Jennie Wexler

In Where It All Lands, debut author Jennie Wexler delivers a heartbreaking and hopeful novel about missed opportunities, found chances, and all the different paths that lead us to where we are. Stevie Rosenstein has never made a true friend. Never fallen in love. Moved from city to city by her father’s unrelenting job, it’s too hard to care for someone. Trust in anything. The pain of leaving always hurts too much. But she’ll soon learn to trust, to love. Twice. Drew and Shane have been best friends through everything. The painful death of Shane's dad. The bitter separation of Drew's parents. Through sleepaway camps and family heartache, basketball games and profound loss, they've always been there for each other. When Stevie meets Drew and Shane, life should go on as normal. But the universe has other plans. Told in dual timelines, this is the story of how our choices define us, and how no matter the road, love can find its way.

Where It All Lands

anderson elizabeth

Where It All Lands by Jennie Wexler is just phenomenal. This book is about Drew, Shane, and Stevie. Drew and Shane have been best friends for the majority of their lives and when the new girl, Stevie, arrives at the school and they're both immediately infatuated with her they decide who gets to ask her out the same way they figure out all of their other decisions — they flip a coin. This book is told in three parts and covers dual timelines based on which way the coin lands.

This book. Wow. I highly recommend listening to the audiobook version of it because it helped me get in the right headspace for the book. I listened to this book in a single day. I read 95% of it in one sitting when I was supposed to be asleep. Each chapter left off at a place that sucked me into the story even further and left me needing to continue reading until it was magically 4 in the morning and I was crying at the end of the book — as one does.

I absolutely love the way Wexler wrote the friendship between Drew and Shane. They mesh so well as friends and balance each other out in such spectacular ways. 
The setup for this book was perfect for the story that Wexler was telling. On top of being split into three parts, within each part it rotates between whichever boy is the main love interest and Stevie's point of view. Then the third part is only in Stevie's point of view which I think was super important for the story. I love the way Wexler shows the different things that Drew and Shane each bring out and Stevie. They each bring something else to the table and draw out certain parts of her and unique ways.

Another element of the story that brought this book from a 4-star to 5-star reading experience was the plot twist. I'm not usually one to read books that have unpredictable plot twists but the one in this book rivaled my reading experience with All This Time, which is written by Mikki Daughtry and Rachael Lippincott. Once I finished the book I went back and read listened to chapter 1 because the book has a circular feel to it. It added extra experience to the book I guess. 

I had a love-hate relationship with the way this book brought to my attention the way that every single choice that you make in life impacts the trajectory of your future. I am not usually one that tries to think about that for too long but this book had me going into a bit of an existential moment once I finished it. This book is perfect for people who love the movie Mr. Nobody. It will have you questioning a whole lot about your life and provide an opportunity to reflect.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Young Listeners for giving me access to an ARC of the audiobook. I enjoyed the narrators that were selected for this novel.


06.22.2021
why yes i did stay up until 4:30 am listening to the arc knowing that my alarm goes off at 6:30 am. and yes i am crying because whew this book was a curveball.

Beth Livingston

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an eARC. Where it All Lands is a very interesting book The book centers on who Stevie chooses to date between two friends, Drew and Shane. It has parallel timelines of who she chooses and what happens. Overall it was a good read. I give this a 3 out of 5 stars. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Sofie

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the eARC for review!

_______


  Some call it fortune, some call it fate. It’s neither. Every moment led to this, and this chance would lead to more moments, all stringing together a life. We chase every dream and reach for every imagined finish line. But it’s not about the end.


On Stevie's first day at her new school, she meets a pair of best friends who both almost instantly fall for her. Rather than fighting, the pair toss a coin to see who will get to ask her out. Where It All Lands follows both realities - one where the coin lands on heads for Drew, and one where it lands on tails for Shane.

If you can't tell by my ~overly enthusiastic~ synopsis of the book, I was NOT a fan. We start the first chapter in a flash forward to some tragedy - we don't know which timeline it's from - and we basically get 2 novellas about Stevie and her two possible relationships. We barely get to know the characters, so when the books comes full circle to that opening tragedy, it was hard to care. 

The characters were bland and pretentious. Shane was the only decent one, honestly. All 3 of our MCs are music obsessed, and the author name drops a lot of older bands as if they have the monopoly on "good music". Wexler, you know you can write a book about music aficionados without insulting one of the most talented and respected female musicians in the world? I'm not here for the Taylor Swift slander. Also considering she was virtually the ONLY female musician other than Stevie Nicks that the author mentions in the book, it came across borderline misogynistic.

Let's not forget the worst YA trope in existence IMO - insta-love. Drew and Shane know within, like, 20 seconds of meeting Stevie that she's ~not like other girls~. They each have 1 conversation with her before they both know they want to ask her out. At least in Shane's timeline, we get some build up, but in Drew's, the pair literally get together after 3 days. And anything that was good about Shane's timeline was soured by his constant "oh she could never like me, she likes Drew, I'm such a fool, I'll always be in the friend zone!!"

Like, no. Why couldn't the pair have wanted to be Stevie's friend without anticipating a relationship coming out of it? And it's clear at least Drew wasn't interested in only being friends, since he completely ignores her in the timeline where Shane wins the coin toss. A girl's friendship is not a consolation prize. 

The melodrama of the last few chapters was laughable. It feels like the author was trying to say something about the importance of friendship, of choice, of fate, but she couldn't decide what. We barely see Drew and Shane's friendship since their parts are so fully about their respective relationships with Stevie. 

1.75 stars.

Tatiana Alvarez 

Solid 3.5

I would say that this book was an unexpected read. I went into it blindly and it caught me off guard at sometimes, until I realized what was happening.

This book is told through dual storylines. New girl Stevie immediately catches the eye of BFFs Shane and Drew. Both boys immediately like her and want to ask her out. So they settle this like they would settle anything, a coin toss. Heads means Drew will get to ask Stevie out and Shane stands down, while tails means the opposite. 

The book follows both storylines. Part one is Drew's storyline, while part two is Shane. Part 3, however, is unique because it flips back and forth between heads and tails. I refuse to believe the heads storyline actually happened. I would much rather think that this book ends in tails and you'll see why when you read this book.

The writing is unique. I have read multiple timelines before but none of them were like this. At first, I didn't really like it much, but it grew on me and I enjoyed more. This book was definitely an experience. Loved the audiobook readers!

Where It All Lands

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