Book Review: The Geography of You and Me

I remember staying up all through the night reading the author’s earlier work (The Statistical Probability Of Love At First Sight) few years ago and I hoped The Geography of You and Me would help me repeat the experience. Did it fulfill the promise? Read on to know more.

Book Name: The Geography of You and Me
Author:  Jennifer E. Smith 
Genre: Fiction – Romance, Young Adult
Characters: Lucy, Owen
Setting: New YorkThe USA, LondonEnglandThe UK

The story starts with Owen and Lucy stuck in an elevator when the whole city plunges into darkness. It is instant chemistry and once they are rescued they roam around the city and end up chatting for hours. They end up spending their night gazing at stars from their rooftop. As fate intervenes, they both leave New York City soon and part ways.

The Geography of You and MeOwen and his father are trying to get over their loss of their mother and go on a road trip across America. Lucy joins her parents in London who are avid travelers and trots all over the globe. They keep in touch with each other through postcards and email. Do they get to meet each other? Or does the distance change them?

The Geography of You and Me opened with a great promise of an unusual set up but failed to sustain the interest. I am not a big fan of love at first sight (gasp) and the lead characters spent less than a day together to have had time to fall for each other.

I love reading the lovey dovey portion of any romance, as any person would. I was almost looking forward to it just to get out of the monotonous chapters that consisted of ‘he went there’ ‘she went there’. But The Geography of You and Me was a disappointment even on that front.

The story alternates between two POVs but the voice ended up being the same which didn’t work for me at all. I have heard so much of this book and opened it with great expectations and sadly The Geography of You and Me didn’t live upto it.

Is there any book that failed to live up to the hype? Or is it just me? Let us chat.

28 Comments

  1. Sam@WLABB

    Oh, bummer. Sorry you didn’t enjoy this one. I actually really liked it. I got really invested in these two. I wanted Owen to heal and Lucy to mend her familial relationships. I do love JES, but Windfall did not live up to the hype in my head.

    Reply
    • Gayathri

      I am not a big fan of love at first sight or meeting. So maybe that is why this one didn’t seem appealing.

      Reply
  2. Terri A. Wilson

    The Immortal Instruments series did not live up to the hype in my opinion and I also didn’t think Ready Player One was all that great either. I thought I was good, but not incredible. I don’t really like love at first sight, either.

    Reply
    • Gayathri

      I had Ready Player One on my TBR and now that you told me it wasn’t great I have to rethink about it. And meh to love at first sight.

      Reply
      • Terri A. Wilson

        I am the only person I know if who didn’t really like the book. I think I’ll enjoy the movie because of the music and special effects. I like a story that has a lot of dialog. This book has pages and pages of narrative where the author just tells us what happens instead of letting us see it.

        Reply
        • Gayathri

          I hate when that happens. It is hard to get over it once we spot that they are telling not showing.

          Reply
  3. Katiria Rodriguez

    Great review, I’m sorry this one was a miss to you I hope your next read is a much better one. Thank you so much for sharing your awesome post.

    Reply
    • Gayathri

      Yes I hope the next read is better. Thanks!

      Reply
  4. Dani @ Perspective of a Writer

    Oh that is too too bad! I had heard so much about the statistical book that I just assumed this would be as good! And it sounds like it would have a lot of promise. <3 I actually was so disappointed in Red Queen… the book still makes me gag when I see the sequels so it could be worse! 😀

    Reply
    • Gayathri

      I liked Statistical book but didn’t love it. At least it compelled me to finish the book off though.

      Reply
  5. Cia Black

    Sucks it didn’t come alive as you wished it had. One that did that for me was the ever popular ACOTAR, the book just seemed flat and one noted. Everyone says “but the second one is so much better, you have to read it”. I just keeping thinking well I’d hope it would be cause I don’t think it could get much worse”

    Reply
    • Gayathri

      That makes so much sense. I should stop myself getting into things that sucked the first time too.

      Reply
  6. DJ Sakata

    Shucks – what a let down ;(

    Reply
    • Gayathri

      It was and I had so much expectations!

      Reply
  7. Nikki

    Bummer, what a pretty cover that I would have picked it up.

    Reply
    • Gayathri

      Yes the cover is pretty and the plot as well is intriguing. The writing just didn’t work.

      Reply
  8. Tasha and Megan

    It’s a pity that the idea for the story is quiet a sweet one but the execution was a little off the mark.

    Reply
    • Gayathri

      Yes that was the problem. I am sad this happened.

      Reply
  9. Imarah

    I’m glad you shared this, I had this on my radar …
    Hope your next read is more enjoyable 🙂

    Reply
    • Gayathri

      I am sorry for being the bearer of the bad news.

      Reply
  10. Kiss Like a Girl

    Thanks for sharing this, I probably would have picked this book up if I saw it and been disappointed too.

    Reply
    • Gayathri

      Yes. The cover and the plot are amazing and that is how I got hooked in.

      Reply
  11. Jenn @ Bound to Writing

    Out of all of the books I’ve read by Jennifer E. Smith, this is the one that I liked the least. Everything just felt unrealistic. It wasn’t a terrible story, but I like her other books more. Glad to know that we share much of the same opinion about this one. Great review!

    Reply
    • Gayathri

      I had so much expectations on this seeing the reviews. And it failed me terribly. But I am glad am not alone in this.

      Reply
  12. Aleen @ Lampshade Reader

    Oh yikes. Sorry that this didn’t resonate. I’m not a huge fan of instalove either. The premise sounds good so that’s a little unfortunate.

    Reply
    • Gayathri

      Too bad that I felt there was no chemistry or a chance to have chemistry evenn between the leads. Yes it was super disappointing.

      Reply
  13. Libby

    i am sorry that you didn’t like it,

    Reply
    • Gayathri

      I had big hopes though.

      Reply

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Gayathri

Gayathri

Gayathri has been reviewing books since 2010. When she is not reading books or creating online content, she works as a writer and a digital marketer. Head over to meet me!