The Wonder Of Us by Kim Culbertson | Book Review

I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Riya and Abby are:Best friends.Complete opposites.Living on different continents.Currently mad at each other.About to travel around Europe. Riya moved to Berlin, Germany, with her family for junior year, while Abby stayed behind in their small California town. They thought it would be easy to keep up their friendship-it's only a year and they've been best friends since preschool. But instead, they ended up fighting and not being there for the other. So Riya proposes an epic adventure to fix their friendship. Two weeks, six countries, unimaginable fun. But two small catches: They haven't talked in weeks. They've both been keeping secrets. Can Riya and Abby find their way back to each other among lush countrysides and dazzling cities, or does growing up mean growing apart?

The Wonder Of Us by Kim Culbertson is a book that I am glad I eventually picked up. There’s a couple factors that it hits that really appeal to me — friendship and international travel. I loved that it explored a complicated friendship between two girls and how they eventually worked their issues out. This is a book that definitely sat on my shelf for too long. However, once I started it, I could not set it down. It was such a fast read.

Abby and Riya are the two main characters of The Wonder Of Us. The chapters alternate pretty much between the two of them. You see, the premise of this story is that Riya has invited Abby on a grand tour of Europe, funded by her grandmother. The grand tour is supposed to make up for Riya’s moving to Berlin and away from Abby and California.

After all, Abby and Riya had a falling out when Abby felt Riya wasn’t there for her when her parents went through a divorce. So anyways, while on the trip the two begin the slow work of repairing their friendship while also determining their own seven wonders of the world.

I do genuinely love friendship books. So, I genuinely enjoyed The Wonder Of Us. At certain times, I thought that Abby’s anger with Riya was a little over the top. Riya couldn’t help that her parents moved to Berlin. However, at the same time I could sympathize that things were tough for Abby. It seems like I don’t come across divorce all the much with YA and this seemed like an accurate portrayal of it. You could absolutely see the impact on Abby and how she was parentified.

As for the trip, that part is really well written and totally engaging. I loved reading about the different places they visited and it made me want to travel too. Overall, this is a quick read with an interesting setting and a friendship that is not to be missed.

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April (Books&Wine)

April is in her 30s and created Good Books And Good Wine. She works for a non-profit. April always has a book on hand. In her free time she can be found binge watching The Office with her husband and toddler, spending way too much time on Pinterest or exploring her neighborhood.

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