Amelia Unabridged by Ashley Schumacher

Amelia Unabridged book summary:

Amelia Unabridged follows eighteen-year-old Amelia Griffin. She’s obsessed with this book series called Orman Chronicles which just so happened to be written by a prodigy that’s around her age. The books are what brought her and her best friend together. When the two of them get the chance to attend a book festival that the author of Orman Chronicles is attending they both are ecstatic. This is the perfect opportunity for them before they set off to college. But when Jenna, Amelia’s friend, gets the chance to meet the author without her they have a horrible fight, unlike anything they have ever had before. Before Amelia gets the chance to make things right between them Jenna dies in a horrible accident.

After her death, Amelia starts to question everything from what school she wants to go to, to whether she wants to keep the hobbies that she’s loved for years. But when a mysterious rare edition of Orman Chronicles finds its way to her, she has to find out who sent it and why.

What I thought about Amelia Unabridged:

I’m going to start off by saying that I really love a good contemporary young adult novel. I tend to read a lot of horror and thrillers so young adult contemporary books are a good way for me to spice things up. Plus, I have a tendency to get tired of reading horror and thrillers all of the time. I do wish I understood why I always lean towards young adult novels and not read something that revolves around people my own age. But young adult novels kind of brings back a time that I kind of miss and kind of makes me wish my life was a bit different and I could have been as brave as some of the girls in the books I read.

The Characters

The only thing that bothers me when it comes to the characters is Amelia’s relationship with Jenna’s parents. I get that Amelia doesn’t exactly have the best relationship with her own family. Her relationship with them still strikes me as weird. Maybe it’s because I never could see myself as having this sort of relationship with my son’s future friends. To me, it almost seems like crossing a line. This seems especially true when you end up getting upset when said kid changes her mind about college and her future. Who even does that? I think that line is what made me not like the book as well as I wanted to even though it’s understandable that they are throwing their feelings on her after the death of their daughter.

Amelia is such an awesome character though. My only thing with her is that she seems to be a bit too trusting of people. Then again most eighteen years old’s can be a bit naïve. You would think that an adult would have warned her about strangers though or maybe I’m just over-cautious. I can kind of see my younger self being somewhat like her. That’s because I loved to read and obsessed over the Harry Potter series. Her relationship with her friend is one I kind of had with my cousin. In a way, I do kind of wish I was more independent like her and was willing to travel alone. Traveling alone is always something I wasn’t completely comfortable with but I do think I would have enjoyed it if I was a bit more outgoing.

The Plot

The plot of Amelia Unabridged kind of made me fangirl a little bit. I would love to go to a book con and meet the authors of some of my favorite books especially when I was her age. Getting to meet authors that have made some of the books that have inspired you would be one of the best things to do!

Amelia Unabridged is such a fun read though. You get to read about a girl’s journey of loss and how she figures out what she wants to do for herself instead of letting others decide for her. This is an age where you just want to please everyone around you. I get that because that’s how I was at this age. I just wanted to fit in and please everyone. Then you just get to a point where you realize that you’re tired of pleasing everyone and it’s time to start doing things for yourself. Books like this always make me wish I would have learned these types of things a long time ago.

I completely recommend this book if you enjoy cute stories that intertwine the love of reading!

How do you guys feel about young adult contemporary books?

If you enjoy books like this then you might enjoy The Castle School (For Troubled Girls).