Emery Lord is an auto buy author, so I don't even read the synopsis of her books any more. I just know I'm going to love them.

Thank you for the opportunity to read and review The Names They Gave Us. Unfortunately, I was never able to get into it and I have no plans to rate or review it at this time.

Emery Lord is wonderful, and there is no questions why her books are so popular. I struggle a lot with books that have a large focus on cancer or characters dealing with cancer either personally or because a loved one has it. I just find them to be so sad and depressing. There was a lot more to this story than just Lucy dealing with her mom's cancer diagnosis, though, We see Lucy grow and change and fight back against the challenges in her life, and I liked that. I loved her friends, and the fact that they all bonded together to support each other through their personal challenges. Emery's writing is beautiful, and the feelings and character relationships are too. I can see this being such a therapeutic read for anyone who feels alone in their trials.

Books with cancer as part of the storyline are always hard for me and this one took me longer to read than normal. I did enjoy it as it was an Emery Lord book but it wasn't a favorite of mine. And the only thing I wrote about it on GR during my read of it was that the boy was an ass. I can't recall if my opinion of him changed or not. Overall, I liked it didn't love it.

I absolutely loved this book. Emery Lord is definitely one of my new favorite authors. Great characters, wonderful plot, lots of emotion. Awesome book.

Lucy has a great life. A loving family, a strong support system at both school and church, a devoted boyfriend...she has her future mapped out. But when her mom's cancer reappears, her entire world is rocked. She begins to question everything she once believed in. Her faith is no longer enough. Her boyfriend isn’t who or what she thought she wanted. So when her mom decides to send her to a new summer camp, it just adds to her growing list of unknowns. Who would have thought she’d find the answers to all her questions in a group of friends as different from her as possible? This is a sweet, heartbreaking story. I loved Lucy, and I especially loved the strength shown by her mom. A great reminder that everything isn’t always what it seems!

I had a rough time getting into this one because Lucy and I didn't click immediately. She starts off the story very much your typical preacher's daughter - she doesn't curse, always prays, and has had a steady, perfect boyfriend for a long time. As she opened herself up at the camp, she became much more likeable. I loved that this book explores a second relationship. We always see stories about first loves, but with your second there's so much growing and adjusting to be done. It was not the typical teen story that we're used to seeing and that really made it feel fresh.

I'll read anything by Emery Lord and I can say that this book will be going on that list with all her other amazing books. Yes, this story was a bit slow and different but it was still a great story with great characters. I love the way MS. Lord is able to tell a story and how it just captures your attention.

If you are looking for an emotional young adult contemporary to read in the summer, look no further than The Names They Gave Us by Emery Lord. The book follows teenager Lucy Hansson, the preacher's daughter, who is sent to a "hippie" summer camp after her mother's cancer diagnosis. Though she is, at first, very upset to be away from her family and her church community, Lucy soon discovers that camp Daybreak is just what she needed. There she discovers a group of new friends, and even a family history that she didn't know existed. The Names They Gave Us is the perfect dichotomy of carefree summer fun mixed with the heart-wrenching curveballs that life can throw at us.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It is a quick read that kept me turning pages until the very end. While I didn't love Lucy's first-person narration, I think the target audience of teenage readers will very much relate to her voice and experiences. Unfortunately, I think the way the spoken dialogue is often broken up with Lucy's inner dialogue can often be distracting and confusing. Nonetheless, Lucy is a likable protagonist who is extremely well-developed. It is amazing to see the journey she takes throughout the book, and see how one summer for a teenager can mean exceptional personal growth.

Moreover, I was a bit disappointed with how rushed the ending felt. Lucy learns a whole host of new information about her family, but she and the reader do not get enough time to process it before the story comes to a close. While I am all for an open-ending that doesn't tie up with a pretty bow, I think an epilogue would be extremely helpful in this novel. Not only would readers get to find out what happens with Lucy's mom, but with the other characters as well. I hope that Lord will follow up this story with a sequel so we can learn more!

In the end, I'm glad I finally gave The Names They Gave Us a read. Emery Lord is an author I plan on returning to in the future, as her books discuss important topics facing society today. I appreciate that she is unafraid at tackling difficult subjects, while still providing the reader with an entertaining story. I definitely recommend this book, especially if you are looking for a way to deal with grief.

To date, Emery Lord has not disappointed me with any of her novels. Some were more directly up my specific alley (The Start of Me and You) and some less so (When We Collided), but they’ve all been really well done books with excellent characterization and emotional resonance. In some ways, The Names They Gave Us is Lord’s best book yet, though I can’t say it was my personal favorite.


For the first few chapters, I feared The Names They Gave Us would be the first Lord book not to work for me. I found it impossible to read more than a chapter or two, because the pain leaking off the pages was way too much for me to take. Lucy’s mom fought off cancer once, but it’s come back, sending Lucy into a crisis of faith on top of being incredibly sad and scared at the possibility of loving her beloved mom. I guess the problem here is that Lord is way too good at characterization and I felt Lucy’s pain way too much despite the fact that I’ve not lived through any of that. As such, I want to warn that this book will likely be massively triggering for people who have lost parents, especially to cancer.

However, for all the pain of the opening, the weakness of the book, ironically, ended up being that the cancer plot does get shunted off to the side. I’m grateful, but it’s also a bit strange how the fact that Lucy’s mom is potentially dying of cancer gets shunted off to the side, serving as basically a frame story for Lucy’s nigh idyllic summer at camp. I much prefer reading about that, and I know people grieve and cope in different ways, but the lack of her mom in most of the book and the precise way (View Spoiler ») it ended was odd to me.

The Names They Gave Us also made me feel like a bit of an asshole, because, as a reader, I was actually really glad that Lucy was suffering so much. If she hadn’t been, I wouldn’t have been interested in her at all. Her unshakable faith and her boring, perfect, shitty, Christian boyfriend would have bored the shit out of me. I much prefer the questioning Lucy, full of rage at a God who would do this to her mother again. Solid, unshakable faith isn’t narratively interesting, and it’s also not a considered belief. At the start, Lucy isn’t the sort of Christian I can really respect (like her casual judgment of the “hippie” camp, for example, but by the end, she is). Religious stories can be a struggle for me, but this one worked for me. Lucy’s faith remains crucial to her, but she loses that judgment of people who have different ways of being.

Lucy’s mother doesn’t want Lucy watching her decline and urges her to work as a counselor at Daybreak instead of her father’s church camp. Lucy doesn’t want to lose the time with her mom or have to spend summer at a secular camp, but she ultimately goes. Unsurprisingly, it’s hard but also the best thing that ever happened to her. She makes her first real friends ever, discovers what true romantic feelings are like, and learns so much about mental health.

Everything at camp, I absolutely loved. It’s a camp for people with issues of some sort, so there could be constant tragedy, but it’s also a camp of acceptance and learning how to move on and how to deal. All the campers and all of the counselors gave me so many feels. So many tiny moppets who need so much love. (You know this isn’t my thing but oh Lord got me.)

The friendships Lucy forms are so real. I adore her immediate bond with Anna. Actually, I just adore Anna in general, for her anxiety and the fact that she’s a transgender character who isn’t just there to be transgender. I love Anna’s little sideship-to-be too. Write that book, Emery!!! No surprise either that I ship the hell out of Jones and Lucy. They’ve got this little slow burn thing and it’s an adorable interracial romance and his family is so cute and just yes all across the board.

Elements of The Names They Gave Us were really difficult for me, and I feel like it lost focus a bit, but it also gave me absolutely all the feelings. Seriously, Lord, a book about Tambe and Anna would make my life!

I will always read Emery Lord. She just gets a better and better. An excellent look at a teen coping with a parent's cancer, and the questions that come, and the doubts and anger at God.

I had to DNF this at 23%. I almost put it down after two chapters but decided to at least give it more of a shot, but after almost a quarter of the way through the book, I cannot connect with it in any way, shape, or form. It just isn't for me.

My Review:

What I Liked:

Characters. I loved reading a book from one single POV (something that is rare these days) and Lucy grew on me as the main character. Lord also supplied the reader with a ton of side characters that propelled the story but were also three-dimensional. It is exteremly hard to pick one single character I liked above all others because Lord crafted so many deep and likable ones.

Main Message/Faith. The focus on Lucy struggle with her faith and also figuring out that she is not alone in the world hit me hard. I was almost in tears near the end of the novel and during a lot of Lucy's inner struggles. It hit home with me and I was able to relate to Lucy.

Twists. I was not expecting there to be a twist near the end nor did I expect the novel to have a bit of mystery to it. However, I felt that it fit in with the story and made the ending a bit more intriguing.

Writing. I was not a huge fan of Lord's last novel because of the characterization/plot but still enjoyed her writing style. However this time around I love the characters, the plot, and the writing, so I love pretty much all of it. :) I tend to veer toward metaphor and detail heavy writing and Lord supplied that.

Humor/Cuteness. Even though the novel deals heavily with tough topics like broken homes, depression, death, and loss of faith it still had bright and humor filled moments. The fun interactions with the campers and the group of counselors were light and entertaining to read.

Romance. The fact that the romance was not the center of the novel made it even sweeter. Plus, one word: Jones. He was an amazing love interest that I feel for by the end of the novel.

What I Disliked:

Beginning/Pacing. I actually put this down after the first 30ish pages months ago because of the pacing. I struggled to fully get into the story until 100 or so pages later when I got a feel for the main character and the main story started to unfold. Besides the hard time I had with the beginning the novel was overall a great read.

I recommend checking this out if you enjoy emotional and deep contemporary fiction. It has romance but mainly focuses on family, friends, and the main character's struggle with her faith.

My Rating:

4.5 Stars Out of 5 Stars

I think a lot of people are going to love this one, but it wasn't really my cuppa tea. I think maybe I just have an Emery Lord aversion? I don't know - I wanted to love it, but the characters kind of fell flat for me. I didn't really connect with the love story, and I didn't care much for Lucy at all. Wish I could say it was great, but I just didn't enjoy it.

I've put off reading this book because I wanted to read it so bad but wanted to always have it out there waiting for me. I just couldn't wait anymore.
I knew on page 6 that this book was going to gut me. And it did. Completely. This book is EVERYTHING I wanted it to be and more.

The perfect summer read for fans of Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson, the Summer series by Jenny Han & The Truth about Forever by Sarah Dessen. A beautiful story about love, friendship, faith, bravery & acceptance.

Books that deal with faith and religion are not typically my thing… not for any particular reason, I just am always afraid they might get a little too into religion and faith and that’s not usually my thing. That said, how am I supposed to pass up an Emery Lord book?

I’m so glad I didn’t let the word “faith” in the summary scare me away because this was such a beautiful story and one I think only Emery Lord could have told. She just has an amazing way of portraying family and friendship and the way she tells a story, makes it virtually impossible to put it down until the last page. Honestly, after I turned the last page, I went back and reread the last chapter again just to revel in the beauty of it. I promise it’s everything you’ll want in a summer read.

Lucy Hansson has always had her faith to get her through the rough patches and her beliefs have always helped her in making her decisions. She’s looking forward to spending the summer with her family working at their bible camp, but when Lucy finds out her mother’s cancer has reappeared, she isn’t prepared for how it affects her. The things she’s believed in her whole life she now questions, the boy she thought she was meant to be with, isn’t helping her cope and now her mom is asking her to work at the “hippie” camp located across the lake. Yes, I said the dreaded “C” word, but rest assured this book isn’t about cancer so don’t let that scare you off either.

Lucy was just an amazing character all around. I loved her from the first page to the last and all of them in between. Her growth was just wonderful to see, starting the book somewhat naïve about so many things, it was lovely to see her become the Lucy on the last page. Watching her learn about friendship and bond with her camp friends and learn to trust this new group of people allowed so much growth and gave her relationships that until now had been missing from her life.

Can I also add how much I loved her family and how much her family was a part of this story? She talked with them, she spent time with them… and she enjoyed being with them. That’s a rare thing in YA for sure and I appreciate that Lord really developed that part of the story.

There is definitely a romance here… and it’s sweet and swoony and just plain lovely, but ultimately it’s not really what this story is about. Friendship, family.... love. This book has it all - and the ups and downs that go with them. Amazing story-telling as always and a wonderful, unforgettable character in Lucy Hansson.

Lucy is a good Christian girl, the daughter of a pastor. She is having a crisis of faith when her mother’s cancer returns and Lucy wonders why. Her parents send her to work at a summer camp for troubled kids instead of the religious camp her parents run. She is expected to be a counselor and work with the children who are dealing with their own problems. Lucy is reluctant and yet slowly she finds herself fitting in. She begins to make friends with the other counselors and becomes involved with the children under her charge. Lord is generous with her depiction of teens who are almost too good to be true. They are sympathetic, kind and gentle with the little camp-goers and also with each other. There are serious issues in the book - teen pregnancy, child abuse, faith, illness, trans-sexual issues and multi-racial romance. There’s a great deal of acceptance in the book and compassion and empathy are hallmarks of the characters. The story is slow at times but the plot is ambitious, covering so many issues. With all the topics covered, there’s not much conflict and there needed to be more tension, other than the fears associated with Lucy’s mother’s illness. There are just too many characters who are too sweet. A dose of reality would bring a higher rating.
3.5*

Wow, emotionally packed new novel by Emery Lord. I started this yesterday, on Easter Sunday, and finished it this morning because it grabbed my heart and pulled me in for so many reasons. I have to be honest, I requested this book from netgalley only on the author's name because I am a huge fan of Emery Lord. I didn't read the synopsis ahead of time and for the first few pages I wondered what it was exactly I was getting into. As I kept reading, focusing on what protagonist Lucy Hannson was thinking about her faith and family and goals, I watched her world crumble and I knew I wouldn't be able to put this book down. Lucy is a well written character, strong family and strong faith. Her Christianity is important to her and her faith in a higher power guides her, but in no way is this a book that is preachy or pushy about religion. Faith in something bigger and hope are the ideas that Lord focuses on with Lucy and it is very well written. After Lucy's world starts to crumble, she finds herself at a "hippie", not her normal summer spent at the Christian camp her parents run. She is introduced to a large cast of fantastic characters, including Anna, Keely and Jones. The development of these friendships and relationships is done so well and they are all so different. Lord includes common themes in the lives of teens through these counselors and the campers they are guiding. The story contains secrets and it romance and friendship and love, but it focuses on the idea of faith in family, love and friendship; as well as faith in oneself. I really enjoyed this book and that ending will stay with me for a while... well done!