Written by Blake Smith
“When you don’t have any reason to think of days of as weekdays or weekends, you start to realise that all days are pretty much the same. And that kind of gives you the freedom to do whatever you want. It’s a lot easier to seize the day than it is to seize a Tuesday. You have errands on Tuesday. On Tuesday you eat pizza again. Your favourite TV show is on Tuesday, you know? But the day…” she said, adding hand gestures to signify the importance. “The day is all just hours you’re alive for. They can be filled with anything. Unexpectedness, wildness, maybe a little bit of lawlessness, even.”
I was traipsing through the bookshop with a dear friend of mine recently, my arms already heavy laden with novels that were begging to come home with me all while balancing a hot cup of coffee on top the mountain of pages. I was all set to check out when I noticed this book and of course, had to pick it up. My wallet was screeching at me to put the book down as to not make him any slimmer than he already would become after checking out, but the description enamoured me. So, I left it up to fate and quite literally flipped a coin at the register to determine whether or not the book would return home to my bookshelves. 2 hours and 100 pages later, I was deep into Let’s Get Lost.
Let’s Get Lost follows an intrepid young girl by the name of Leila and her road trip to see the Northern Lights in Alaska. On this road trip, she meets four different strangers all in desperate need of a friend, however, not knowing that this friend would forever change their lives and leave them in awe of her unequalled kindness. But, is Leila’s road trip and kindness purely out of spontaneity and altruism or is she running away from something herself? Her journey introduces her to a litany of unique and interesting characters and some truly amazing places, all which help guide Leila in reaching her dream of seeing the Northern Lights.
Let’s Get Lost is the perfect summer read! It is light, fun, romantic, and filled with adventure. Sure, it has the usual young adult cliches—young love, road trips, relationship drama, and the coming of age sort of vibe to it, but isn’t that why we all love young adult novels to begin with?
It is very easy to get lost in Let’s Get Lost right from the first page. Adi Alsaid does a fantastic job of developing his characters and getting you invested in them even though each character only occupies about 60-80 pages of the story.
What is great about this book is that it is broken up into 5 different sections, with each section highlighting a different character. Essentially, you are getting 5 different stories wrapped up into one overarching book. Leila is the common denominator between all five sections, but each section or character rather, has a different feel to it making the book profoundly hard to stop reading. Trust me, once you have picked it up you won’t put it down.
I am rating this book a 7 out of 10. Although it is riddled with young adult clichés and quite predictable, it is a fun summer read that will certainly leave you with an incurable wanderlust. This is a wonderful book to take on vacation, road trip, or just a day by the pool/beach. Don’t wait like me and leave it up to a coin flip; go read this now! Happy reading!
You can find Let’s Get Lost on Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers.
Have you read “Let’s Get Lost”? If so, tell us what you think in the comments below!
Synopsis | Goodreads
Five strangers. Countless adventures. One epic way to get lost.
Four teens across the country have only one thing in common: a girl named Leila. She crashes into their lives in her absurdly red car at the moment they need someone the most.
Hudson, Bree, Elliot and Sonia find a friend in Leila. And when Leila leaves them, their lives are forever changed. But it is during Leila’s own 4,268-mile journey that she discovers the most important truth—sometimes, what you need most is right where you started. And maybe the only way to find what you’re looking for is to get lost along the way.
