Published by Dey St. ISBN 978-0-06-226213-4
Hardcover, $16.99, 239 pages
Read Bottom Up is a modern day romance; boy and girl meet, and much of their relationship takes place in emails and text messages. The authors wrote in the Authors' Note that they wanted to see a more realistic modern dating experience in a novel. So they wrote it.
But they added a twist. Neel and Skye each wrote as their corresponding character- Elliot, a hip restaurant owner who just went through a bad breakup, and Madeline, who works for a publisher marketing cookbooks and searching for a real, fulfilling relationship. There are two other characters in the book- Elliot's best friend David, and Madeline's best friend Emily, an elementary school teacher.
Neel wrote his character's emails and text messages to Madeline and David and Skye wrote Madeline's emails and text messages to Elliot and Emily. The twist is that Neel never saw Madeline's correspondence to Emily and Skye never saw Elliot's correspondence to David until the novel was finished.
It's a clever concept and one that works beautifully, giving the novel a realistic feeling. Even though I am older than the target market for this book, I loved it. It's a Sex and the City for this generation, where every piece of their life could be played out on social media for all to parse and ponder.
Elliot is witty and charming, and maybe just a little bit flaky. When Madeline arrives at their second date, she finds an entire table filled with Elliot's friends, and she hardly speaks to Elliot all night. What does this mean? She turns to Emily for advice.
They have been dating for awhile, sleeping at each other's apartments, spending most of their time together, when Elliot informs her that he will be spending an entire week in Vermont at the wedding festivities of a college buddy. (I guess that's how it works today, weddings are a weeklong process.)
Elliot doesn't ask Madeline to accompany him, and while trolling on Elliot's friends' Instagram accounts, she sees that Elliot's ex-girlfriend is also at the wedding. What does this mean? Again, she turns to Emily.
Elliot spends much time sharing his thoughts about Madeline with David. There are times when he doesn't understand why Madeline is angry with him, and he wonders if they are truly compatible.
Read Bottom Up is a fun, quick, addictive read. You feel like you know these characters, and for a minute I expect to see them turn up somewhere on my Facebook news feed. There is a real twist at the end of the story, one I did not see coming, but enjoyed immensely.
rating 4 of 5
Thanks to TLC Tours for putting me on the tour. The rest of the tour stops are here:
Tuesday, April 7th: From the TBR Pile
Wednesday, April 8th: A Chick Who Reads
Thursday, April 9th: Sara's Organized Chaos
Friday, April 10th: A Bookish Way of Life
Tuesday, April 14th: BookNAround
Wednesday, April 15th: bookchickdi
Thursday, April 16th: Peeking Between the Pages
Friday, April 17th: 5 Minutes For Books
Monday, April 20th: Booksie's Blog
Wednesday, April 22nd: Bibliotica
Thursday, April 23rd: Thoughts On This 'n That
Monday, April 27th: Mom in Love With Fiction
Tuesday, April 28th: Walking With Nora
Wednesday, April 29th: The Book Binder's Daughter
Thursday, April 30th: Kritters Ramblings
Monday, May 4th: Svetlana's Reads and Views
Wednesday, May 6th: 100 Pages a Day ... Stephanie's Book Reviews
Friday, May 8th: The Discerning Reader
Hum. I'm glad you enjoyed this .. I'm not 100% sold, but the book does look like it could be a fun summer read.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds very clever - I bet I'd love it too.
ReplyDeleteOoh what fun! I can certainly see these characters having their own social media sites - it would be highly entertaining I think.
ReplyDeleteThanks for being a part of the tour!