Reading Metrics
Description
With her mother stationed in Iraq, Vanderbilt University student Arden impulsively ends up on a tour of Europe with a group of college girls. The plot contains adult themes, language, and situations.
Quick Summary
If you've got a teen who loves travel stories mixed with real-deal emotional stakes, this one follows Arden, a college student whose world gets shaken when her military mom deploys to Iraq and she impulsively decides to join a chaotic European tour with a group of girls instead of staying home and worrying. The book really shines in how messy and complicated the friendships get, the way Arden's anxiety and guilt collide with her desire to just be a normal college kid having fun, and how the trip forces her to figure out who she actually is when everything feels out of control. It's a fast read with short chapters and snappy dialogue that pulls you along, but fair warning it does include adult language and situations that reflect the college setting, so it's best suited for mature high schoolers who can handle some rawness. This would be perfect for kids who liked Eleanor & Park or any coming-of-age story where the protagonist feels like she's falling apart but keeps putting one foot in front of the other anyway.