4.5/5

OH MY GOSH. How much did I love this book? I loved it so, so much.

You guys may not realize how much I love reading about mountaineering and Mount Everest and the Himalayas. I have been obsessed with climbing for ages and I’ve read and watched a ton of mountaineering stuff since way back in my high school and college years.

When I saw Leaving Everest by Megan Westfield, I *needed* to read it.

Emily has spent a chunk of her childhood among the tallest mountains in the world, having grown up with her father – a world-famous climber. She has a bit of a mixed-up childhood, but she has found her place among the beautiful peaks of the world’s tallest mountains. She also found her best friend there. Luke and Emily have known one another for over a decade, having grown and nurtured their friendship outside of America, in the mountains near Everest. This summer, things are about to change. Emily doesn’t know that they both are back at Everest for the summer – both planning to summit the mountain – and when she is near him after two solid years of only communicating via social media, she can barely speak or see straight. She wonders if he may possibly feel the same about her, but she is almost too nervous to talk to him about it. SURELY after spending two years back in America for college, among beautiful people and “real” civilization, he can’t possibly be interested in her, right?

There is so much that I love about this story. YES, I love the slowly-building romance between Emily and Luke. Based-on-friendship, BFF-romances are some of my favorites. But what made this book most wonderful to me is that this romance is against the backdrop of Everest, while they’re both separately trying for the summit, and that they try to keep the romance secret while on the mountain. The setting is absolutely magical.

I love these characters and their backstories, and I love the secondary cast that is around them. I only want more of these people after reading this. And more of the mountains.

I super-slightly wish I would have known Emily’s complete backstory sooner. As it is, her story is revealed in small pieces throughout the story. It certainly didn’t lessen my love for Emily’s story, but I was aware that I know little about her until that moment when I finally knew the why and the what that led her to where she is.

Also, it looks like Megan Westfield’s other standalone story – Lessons in Gravity – has a few of the characters from this book, so I’m DYING DYING DYING to go back and read that one now. I don’t think that I’ve missed out on anything by not reading Megan’s other book since they’re standalones with different settings, but I love the characters in Leaving Everest so much that I want to know as much as possible about any of them that are featured anywhere. Plus, there is more climbing and I’m here for that! I definitely want to go back and read her other book.

This story was so easy to read and visualize and enjoy. If you love mountaineering, you’ll love it. If you love mountain settings, you’ll love this one. If you love friends-to-romance stories, you’ll love this one. I’ll be rereading this one when I’m in the mood for a story that has adventure, sport, and climbing.

I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. Thank you to the author and Entangled: Embrace!

This is the first I have read by Megan Westfield and wow it's like you are actually there. The weather is cold, your face brittle, your coughs get worse and your best friend is wanting more than love from you. Emily has it all yet something in her is craving the mountain, one last climb in a way. I loved that no matter who tells her she is too young to want to do climbing mountains forever she is determined to prove everybody wrong. Megan Westfield did a beautiful job bringing this to life and seeing Luke loving her no matter the circumstances was beautiful. Get ready for the cold, suspense and a love that can thaw out any changes in life.

"I received an eBook copy from the publisher for the purpose of an honest review. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own."

I really enjoyed this book. I would say it would be classified as a young adult romance, but I still really enjoyed it. Certainly enough to keep you wanting to read the book. I enjoyed all the information in the book about Everest and the Author is very knowledgeable in this area. There were some scenes that made you hold your breath waiting to see what would happen. I know I stayed up late in the night as I could not put the book down and had to know how it ended. I highly recommend this book.

Last year, I read Megan Westfield's novel LESSONS IN GRAVITY, which I liked a lot. So I was excited for the chance to read LEAVING EVEREST, as well. And I liked this one all right, but found myself wanting to skip ahead--the pacing was slow and I didn't find myself as captivated.

As always, I loved Westfield's descriptions of the outdoors and the risk of the relationships.

I *loved* this book and gobbled it right up. I had also really loved Megan Westfield's first book Lessons in Gravity so I was so excited to see that she had this one coming out. She writes such wonderful, relatable characters and of course the setting in this book was unbeatable and made me love the idea of living at Base Camp (for them - not for myself, haha).

Emily and Luke were some of the funnest and most heartfelt and swoonworthy characters I have read about in quite some time and I loved their story. I loved all of the supporting characters too as well as the reappearance of the Walkabout group.

I highly recommend this adorable love story set at Mount Everest.

This is an absolutely brilliant story that I thoroughly enjoyed and have absolutely no hesitation in highly recommending. It has a very unique romance setting in and around Mount Everest and the communities of mountaineers and their support teams. It is an insightful coming of age story in which cultural expectations, dreams and love all have key roles to play and secrets to be revealed that will be life changing.

Emily Winslowe has had a very different upbringing as the daughter of a Himalayan mountain guide. She has already - unofficially - climbed Everest six times and she’s only twenty years old. Her dream is to be the youngest person to climb the big five mountains but her gap year is coming to an end and she’s expected to go to study in the US. When her childhood best friend, Luke Norgay, returns from college their attraction is growing even stronger but with a mountain to conquer, secrets to be revealed and challenges to be faced, nothing will be easy for this couple!

With excellent character development, superb secondary characters, an enthralling story line and plenty of complications en route this is a superb adventurous romance that I loved escaping into and hope many others will, too. Climbing Everest is really a challenging expedition most of us never dream of even attempting let alone participating in, but this story takes readers on that journey in an epic adventure with danger, drama and, of course, romance.

I requested and received a copy of this novel via NetGalley. This is my honest review after choosing to read it.

Emily Winslowe hasn't seen her childhood best friend in two years, but now Luke Norgay is back in her life and ready to be a guide for the Everest climbing season. However, as old feelings for each other resurface and the pair finding themselves working together, Emily finds herself needing to make decisions for what she's going to do with her future. Will she and Luke get the happy ever after they both deserve, or will the secret Emily's been hiding from her best friend keep her from ever giving the pair a chance at forever?

This is the first book I've read by Ms. Westfield, but I've got to say that it won't be my last. Really, this story was absolutely incredible due its fast-paced storyline because climbing Everest sounds exciting and I couldn't wait to discover whether the group would make it to the top; the dialogue was the perfect blend of intense moments due to the main characters backs stories, especially that of the heroine, that makes her baulk at following Luke back to Washington and wonderful banter that had me loving this couple together.

As for the way this story started, it sets the fast-pace of the story, especially from the moment the hero and heroine come face-to-face for the first time. Being around each other for the first time in two years, especially after what happened to them on one of their climbing adventures, isn't easy for Emily and she's determined to ignore their chemistry while Luke is all for seeing where things can lead, which makes this story very interesting. Will Luke win in his pursuit of Emily? Moreover, I absolutely loved both the main characters and the secondary characters definitely add that extra something special to the story when they're offering sound advice.

Luke and Emily are both compelling characters that entertained me from start to finish with their back stories, their growing relationship and the obstacles they face on their journey to happy ever after including what happens to Luke that has Emily worried for him and could make her lose focus on the climb; the secret that Emily is keeping from Luke that could lead to him never being able to trust her again if he discovers the truth; and the big decision the heroine has to make towards the end that could decide this couple's future.

With Emily, she's had a very adventurous upbringing and I loved her enthusiasm for climbing. She's resilient and courageous, but at the same time, her secret holds her back. Doesn't she know that facing the past will finally set her free? I also liked how determined the heroine was to help those in need, even if her sense of loyalty and honor could put her in danger. While the hero, he lost someone he loved that could very easily have made him not want to climb ever again, but I liked that he was ready to be a guide during Everest climbing season. It proves he's strong, brave and ready to face the past. I also liked how determined he was to win over the heroine because he wants more than to be her best friend. Then again, they're so good together so why wouldn't he want more. Will the heroine be able to give Luke what he wants -- the chance for a future together?

Overall, Ms. Westfield has delivered an amazing and well-written read in this book where the chemistry between this couple is powerful; the romance delightful and definitely shows how good these two are together; and the ending had me worried for the main characters, but had me cheering for their happy ever after, as what they go through makes Emily realize what's important. Certainly, she needs to face her past in order to have a fighting chance for a future with Luke. I would recommend Leaving Everest by Megan Westfield, if you enjoy New Adult Romance, the friends to lovers trope, or books by authors Rebecca Yarros, Beth Ann Miller, Lindsey Frydman and Cindi Madsen.

Love at the Top: Leaving Everest by Megan Westfield
Emily Winslowe's life has been one of adventure, following her mountaineer Dad to some of the highest, most dangerous peaks in the world, and she has been able to hold her own, summiting even Everest, alongside him and the climbers who he guides through his company Winslowe Expeditions. She loves the mountains and can't imagine a life without having access to them.
There's one other thing that she enjoys, a game of filming a 360 degree video panorama of her summits called #YCCM and checking those of someone else, those of Luke, a boy she has know most of her life who is now attending college in the US.
This summer is looking to be a challenging one for Emily. There's the Everest climb with her Dad, and finding a way to tell him she has decided not to go to Washington State to attend a college where she has a free ride. She has already taken a gap year. Her dream, instead, is to climb the top 5 mountains in the world.
Returning from a climb, the Father and daughter take a break at the home of Mingma, a Sherpa woman friend and the widow of a man who had been an associate of her Dad and his company, killed in a climbing accident. She is also the mother of Luke, and a younger son, Pasang.
Emily has been longing to see Luke. He is not only her best friend, but someone she dares not tell that she has secretly been in love with him for years. Her heart stood still when she started noticing an American girl show up in some of Luke's videos.
As they are preparing for a meal at Mingma's, suddenly, there is someone leaning in the doorway. Emily can hardly believe what she is seeing. Is it really Luke? How can he be here and she not have known?
And so begins a heart-stopping adventure story and a completely believable love story set in a part of the world most of us only get to in movies or books and Ms. Westfield makes you, the reader, a part of the expedition. You will experience what it's like in the build up to making the attempt to climb the most treacherous mountain in the world and get caught up in Luke and Emily's love story, one of unspoken feelings, secrets and surprises. This is a book you will want to revisit, and characters so real you want to follow their journey beyond the pages of this wonderful story. Plus, I LOVE the cover! 10 Stars (and 10 mountain peaks)! Highly recommended! Thank you to NetGalley for the DRC!

I loved this book, the author captures your attention from the first page, the storyline draws you in and the way she describes the scenery brings the story to life and then you add the blooming romance between Emily and Luke and you find yourself unable to put your kindle down.

i loved lessons in gravity, megan westfield's debut that introduced the walkabout productions universe. this book has less to do with the crew in general, though april and josh do make brief appearances in leaving everest. but it's not an outright sequel to their story, it's more like a spin-off.

this is a story of taking chances. of letting go of the past. of conquering your greatest fears. and all of these things happen for emily and luke on a climb of mount everest. as a new adult romance, there is plenty of angst in the story. but the life-or-death stakes really amps up the tension.

because the truth is emily and luke figure out early on how much they love each other. how much they've always loved each other. the question is how to make things work now that emily has given up the idea of college and luke is locked into finishing out his degree. especially since they both really dream of climbing. they want to climb professionally. they don't just want to be guides. they want to scale the world's highest peaks in the most challenging ways possible.

logistically, emotionally it doesn't feel like something that can be solved easily. but when things go haywire at the summit of chomolungma everything becomes clear. and love wins out in the end.

i love this world that westfield has created, and can't wait to see more of walkabout productions in future books.

**leaving everest will publish on february 19, 2018. i received an advance reader copy courtesy of netgalley/entangled publishing (embrace) in exchange for my honest review.

Leaving Everest by Megan Westfield is a story of letting go of the past, and looking towards the future. Emily is a young driven woman who lives and breathes the outdoors. She has one final adventure before going back home and finish schooling per her dads request.

Climb Mount Everest.

And who better by her side..... Luke. Her best friend since childhood. And the man she is secretly in love with.

Leaving Everest was a story that gives you motivation to follow your dreams, that you have the power to do what you want in life. No one decides that for you but yourself.

4.5. Stars
Different and interesting, that's how I'd define this book. It's quite entertaining read and I enjoyed it a lot. I'd definitely recommend it to other readers who enjoy a good romantic adventure.

This was absolutely lovely! While I’ve read a few books about Mt. Everest before – Into Thin Air being one of them – I’m not particularly well-versed in mountaineering or rock climbing or, basically, anything outdoors that doesn’t involve tailgating. Even without that background or interest, this was completely engrossing.

“Luke was my whole world, past and present.
But he might not be my future.”


Emily is returning to Nepal for her – hopefully – historic seventh summit of Mt. Everest with her father’s expedition company. What should be an exciting time is clouded by thoughts of her future – attend college in her home state of Washington, or trying to find a sponsor to keep climbing? – and past – her childhood best friend Luke, whom she hasn’t seen for two years. When she unexpectedly runs into him before arriving at Base Camp, she’s stunned to realize that she still has a crush on him, though he’s changed in the years he’s been attending college in the US. As before, though, she’s unsure if he returns her feelings, and, even if he did, what future could they possibly have together? After a bad turn of events with her mom and grandparents, she’s spent years of her life following her dad around the world and climbing mountains. While she yearns for someplace of her own, of not having to carry around her whole life (including craft supplies!) in a backpack, of having her own home base, she also dreams of climbing new mountains.

“To get a sponsorship, I needed that seventh summit. But even then, it’s not like I’d get to the top of Mount Everest and find a magical sponsorship offer tied onto one of the prayer flags. There would still be a lot of time, work, and luck involved in this dream, and how would I pay for dinner in the meantime? How did Luke play into all this? It seemed impossible, but could he? Was there a way? And what about that white bungalow? That was a dream, too: having the permanence of a place of my own and people to come home to.”

I loved Emily. Someone on Twitter, while differentiating between young adult and new adult, described new adult as (paraphrased) “I know who I am, but how do I fit in the world?” and this book was absolute perfection for that. Emily has been shaped by the presence – and absence – of many people and things, and while she regrets that she’s not a “normal” college-age adult, she also realizes how lucky she is to have been able to pursue something that is an unattainable dream for many. And it’s not like Ms. Westfield just has Emily tell us that – Emily’s actions reflect her deeply held beliefs, even when she is sometimes unable to articulate them even to herself. I absolutely loved her journey. While I didn’t agree with some of her choices – I’ll admit to yelling at my eReader at points – I always understood why she was making them. Rather than just being a foil for Emily, Luke himself is also a fully realized character, with his own motivations and deeply held beliefs. I also loved that even when they had their disagreements – and, oh boy, did they have them, and they were some doozies – they are mature enough to realize they need cool down periods, and to see things from each other’s points of view. It was a refreshing dose of maturity that seems absent from a lot of adult novels, even, but something I found completely realistic considering these twenty-somethings were used to have other peoples’ lives literally in their hands on dangerous climbs.

Overall, I absolutely adored this book, and would recommend it to anyone looking for a thoughtful, heart wrenching new adult romance.

I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

I have to preface this by admitting that anything having to do with Mount Everest is a guilty pleasure of mine. Into Thin Air by John Krakauer is one of my favorite books and I've seen every documentary about the mountain. So when I read this description I was so excited to see how it combined something so severe and extreme as Mount Everest and one of my favorite genres, romance!

I loved Leaving Everest. I think that the great thing about this book is that it has the perfect balance of the conflict of climbing this very dangerous mountain with the conflict of doing other less dangerous but just as scary things in your life. Emily is afraid to leave Nepal and Luke is afraid of coming back, and their fears don't have much to do with climbing the highest mountain at all. Rather, their fears and insecurities lie in much more normal problems, such as loss and the pressure to succeed and feeling out of place, which are all just heightened by their situation on the mountain.

Emily is a fantastic narrator, who is struggling to figure out what she wants out of life when all she's known in climbing, and doing so with her dad. Making life and death decisions while on all the deadliest peaks in the world make her decisions concerning things like putting off college seem pretty easy. However, when Luke comes back to visit family after two years in college in Washington state, she realizes just how much she's been missing. Emily and Luke have fantastic chemistry and an ease to them that really establishes their past relationship to each other. The way they support each other, despite their spats, is great. I like that their relationship is built on trust, a trust that's only strengthened by the danger of climbing Everest. The way their relationship, both friendly and romantic, evolves throughout this story is heartwarming and heart wrenching and made me smile like a crazy person on the subway while I was reading.

I also liked that Luke is the child of a former Sherpa that worked with Emily's dad, and his feelings of coming back "Westernized" and climbing as visitor, rather than as someone who had grown up there. Ideas of displacement and growth are really interesting in the book, and I liked that Luke struggles with his identity when he comes back.

While this might not appeal to fans of Into Thin Air, anyone who has a strange fascination (like me) with Everest or K2 who likes romance will love this book. And for anyone who could care less about extreme sports, you will still love this book. At its heart, Leaving Everest is about facing your fears, whether it be leaving for college, telling the boy you've always loved how you feel, or climbing the highest mountain in the world. Funny and riveting and romantic.

A fun new adult book. I liked the setting and premise of mountain climbing. It is always fun to learn activities I will never do.
The blurb led me to believe that Emily's big secret would be the most important thing that their relationship would hinge on, but that drama between her and Luke wrapped up quickly and at the same time it was left unaddressed since she never talked to her mom.. The more important issues were how their relationship would continue into the future and how Emily would be able to trust Luke when so many important people in her life and let her down.
The difficulties Luke and Emily faced were too numerous and came up quickly and were solved quickly. I would have enjoyed them struggling longer with at least one.

A refreshing and different story from what I have used to read!I enjoyed this one because it has some action and the romance was great.It was more about Emily and her future and how she grows up through the story as a character!The storyline is really interesting and Emily has a unique life. Emily and Luke were great together!

Loved the unique story of a female mountain guide. Emily and Luke grew up together so thankfully no instalove in the freezing mountain air. I enjoyed learning a little about mountain climbing in the snow. It included some action and some romance but it did revolve a lot around Emily, her future life choices and growing up. I received an ebook at no charge for which I voluntarily provided an honest review.

The ups and downs and tensions of this are seriously exciting! Megan's ability to put you right there in the middle of an adventure of a lifetime really gives a depth to her stories!

The characters and relationships are also far from lacking depth. Emily is a girl who has lived an isolated life, either alienated by others for being different as a child, or climbing remote mountains with her father. It isn't hard to appreciate her hardships and want her to get some sort of a happy ending, despite her naivete and sometimes-frustrating anxiety over things outside her comfort zone.

And Luke, sweet and often the opposite of Emily in ways, having been born in Nepal and then going to Washington, able to assimilate with ease. He constantly forces himself past HIS comfort zone. It is really a joy to see these two reunite and push & pull at one another. And the sweetness of their romance! *sigh*

There are also a handful of supporting characters that really flesh out the story, and I was just as invested in their side stories!

The cultural aspects, and the attention to the details of something like climbing Mt Everest were the real star of this story. I feel that the mountain was a character itself.

Highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys adventurous romance!

A different read then my usual but was not disappointed. We meet Emily a girl who loved her outdoors. She was shipped off to live with her dad in Himalayans and loved climbing mountains. Her goal was to climb the Summit 5 and also to have her friend Luke by her side. Emily is also a lost girl in life being shuffled around and then finding stuff out that her dad hid from her. When she takes a job with another hiking company things get interesting and Emily discovers her true self. This was a good story about growing up and realizing things aren't always what you think. Honest review in exchange for ARC.

I loved Megan Westfield's debut novel, Lessons in Gravity (read my full review here) so when I was offered the chance to read her second novel I jumped at the chance. I'm happy to say, this novel doesn't disappoint.

I fell in love with Emily and Luke and spent the entire time rooting for them as they struggled to figure out their relationship. Emily and Luke have known each other for years, as their lives frequently intersected on the Mount Everest climbing circuit. They've secretly harbored feelings for each other for years, and as they work together guiding clients on Mount Everest summit bids they start to navigate those feelings.

One of the things I loved the most is how this isn't just a romance story. There's a beautifully written, tense and nail-biting moment towards the end that had me on the edge of my seat. The setting, writing and the adventure adds so much to the story, which is what makes the novel so great.