There are books where the characters resonate so intensely with you- not because your story is similar or you can empathize- but because there is magic in the words- it yields power over you and within you- Amelia Unabridged is one such novel. This story set my heart ablaze and I am happy to know I will carry a little piece of it with me always.

Ashley Schumacher has conceptualized grief in a brilliantly poetic and beautiful way. Amelia has lost so much in her young life and the strength and power of her resilience and ability to open up and trust was tear-jerkingly emotional.

Very rarely do I find a book where all the characters speak to me on an intellectual and emotional level. I relished seeing a tiny glimpse of myself in everyone from Amelia to Jenna and even Nolan and his resplendent imagination.

The story felt very reflective to me and I know that someone, somewhere out there, will find hope and beauty in their "something terrible." That they too can fashion their grief into something the world can admire and feel comforted by.

Amelia Unabridged is a feel good story of love, loss, friendship, the magic of stories and the power words have over us.

Thank you to the author, NetGalley and Wednesday Books for providing me with an arc. All the views expressed above are my own.

Honestly, this reads like J. D. Salinger fanfic.

But, y'know, I didn't think I'd like Joanna Rakoff's <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/866134264">My Salinger Year</a> either, especially with its dreadful prologue, and I've since taken to evangelizing that excellent memoir and hoping the upcoming movie does it justice. Ashley Schumacher's Amelia Unabridged shares a tendency towards gorgeous writing with Ms Rakoff's book, particularly in the first few thorny chapters, but unfortunately dulls as the book progresses, with too many clever winds and whales flogged to death by repetition, and with a narrative bogged down by utterly nonsense choices.

And okay, a lot of my disagreement with the main character's ultimate decision comes from being from the same background as her dead best friend Jenna's family, where of course you go to college, especially if someone is offering to pay for the entire ride. So what if you don't want to become an English professor: you can take courses in the things you do want and focus on just getting the damn degree, because that's really all that matters in the marketplace anyway. Instead -- and here be spoilers because I'm still incensed at the perfect storm of stupidity that makes up the ending, so you can stop reading here if you'd rather not be spoiled. That said, this is definitely a YA romance novel, and not a comedic, light-hearted examination-of-modern-expectations romance but a fantasy-tinged srs bznz novel that barely deals with the real world as the heroine finds her HEA.

Okay, you ready for some spoilers? Here we go.

So in the end, fucking Amelia declines a full ride to Missoula so her 18 year-old ass can spend time with a rich entitled narcissist while taking photography classes at the local-to-him community college. I can forgive her choice to pursue an alternative educational path if all she really wants is to take photos (which she sorta does only it feels like one of those half-hearted things, especially with her irritating One Shot policy. I mean, ffs, the two most memorable photos taken in this book are by Jenna and Alex! Compared to the photographer heroine of Emma Lord's <a href="http://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/01/12/you-have-a-match-by-emma-lord/">You Have A Match</a>, Amelia is infuriatingly passive.) But the fact that she does this because of one week -- ONE WEEK! -- spent with her favorite author, who is a weird asshole and not at all an intriguing hero to me, absolutely boggles my mind. So yes, he has personal trauma and he doesn't open up easily but he somehow learns to trust her then, despite the fact that she's been very candid about needing to leave at the end of the week, has a complete accusatory meltdown when she actually does that, screaming at her that he opened up to her about his trauma so she needs to stay. I didn't really mind him till then but I was all, bitch, hold up! Did little man seriously think he was buying her continued attendance by telling her <i>personal stories?</i> What kind of malignant narcissist does that?!

And frankly, I did not care for the fact that Amelia's journey is propelled by the refrigeration of her best friend, dynamic, wealthy Jenna, whose parents basically adopt Amelia as their other daughter. Essentially, Amelia and Jenna are best friends growing up in Texas who get into a fight after a California book convention where they were supposed to meet their favorite YA fantasy author, the handsome, mysterious N. E. Endsley. Jenna accidentally ran into him while he was having a panic attack and convinced him to look out for his own health, even if it meant canceling the panel she and Amelia had come so far to see. Amelia was infuriated when she found out, but the best friends were working through it, fully expecting to go to college together once Jenna got back from a trip to Ireland. But then Jenna dies, and a mysterious volume by N. E. Endsley shows up for Amelia. Convinced that Jenna had something to do with it, Amelia makes the trip to the Michigan bookstore that sent the impossible volume to see if her friend left any other messages for her, only to meet the very human N. E. Endsley himself.

Cool if refrigerated bookish premise, absolutely disappointing execution. Setting aside the utter ridiculousness of an 18 year-old blithely renting cars any time she feels like it, it boggled my mind how Amelia never had to worry about money, even tho her own parents are allegedly poor, because someone is always on hand to pay or provide for her food and lodging and books. She only ever feels like her choices are limited because a) she utterly lacks imagination, and b) she doesn't want to disappoint Jenna's parents by <i>not taking their money</i>. The girl is first world problems for real. I feel like I'm supposed to sympathize because she's from a low-income background, except the depiction of it makes it look like all her flaws come from there and none of her strengths. Like, I'm not one of those people who thinks poverty is character building but I also hate when it's used as an excuse for all a person's flaws, especially when she never has to worry about money anyway! There's a flashback scene where Amelia's shopping with Jenna, and Amelia doesn't like trying on clothes because it makes her feel "fake", and another where her dad encourages her to grift as much as she can from Jenna's family, which makes her cry because she doesn't want Jenna to think she's using her. The girl cares more about how others see her than about who she actually is, and this is attributed to her being poor instead of just being shallow. She's allegedly empathetic and kind (according to Alex, Endsley's best friend -- always beware whenever a supporting character has to point out a protagonist's positive personality traits) but she's basically just showing her best self to the favorite author whom she's crushing on. She was meh, he was worse, I guess they deserve each other, happily ever after or whatever. Personally, I would have liked to see Alex and Endsley end up together but this was a strictly hetero book, so blergh.

Amelia Unabridged by Ashley Schumacher will be published tomorrow February 16th 2021 by Wednesday Books and is available from all good booksellers, including <a href="https://bookshop.org/a/15382/9781250253026">Bookshop!</a> Want it now? For the Kindle version, <a href="https://amzn.to/3rtjleb">click here</a>.

This book has my entire heart and I can't wait to get a finished copy. AMELIA UNABRIDGED is a story about friendship and love, grief and loss, and the power of books and reading to bring us together and help us find ourselves and survive times of suffering. It's an incredibly timely book for these COVID times and I believe many readers will relate to and appreciate the book's themes.

I absolutely loved Ashley Schumacher's vivid and poetic writing style. The way she writes about grief and reading, and in particular, the comfort we get from reading and the magic of those childhood books that first turned us into readers, was so lovely. Lovely...that's the word I keep coming back to when trying to describe AMELIA UNABRIDGED. Just truly such a warm, thoughtful and beautiful story about love, grief and loss without ever crossing over into saccharine territory. I'd most compare the way this book made me feel to Jandy Nelson's I'LL GIVE YOU THE SUN and Jennifer Niven's ALL THE BRIGHT PLACES.

While I don't want to describe the plot too much, I do want to say I adored the small town Michigan setting, our cast of characters (yes, even the dog), and especially Val's Bookstore. My local indie bookshop has been closed to the public since March 2020 and this made me ache to return and to be able to browse the shelves in person again some day. I am thrilled this is a debut book because hopefully that means I have a lot more to look forward to from Ashley Schumacher in the future!

What an absolutely beautiful book about grief, love, friendship and the power of storytelling to heal. The book is a love story to books and the people who love them and has a fairytale quality to it, while still be fully rooted in human emotions.

Schumacher weaves a beautiful story and arcs for her characters. She tugs on your emotions without manipulating them. While not everything is rooted in reality, it's the combination of the fairytale-like chance to go on a quest of self-discovery while facing the realities of loss and grief that makes this book so special.

I smiled, my heart seized up and then I smiled again as I followed Amelia's journey.

This is a beautiful book made for readers.

Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books (St. Martin’s Press ) for this ARC.

Before this book, I'd been reading a book with a good but dragging plot. This book was a breath of fresh air. I read this book very fast and was very interested in the characters. The main character is loveable, charismatic, and heartbreaking all in one. This was a book that you just inhale and can't believe it when it's done. Relatable, heartbreaking, and binge worthy.

I had high hopes for this book after reading the blurb. I guess I expected something a little different. At first I felt good going into it but somewhere I lost interest. I had to stop and reread to see what I missed. I’m not saying it’s not a good book just that it wasn’t really for me.

Do you ever read a digital book and find yourself highlighting so much text that your notes are incredibly full, and you have trouble deciding which of the many things you’ve highlighted should be a part of your review? There are so many aspects to this book that I love it’s making it hard to write this review.

“I feel as if I’m bartering tiny pieces of myself in order to reach safety.”

Even though Amelia has suffered such a tragedy, when she’s supposed to be starting her life, there are so many good feelings, where you’re filled with happiness and warmth. I felt so many emotions reading this because the writing is fantastic. I ranged from sadness to hope, and then I found myself encouraged and swooning. This is a book that settles comfortably into your soul and stays with you long after you read it. It’s beautiful and heartbreaking and so incredibly healing. Bring tissues, you will need them. Thank you, St. Martin’s, for sending this along.

“I hate endings,” he says. “Hate them. If the story is good, it’s never going to be long enough.”

Boy are those words true.
I’m not even sure I can put my thoughts into a good review.
I have seen all the positive reviews about this book but I still was not ready for this book. It broke my heart. This book is perfect for book lovers. And I mean the kind of book lover that imagines themselves in the stories they read.

It’s February but I think I already found one of my favorite books of 2021!
How is this a debut novel?!
The authors writing is so beautiful, I sped through this novel. I’m not even sure how to describe this book. I would say it’s a YA coming of age novel. About a girl dealing with grief and finding love. But it’s not enough to describe the beauty that is Amelia Unabridged.
This is the kind of YA book that makes me love the genre.

I honestly cannot out into words how much I loved this novel. All I can say is do yourself a favor and get this book.

To say Schumacher has created a work of art with Amelia Unabridged almost doesn't do this book justice.

Some may try to dismiss it, and sure, we all get something different out of the stories we read, but this book has surely touched my heart.

So many aspects of this book are firmly rooted in our reality. Local bookstores, literary fandoms, friendships, grieving, chosen family versus birth family, etc. But threaded into every page is an element of magic. No, Amelia, the main character, doesn't do magic, doesn't possess any magical qualities, but her story feels magical. Schumacher's writing is utterly bewitching. The imagery and descriptions she uses feel ethereal. Think of those moments in your own life where you've stopped and thought, wow life is truly beautiful. It could be on a vacation, staring out a window of your home, watching your child discover something for the first time. There is a sort of awe and magic in those moments and so as you read this and picture what Amelia sees and feel what she feels, you feel magical too. You have a sense that maybe magic isn't just for fantasy novels, but maybe magic really is present in our own lives.

Schumacher has created a voice in grief. She's put to words, as best as possible, how it feels to lose someone who has always anchored you to earth. When you lose that tether, you can't help but feel adrift, even in the most mundane tasks. Grief can consume your thoughts constantly or out of nowhere. Amelia is grieving, she's trying to find a purpose again and honor her friend's life and memory. You're normally not the only person grieving either and we all cope and deal with grief in varying ways. Amelia is grieving with her best friend's parents, her chosen family essentially who've accepted her as another daughter. That push and pull of not wanting to disappoint someone and also not wanting the same things is so complex and Schumacher covers even that here.

It's also a story about love and about how you sometimes meet people and have an instant and strong connection. It feels like you've known them for so long, even if it's only been a week. Some people have a mutual understanding that feels powerful and unique. To feel understood is weighty, is it not?

You see, after Amelia loses her best friend, Jenna, she's sent a mysterious package to her local book shop. It's an impossible edition of the first Orman book. It's the 101st copy out of 100 and Amelia knows that she has to get to the bottom of this. That at the bottom of this is a message from her best friend and it may be the last message she has from her. She sets off to Michigan to find answers and ends up finding so much more than that.

"There's nothing in the world a good book can't cure."

First off, how about that cover!?!

A book about a girl with the love of books. A girl whose life changed when her father. A girl who was saved by books, and a girl who was lost when her best friend, Jenna died. Amelia is obsessed with the Orman Chronicles written by N.E. Endsley. Amelia and Jenna attend a book festival where Endsley will be present, things go wrong when Jenna gets to meet the author and Amelia does not. The two friends fight and never get the opportunity to make things right between them.

"I've lived in books. I've eaten and breathed books for so long that I took it for granted. I assumed that, if they saved me once, they would always be there to pick me up, even if Jenna wasn't."

When Amelia receives a rare edition of the Orman Chronicles she believes her deceased friend is behind it. A gift arranged before Jenna died. The book is sent from an obscure bookstore in Michigan. Amelia decides to go to Michigan and visit the bookstore. She has questions and is looking for answers but what she finds is N. E. Endsley.

I was not exactly sure what I thought of this book when I first started it. I loved the lyrical and beautiful writing. There are many beautiful passages. Once I got a little more into the book it won me over. The beautiful writing helped as it often does. This book is about love in many forms: love of books, love of a friend, love for a child. It is also about grief and how one processes grief. It is about regret, quilt and sorrow. It is about how your plans for the future can change on a dime. It is about being found when you did not know you were lost. It is about taking chances and starting over. It is about hope and a book about growth.

I used to read a lot of YA and for no particular reason stopped for some time. I am glad the beautiful cover and description grabbed my attention. This was a solid debut novel for an author who shows promise. Her writing is beautiful and poignant at the same time.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.

Read this book! It is joyful, heartbreaking, amazing and unique. You will definitely be better for having read it. This book about love, friendship, loss and finding your way should be savored but it’s so good you can’t stop reading! I loved the cultural references that I hope others pick up on but it doesn’t detract from the story if they don’t. I wish there was a real series or Orman books but if wishes were whales we’d all travel at will. Thank you to #netgalley, #wednesdaybooks and the author, Ashley Schumacher for the delightful #ameliaunabridged to read and review ahead of publication.

I went into Amelia Unabridged without any idea of the plot. A friend said she loved it and I liked the cover - so that was all I needed to pick it up! Therefore it’s a little tough to know how much to tell of the plot without giving anything away - I enjoyed just letting the story unfold.

So instead of telling you the plot - I’ll say this book is about:
- the kinds of friends who are so close that they really become family
- grief of an unexpected and sudden loss
- a magical bookstore
- a protagonist whose love of reading you just may find familiar
- some adventure, some romance, all the feels

I really enjoyed this book but will say there are also some parts where I was reminded that while I still love reading YA - I am more the age of these characters’ parents and sometimes find myself on the side of a parental reaction.

Setting that aside though - I would recommend this if you’re looking for a YA read with a lot of feels. Perfect for fans of Words in Deep Blue.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio for the free advance listening copy and Netgalley and the publisher for the advance reading copy.

This books was so well written!! I’m shocked this is a debut book for this author. I loved the friendships and the scenery in both (the book and book within the book) backdrops was on point. Definitely TW for death but felt crushing or overwhelming even though absolutely sad! This book is going to be a huge hit in 2021!

Do you ever feel like hugging a book while? That is exactly how I felt about this one. I'm not sure if I was tearing up while reading because I loved it so much or because I was exausted from reading this all night because I couldn't put it down. Probably both, but regardless, I loved it.

This book has a little bit of everything and I was not expecting it: great dynamic characters, emotion, powerful friendships, romance, and a tiny bit of fantasy all wrapped up in this phenomenal coming-of-age YA novel. Be forewarned though that if you've experienced a death recently, that reading this might be extremely difficult and triggering.

I enjoyed a lot of this. I liked Amelia. She felt genuine and I enjoyed her journey. I also really liked her relationship with Jenna's parents. I like Val's Bookstore and the cast of characters there. Actually I would've liked even more from them. Nolan, for me, was the weak link. I appreciated what he brought to the story but the romance was so rushed and didn't add anything to the story.

This book is just… GORGEOUS. If you grew up hiding and running away in books, escaping from trauma, living through stories that seemed to be created just for you, this book will strike many chords with you, as it did with me.

Amelia and Jenna meet in their early teens, and are brought together by the famous Orman Chronicles, and their mutual love for books. While Amelia’s small family broke apart when her father left (right before her friendship with Jenna blossoms), Jenna comes from a stable, and loving family who takes Amelia under their wing. The girls get the chance of their lifetime to meet the young author of the Orman Chronicles, N. E. Endsley right after they graduate high school, but only Jenna ends up meeting him, leaving Amelia feeling angry and upset. Not long afterwards Jenna leaves for Ireland for the summer, and dies in a car accident. When Amelia receives a very special edition of the Orman Chronicles from a bookstore she has never heard of she believes that Jenna is trying to send her message from the great beyond, and embarks on a trip that will change everything for her.

This is a beautiful story on the topic of grief, but also on endurance, and learning about oneself and what one is capable of. The narrative has this wonderful balance of fantasy and reality, fantasy where stories are created to manage trauma and grief, reality where the protagonists live, learn, and finally move forward. I absolutely loved how the author integrates the love of reading into the story, something that resonated so much with me, a person who has loved books from the moment I could read. There literally is no better place than a bookstore for me, and my idea of a perfect date would be to browse and lounge in a bookstore for hours, talking about books and people watching.

Amelia Unabridged is marked as YA, but it will touch the hearts of anyone, at any age. I really am looking forward to reading more of Amy Schumacher’s work after this!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book was such a lovely surprise. It felt sad, lyrical and a little bit magical.
It's a grief book as well as a book about imagination and fandoms and the love of reading.

When Amelia loses her best friend Jenna in a tragic accident, she's completely devastated. Then a mysterious gift arrives: a book by their favorite author, a reclusive fantasy writer that Jenna met at a book conference. Amelia is convinced that Jenna sent the book and goes to the bookstore that mailed it (as they deny mailing it over the phone.)

This begins Amelia's journey through grief and loss and toward acceptance. It's a hard book to describe but definitely felt like it was sprinkled with magic. If you loved Words in Deep Blue, definitely give this a try!

Although I enjoyed the writing, the characters and the storyline, I felt like everything was far too rushed and I couldn't really enjoy it as a whole because of that.

Amelia's grief felt very real, as did Jenna's parents' way of dealing with it. I absolutely loved Alex and I want one of my own, please. I also want to live in Val's for a while, if she's taking in borders.

But it was just too quick. Within two of three days Nolan completely trusted Amelia and was all the way out of his shell. Granted, there was some kind of completely unexplained magic thing going on and they went through a traumatic experience together, but still, it was far too fast for that kind of thing. In my opinion, anyway.

Great writing style, great storyline, but hopefully Ashley will ease up on the pace of everything next time. I'll definitely be giving it a try to see.

Normally I take a little time after I finish a story before writing my review. I let myself marinate in what I’ve read, think about things that stuck out, or ruminate on what may or may not have worked well for me.

I’m not doing that with Amelia Unabridged. I feel like, if I don’t get my feelings out and down into this review now, I might not ever be able to.

Amelia Unabridged was pure YA magic. From the first page to the last, this book wrapped you up in a giant hug full of whimsical words and emotions, and keeps you safe from the outside world. I won’t go into too much detail, because this book needs to be approached without much influence, but just know that it hit me and it hit me hard. It was emotional, full of both highs and lows, and I sobbed my way through at least 6 chapters. Honestly, I don’t know how I retained what was on the page a few times because I was crying so hard I could barely see the words. But it was good. This book was so good. What an absolute joy it was to spend time inside Amelia’s head and experience everything with her; the grief, the joy, and the daydreams. She’ll make you smile, she’ll bring you to tears, and she’ll even make you angry a few times, but being with her as she learns how to live her own life after such a tragic event feels like a privilege and I don’t take a single moment for granted.

I’m still getting over the fact that this book is a debut, honestly. Ashley Schumacher has such a way with words that I highlighted over half of the book so I could go back and revisit my favorite moments whenever I need some comfort. The thoughts and actions of the characters were written in such a way that they match their artistic endeavors, lyrically almost, and the scenes were so beautifully described you could visualize everything so vividly, from the scenery and surroundings down to the facial quirks and mannerisms. It was a beautiful story to read and it was easy (and a pleasure) to get swept away in its current.

This book is a coming-of-age story, one that feels tangible and real, even with the somewhat cheesy, yet purely YA in style, romance that runs along Amelia’s adventure almost like a living thing. Amelia’s journey was full of whimsy and sadness, discovery and devastation, and I inhaled it all like a breath of fresh air. This book is perfect for lost souls and old souls alike, and I know it’s a book I won’t soon forget; its cast of characters memorable, and its journey nestled close to my heart. This book is any YA book’s dream, honestly, being a perfect blend of writing that hits the mark for both YA and adult readers, and I cannot wait to see what Schumacher brings us next. Amelia is a force to be reckoned with, and I know for Schumacher, this is only the beginning.


***Many thanks to Negalley and Wednesday Books for the review copy***

This book is so sad. I loved it. It's a story about finding yourself and dealing with the loss of a loved one. I enjoyed seeing Norman and Amelia open up to each other and as a bookworm I had to laugh at some of the scenes (when she went 'squee' about the release date of a book I felt that). I will definitely be looking out for other books by this author because everything from the romance to the writing style is amazing. I read the whole book in one sitting it was so good.