girl, whom everyone and everything orbited around by default. An overachieve cheerleader and a junior animal activist who turned vegan and celebrated "monthiversary" (whatever that is) with her boyfriend, Ashlyn's basically an hyperactive subtle control freak (the author made it sound cute and adorable to amplify her tragic death, though). Her boyfriend was more than obsessed with her annoying quirks, and her bestfriend was basically just Obsessed (with the capital O). The two were lost without Ashlyn, of course. That's what happened with chicken when its head got chopped off. Cloudy seems nice but vague and one-dimensional and boring. Kyle sounds just like Cloudy I couldn't tell the two apart (hint: he's the mopier one). Chemistry between characters are nowhere to be found. Dialogues were plain and forced and most of the time felt like and inside joke I didn't get because I missed the party I didn't seem to know about. So NOPE. To think about it....maybe I'm just too old for YA books already. I mean, I'm pretty sure I'm gonna dig this book really hard if I read it like 5 years ago. I might read it again someday, who knows? Find out more at: https://thebleedingeyes.wordpress.com

Photo of Sven Test
Sven Test@sven-sg-test-1
2 stars
Aug 31, 2022

This review was originally posted on Latte Nights Reviews. Kyle and Cloudy are trying to survive after having  their ex-girlfriend/best friend die in an accident six months ago. Cloudy appears to be handling everything very well but she isn't. Kyle doesn't know how to deal with this death and it shows. When Cloudy finds out that Ashlyn's organs were donated, she sets out to visit the the people that received the organs and drags Kyle alone with her without telling him what the road-trip is about until they reach their first destination. I swear something's wrong with me. This book had it all to be amazing and all the raving reviews on Goodreads prove it but I couldn't love it. I know it wasn't my mood because I was super excited for it but I didn't click with it. I was so close to DNF'ing this book but if you know me, then you know it's hard for me to DNF a book so I pushed through. For the first 65% or 70%, the book was sloooow. Seriously, I couldn't deal. My excitement for this book died very early on in the story because not much was really happening. That's saying a lot because this book has a road-trip and I love road-trips!! But this one was so boring. It started off slow, giving us a background on Cloudy and Kyle. To me, the background didn't add much to the story. It did at the beginning but then it was dragged on for nothing because it didn't really add anything. It didn't make me feel sympathetic at all and I was just over it all, but I kept reading because I was excited for the road-trip. Well, nothing happened. Once again, the road-trip didn't add much in my opinion. Even through the death of a friend these two teens experienced, I couldn't feel sorry for them. The book took on a very somber feel to it and it got really difficult for me to want to finish this book. The romance felt so forced! Even when they previously had feelings for each other, I couldn't believe it at all. Overall, this book didn't impress me at all and it bums me because this was one of my 2016 anticipated releases. I received an eARC for free from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.This review was originally posted on Latte Nights Reviews.

Photo of Kailey Rios
Kailey Rios@anniebannani
4 stars
Aug 22, 2022

this was a very heartwarming and sometimes bittersweet book. i really liked both cloudy and kyle’s characters, although i never quite connected with them in the way i wanted to. i enjoyed reading it and can’t remember a point where i was bored with it, but i also wasn’t as invested as i probably should’ve been. i did really like the dynamic between the different characters, sometimes things that meant to stir up a certain emotion just fell flat for me. that said, it was still a solid read and i love arm. 3.5 stars

Photo of Charlotte
Charlotte @readwithchar
4 stars
Aug 17, 2022

A book written by two authors ✔ this was a very cute stort about friendship and grieving. it was so enjoyable that at times it was hard for me to put down. i only have one issue with the book, the first being that the voices of cloudy and kyle felt too similar so when id be reading a kyle chapter id forget halfway who's perspective i was reading from. I wouldve likes to read more about the Arm, as she felt like a prop at times rather than an actual living character. the messages of the book were quite obvious, but important nonetheless: firstlyn ignoring your problems doesn't solve them, and secondly, that in difficult times, it's okay to ask for help and support from others- your friends and family often just want to help you but maybe they dont know how.

Photo of Bibi Disco
Bibi Disco@bibidbooks
4 stars
Aug 31, 2021

3.5 stars

Photo of Genesis (@whisperingchapters)
Genesis (@whisperingchapters)@whisperingchapters
2 stars
Aug 3, 2021

This review was originally posted on Latte Nights Reviews. Kyle and Cloudy are trying to survive after having  their ex-girlfriend/best friend die in an accident six months ago. Cloudy appears to be handling everything very well but she isn't. Kyle doesn't know how to deal with this death and it shows. When Cloudy finds out that Ashlyn's organs were donated, she sets out to visit the the people that received the organs and drags Kyle alone with her without telling him what the road-trip is about until they reach their first destination. I swear something's wrong with me. This book had it all to be amazing and all the raving reviews on Goodreads prove it but I couldn't love it. I know it wasn't my mood because I was super excited for it but I didn't click with it. I was so close to DNF'ing this book but if you know me, then you know it's hard for me to DNF a book so I pushed through. For the first 65% or 70%, the book was sloooow. Seriously, I couldn't deal. My excitement for this book died very early on in the story because not much was really happening. That's saying a lot because this book has a road-trip and I love road-trips!! But this one was so boring. It started off slow, giving us a background on Cloudy and Kyle. To me, the background didn't add much to the story. It did at the beginning but then it was dragged on for nothing because it didn't really add anything. It didn't make me feel sympathetic at all and I was just over it all, but I kept reading because I was excited for the road-trip. Well, nothing happened. Once again, the road-trip didn't add much in my opinion. Even through the death of a friend these two teens experienced, I couldn't feel sorry for them. The book took on a very somber feel to it and it got really difficult for me to want to finish this book. The romance felt so forced! Even when they previously had feelings for each other, I couldn't believe it at all. Overall, this book didn't impress me at all and it bums me because this was one of my 2016 anticipated releases. I received an eARC for free from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.This review was originally posted on Latte Nights Reviews.

Photo of Kelly Cotton
Kelly Cotton@smellyr0tten
4 stars
Aug 16, 2022
Photo of Palak
Palak@palak
3 stars
Feb 23, 2022
Photo of Mary Frances
Mary Frances@maryfrances-v
3 stars
Jan 10, 2022