I see London, I see France, I see Sydney’s underpants.
Nineteen-year-old Sydney has the perfect summer mapped out. She’s spending the next four and half weeks traveling through Europe with her childhood best friend, Leela. Their plans include Eiffel-Tower selfies, eating cocco gelato, and making out with très hot strangers. Her plans do not include Leela’s cheating ex-boyfriend showing up on the flight to London, falling for the cheating ex-boyfriend’s très hot friend, monitoring her mother’s spiraling mental health via texts, or feeling like the rope in a friendship tug-of-war.
As Sydney zigzags through Amsterdam, Switzerland, Italy, and France, she must learn when to hold on, when to keep moving, and when to jump into the Riviera…wearing only her polka-dot underpants.
Sydney and her best friend Leela go on vacation together, hoping to get away from Leela’s ex. But when he shows up, the girls learn how to deal with the unexpected.
I have always been a HUGE fan of Sarah’s writing. Her books are funny, realistic and just plain amazing. When I saw this book on Instagram, I knew I had to have it. So I ordered myself a copy and read it.
I have been reading travel centered books or ones that are set in London because of my upcoming trip in January. And this one was really good.
There were points where I hated Leela, she was so down in the dumps about her own stuff she didn’t want Sydney to be happy. When Sydney let it all out and yelled at her, I couldn’t have been prouder.
I love the friendships that are built, reading about the experiences the girls have and learning some great travel trips while I read. I have a hunch about who the characters in the next book are going to be, but I don’t know if I’m right. I can’t wait for it to come out because it’s set in a sleep away camp and I think we need more YA books set in sleep away camps.
I like how Sydney is jewish and that comes up a bit here and there. I was able to relate more to her now that I had that in common with her. (Also, Sydney, Ketchup Chips do exist in the U.S.)
The relationships are complex and really do develop well. I don’t think I would label this as a romance novel, I think Sydney’s friendships with Leela and Kat are more prominent and of focus than her relationship with Jackson.
One thing that did surprise me at first that I quickly got over, was the amount of sex in this book. There is nothing wrong with that, I was just a little shocked at first but I quickly got over it because even though there is a lot of it, it doesn’t go into major detail and thats not what the whole book is about.
There is a lot of character development in the story and I love it. Sydney is able to separate herself from her mom and Leela becomes a lot more independent.
I really recommend this to anyone who wants to travel.