This Adventure Ends by Emma Mills

“The thing about fic is that it comes from love. Characters you love so much, that you feel so deeply for, you’ll watch them fall in love a thousand different ways, over and over.”

When Sloane moves from New York to Florida, she isn’t expecting to fall in with a group of friends. A fiercely devoted, life-time kind of friends no less. But she does. As she becomes closer to these people and finds out Gabe and Vera’s Dad accidentally sold a painting by their late mother, she enlists Remy to help her find it again and get it back to the twins. What she thinks is just a nice gesture, the right thing to do, soon turns into a serious mission full of laughter and emotional turmoil.

★★★★★ 

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I saw this book on a book blog months ago and was so enamored by the description of a girl falling in love with a friend group, I immediately knew I needed to read it. And when I read the Kindle sample I knew immediately I would love it. Mills really had me and my undying loyalty at ‘Shakespearean chorus’. This Adventure Ends starts with the MC breaking up a fight by roasting the asshole character so badly I almost felt the smoke coming off the pages. It’s amazing.

Sloane is such an amazing character. She’s so funny and fearless but also vulnerable and a big ol’ softie. So often when female characters are ‘tough’ or witty they have some sort of traumatic past to hide. And you know, that’s fine, it’s a coping mechanism, but sometimes girls are uncomfortable with emotions and tough and fierce. And I really like that Sloane is like that, but also so much more. You also get to see her soft side, her scared side. You really get to know her.

Honestly you really get to know all the characters. I love all of them and they’re all so three-dimensional and unique and well-written. I was very relieved that not all of them are fountains of witty one liners, but that every character is distinct from the others and has their own unique traits and personality. Even the minor characters felt real and like they’d be living on even after I stopped reading about them. I especially liked Frank, and I’m this close to demanding a sequel starring him. I also really liked the relationships between people and the depiction of friendship. Like the deep loyalty and the way they can fight but not break up immediately. I also really loved Sloane’s father and their relationship, the way he is her friend but also how his own issues affect her life.

The story line was also just amazing. I loved the ending, I loved that not everything is magically all right, but that some magic still seems to happen (like crazy coincidences and such, but never overdone). I loved the whole ‘I’m going to find this painting for you god damn it if it’s the last thing I do’ spiel, but at the same time they’re also just hanging out and going to parties, reading fanfiction and watching tv-shows. They’re also just living their lives and doing teen-things but also having this pretty cool adventure.

The only thing I had issues with was the pacing. Some scenes are incredibly short and change so fast  that I thought they weren’t really necessary. Things just happen really fast and you just race through the scenes. For some that might be a plus, but I’ve always preferred slower stories. But I also didn’t feel like there was stuff missing, like the fast pacing took nothing away from the story at all, so it’s really just a preference.

This Adventure Ends is a wonderful, funny, heartfelt book about friendship and loneliness, love and trust. I completely fell in love with this book, these people, the laugh out loud witticisms and everything else. I’d straight up kill for this book (that’s a reference to the book. Don’t kill people. At least not over books.) I’m really excited to read more of her work!

 

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