Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to read an ARC of this amazing book!

This is an absolutely incredible and beautiful book! It's the story of a girl who experiences unimaginable heartbreak, but it's also the story about the power of reading and the incredible healing powers that people hold inside themselves. When Amelia's best friend Jenna dies suddenly, Amelia embarks on a quest to find Jenna's last message to her, and ends up finding herself in the most deep and powerful way. The story has moments of extreme pain but also moments of extreme happiness, and the romance parts, while not unexpected, are incredibly sweet and beautiful. Everything about this book works, and the writing is gorgeous. I especially love the bits of the book within the book, the Orman Chronicles that Amelia loves so much and that sets the backdrop for the whole story. While this book is not a fantasy at all, having a fictional fantasy novel as a backdrop works incredibly well and adds so much to the story.

I highly recommend this book to everyone!

Amelia has loved Orman ever since Jenna handed her the first copy the fateful day her dad showed his true colors. However, it turns out Nolan seems to be more of a jerk as he refuses to complete the trilogy or show up to promised book conference Q&A sessions. This won’t stop the two friends from having their own amazing summers before college—until a car crash kills Jenna.

Now Amelia finds herself headed to a mysterious bookstore far from Texas from where a limited edition Orman book just happened to be sent to her. This adventure is full of tragic waters, surprising adventures, discovery, and recognizing grief. There might even be the fairytale of romance wrapped into the plot.

For those who wish their fandom dreams could come true, those who pursue their passions, or those looking for a real-life magical read, this one’s for you. Thank you Netgalley for the ARC!

Wow. If this is Ashley Schumacher's debut novel, then I am so excited to see her next!

Amelia Unabridged is beautifully written with great, complex characters. It has humor, but also has an incredible amount of emotional depth to it. The characters are all relatable, and I love the way loss and grief, as well as love and friendship, is portrayed in the book.

Wow.

Just, wow.

This book was so beautiful and heartwarming. I cannot describe how much my heart and soul are filled to the brink with happiness and giddy after finishing this novel.

Reading this book was an amazing journey. I cried, I smiled, I swooned, I laughed and everything in between.

Schumacher is an incredible writer. I truly cannot emphasize how brilliantly exquisite she painted her words. The writing is so elegant and powerful that it is impossible to not be absorbed into this meaningful and profound novel.

'Amelia Unabridged' is about love, grief, coping and moving on from loss, friendship, books, stories, life, family, finding your place in the world and so much more.

Plus, the characters are simply wonderful. My love for Amelia, Nolan, Jenna, Alex, Val, Wally, the Williamses, and every single person in this book is infinite, and I so desperately wish that Val's bookstore and the Orman Chronicles to be real.

I am so grateful to NetGalley for giving me an opportunity to reading this ARC, because this book is definitely one of the best I've ever read and will stick with me forever.

If you're a booklover, someone who's ever suffered a loss, or basically anyone, you absolutely must read this.

Coming of age, fairy-tale-like story focusing on a college-bound high-school grad whose best friend dies during a graduation trip to Italy. Shortly thereafter, the heroine receives limited-edition and out-of-print copy of her favorite book which she is convinced must have come from her dead friend. She visits the bookstore, meets the author, falls in love and finds herself in the process. Enjoyable read.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this ARC publication for a honest review.

Publication date February 16, 2021.

Books transport readers to faraway places, unforeseen love and to worlds where mystery abounds. We the reader blur the lines of our own lives to those within the pages to escape the harsh reality of our world.

Amelia Unabridged follows two friends, Jenna and Amelia, who bond over their favorite book series The Ormen Chronicles written by reclusive author N.E. Endsley (Nolan).

Unexpected tragedy forces Amelia to travel outside her realm to discover how to live without Jenna’s life plan for the both of them.

Brought together by a mysteries, rare edition of The Ormen Series, Amelia travels from Texas to a small Northern Michigan town where Nolan is living. In the local bookstore Amelia, with Nolan’s forbearance, discovers that even when the world is falling apart books are truly magic.

Nolan and Amelia discover that the life does goes on even in the face of adversity. Together they immerse in an introspection of their lives and slowly build a language of love that shreds the walls of grief. Nolan and Amelia bind their pages beautifully, fitting perfectly within each other.

It is a stunning read that is hard to put down, filled with hope and references to books that are popular today. Warm your heart with this read in 2021.

I was so, so excited to read this book, especially because I got an ARC, but argh. This book didn't worked for me. At all.
I didn't liked the characters, they were all very... weird. And not in a good way. I don't think I liked anyone of them, because I couldn't believe they were acting certain ways. It just felt unnatural to me, I was thinking multiple times while reading "who the fuck would do that?".

A major topic of the story was grief, but I really didn't like how it was handled here. It felt a bit too much like love cures all your problems for me. And while yes, a relationship with someone understanding and caring can probably be very helpful, but Amelia and Nolan didn't knew each other AT ALL and still were madly in love with each other after a few days and I was just like... why? WHY? This book would really have profited from playing over a longer period of time than just a few days. The changes in the characters were too sudden.

While I didn't like the story or the characters, I did appreciate the writing style and that it's a book for book lovers. The author writes really beautiful and I highlighted some quotes that I liked. I will definitely keep Ashley Schumacher on my radar, because even though Amelia Unabridged didn't work for me as a story, I would be very interested in what she writes next.

Amelia Unabridged is a stunning read that I am excited for everyone to get their hands on. I read it in one sitting, and was devastated by the end. The story follows Amelia Griffin, a girl who is obsessed with The Orman Chronicles which were written by a young and reclusive author, N.E. Endsley. This series brought Amelia and her best friend Jenna together. When tragedy befalls Jenna, Amelia must learn to grieve and find a way to move forward in life.

This story hit me hard. Amelia is such a fierce character. The characters are genuine and real and I fell in love with all of them. If you are a bookworm this book is a must-read. It’s a love letter to those who were brought together closer through reading.

I received an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

It's been a while since a YA contemporary, or really just any book in general, has pulled me in and enraptured me so completely as this book did.

Amelia Unabridged is a stunning debut about a girl, Amelia, who, following the death of her best friend, receives a mysterious copy of her and her best friend's favourite book and decides to embark on a trip to uncover the story behind the gift.

This book had so many things that I loved: it was beautifully written and so engaging to read, the small town, summer vibes were impeccable, the amount of romance present was just right, and it so delicately handled various hard-hitting topics including grief and finding one's place in the world. Oh! And it was a book about a book, and to say I need the Orman Chronicles in my life would be an understatement.

The only thing that prevented me from giving this book 5 stars was just that I wanted more. I would've loved it if this book had been a little longer so it could have explored the things it dealt with in more detail. However, this was definitely a more-than-solid debut and I look forward to reading more of Schumacher's work in the future.

Amelia and Jenna are best friends obsessed with the Orman Chronicles, a fantasy book series written by reclusive author N.E. Endsley. As a graduation gift, they’re attending a book conference where Endsley is scheduled to speak. Amelia is first devastated when the panel is canceled, and then furious when she discovers that Jenna had a chance to meet him without her. It’s the ugliest fight they’ve ever had, but before Amelia can make things right, Jenna is killed in a car accident. When a rare copy of the Orman Chronicles arrives in the mail from a mysterious sender, Amelia is certain that it’s from Jenna. Tracking it down leads her to a beautiful independent bookstore across the country and the biggest surprise of all: N.E. Endsley himself. I received a free e-ARC through NetGalley from the publishers at St. Martin’s Press. Trigger warnings: death/sibling death, car accident (off-page), drowning, neglectful parents, anxiety/panic attacks, grief, guilt.

This is a beautiful book that’s sure to resonate with readers who love books that are about books. If I stumbled into Val’s bookstore, I would want to live there too. It’s a haven of art, music, and of course books of all kinds. It’s very much a fandom novel as well in terms of how people relate to the media they love, how it shapes their lives and brings people together. When Amelia’s home life is rocky, she escapes into books. It also looks at some of the uglier sides of fandom and how authors aren’t always respected as human beings separate from their work. These were my favorite aspects of the books, since as a book lover, it’s easy to relate.

Though it suits Amelia’s whimsical perspective, the writing is occasionally a little too flowery. I found the whale metaphor confusing and, while I like descriptive prose, there were places it needed to be scaled back. The novel is also less strong when it comes to dealing with grief, and I’m not sure it was wise to market it that way. So much of the book is not about Amelia coming to terms with Jenna’s death that it almost feels like a plot device to get her where she needs to be. There’s strong character development, but it’s in Amelia’s decision to find her own path rather than the one that’s laid out for her. This is complicated by Jenna’s death, but it would have been equally complicated with her still alive, and I never felt the novel gave enough attention to Amelia’s grieving/recovery process.

Instead, there’s some dreaded insta-love, a trope that gets a lot of negative attention, but I think it kind of works here. I like the way Amelia’s connection with her love interest begins and develops over the course of the novel (even if, personally, I think it moves too fast). I like the things they have in common and the way sharing their respective grief makes it a little easier to carry. I also like Love Interest, who’s snarly and stand-offish, weighed down by guilt and grief, and trying to do better. While there was definitely some crying on my end, the overall message is positive: when you find the life you want, you have to be brave enough to take it. It’s not a perfect novel, but the good far outweighs the bad, and I’ll be looking for a copy for my bookshelf.

I review regularly at brightbeautifulthings.tumblr.com.

📚 Review: Amelia Unabridged by Ashley Schumacher

Book lovers rejoice, this book is made for you and while you will love all of the literary quips and the beautiful library where much of the story takes place, this book will absolutely rip your heart apart just to sew it up just to rip it apart again — but alas, no spoilers.

Amelia and Jenna, best friends from very different upbringings, grow up bonding over reclusive author N.E. Endsley’s “The Orman Chronicles,” so when Amelia gets a mysterious package in the mail shortly after Jenna dies in a freak car accident while overseas, Amelia has to investigate the origin of who sent it, and why?

In her journey she meets Alex, Nolan, Val, and one lovable pup Wally — and they quickly become the family she lost when Jenna died.

But a small town by the sea in Michigan was not what she and Jenna had planned. Jenna wanted Amelia to be a professor, photography is just a hobby, and love is a type of magic Amelia just doesn’t believe in anymore.

While Amelia struggles to pick a book up, you won’t be able to put this one down. Ashley Schumacher weaves together hope, tragedy, fantasy, and reality all while asking us to consider what’s more important, holding on to memories and living in the past or living for now and what the future may hold?

5/5 ⭐️s

A lovely, thoughtful examination of grief and friendship! After the death of her best friend, Jenna, Amelia Griffin receives a special edition of her favorite book from a shop in Michigan. She travels to the shop to track down its origin and finds a beautiful bookshop full of quirky characters, not the least of which is the author of the beloved book.

I really loved the treatment of authorship and the examination of private and public lives. The ideas were striking when considering how much of Nolan's life he had to share vs what he wanted to keep to himself. The writing was GORGEOUS, and I often found myself bookmarking pages and highlighting lines to come back to later.

All in all, a delightful read!

"Amelia Unabridged" was a beautiful story. As a bibliophile, a story where books and bookstores play a prominent role is always going to be appealing. I wish that "A Measure of Prose" or Val's bookshop, as it is known to locals, really existed, because it would be a great bookstore to visit. However, what really makes the book appealing is that the story has heart. The title character, Amelia Griffin, was saved by Jenna Williams and by books, especially "The Forest Between the Sea and the Sky" by N.E. Endsley, the first book in The Orman Chronicles. However, Jenna was also a force of nature, as both Amelia and Nolan Endsley discover in separate ways. Jenna was a true friend and confidante, but she also had mapped out the the lives of her and Amelia for the next ten years, including the college they would attend together, their college majors, and their careers (professor for Amelia). Jenna's sudden and tragic death (not a spoiler, as this information is contained in the description of the book) devastates Amelia, but also traps her, as she feels obligated to follow through on Jenna's plan for her, despite not being sure it is what she wants, so as not to disappoint Jenna's parents, who have become like family to her, and to not dishonor Jenna's memory.

Ten days after Jenna's death, a package addressed to Amelia arrives at Downtown Books, the bookstore in Dallas, Texas that the girls frequented. Inside is a deluxe edition of the first book in The Orman Chronicles and it is stamped 101 of 100; an edition that does not exist. She calls Val's bookshop in Lochbrook, Michigan to discover the identity of the sender, but the guy who answers the phone, Alex, states he has no record of her in their system, or of Jenna Williams, and that they do not ship books to other bookstores. Amelia is convinced that Jenna is somehow responsible for her receiving the book. She decides to travel to Michigan to visit the bookstore and try to get some answers. At the bookstore, she meets Valerie, the proprietor, and her son, Alex, but she also meets Nolan Endsley and his dog Wally; Nolan and Alex are best friends and both Alex and his mother are very protective of Nolan, who has become rather reclusive.

Like Amelia, Nolan suffered a great tragedy and he was saved by books, but not in quite the same way. Amelia is convinced that if she can get Nolan to reveal what Jenna told him when they unexpectedly met, it will help Amelia understand how to cope with Jenna's death. Nolan does not really want anything to do with Amelia initially, being very uncomfortable around people in general and very closed off. He is dealing with his own significant issues and fears. However, he agrees to talk to her, with pressure from Val. Their initial interactions are stilted and frustrating, but strange circumstances result in them slowly starting to open up to each other. They develop an unusual and intense friendship in a short matter of time; Amelia is only planning to be in Lochbrook for six days. However, they pack more into those six days in terms of emotional connection and understanding than some people do in a lifetime. Their interactions with each other and with Alex, Val, and Wally range from rather amusing, heartwarming, tense, and very emotional. The details of how Jenna helped Nolan and how that connects to Amelia will put a smile on your face. The author does a wonderful job of exploring love and loss, coping with tragedy, unlikely friendships, and the difficulty of living an authentic life out of the shadows of those around you. There are some many great things about this book that other readers need to discover for themselves. It is an especially poignant story given the turbulence and disruption affecting so many people nationally and internationally, and the lessons it offers for finding one's authentic self. "Amelia Unabridged" is a must read book for 2021.

I received a copy of the e-book via NetGalley in exchange for a review.

This book took me by surprise. I thought a book dealing with grief would feel heavier, but this book is so hopeful.

At the heart, this book is about finding yourself. In Amelia's case, she must do so after the loss of her best friend, her person. And with the expectations the friend's parents are now placing on her, weighing her down.

Amelia is such a well drawn character, as are they all. The impact that people can have on you is shown so well in this book, balanced well with how you are ultimately the only person who can change your life.

I waited a few days to write this, hoping that I would be better able to article my feelings about this book, but that hasn't happened. I wanted to submit something regardless - to be sure, this book is already ordered to my library and I will be handing it out left and right to my teens.

This is a quiet story about grief,friendship and the power of books to bring people together.

There is a light mystery but this is more about relationships and introspection.

I do want to visit Val's bookstore. The descriptions pop off the page.

I highly recommend this novel.

Amelia Unabridged was one of the top books I read in 2020. Ashley Schumacher took an interesting approach of young adults dealing with loss family or friends. This is one subject I feel is delicate but very relatable.

Amelia Griffin is a strong character but puts others before herself. This one issue is a little bit of a downfall for her after dealing with the loss of her best friend. I felt so bad for her due to her downward spiral into depression. When Amelia takes the chance to try some new, it changed her dramatically.

I will say that this book took me on an emotional roll coaster. Personally, I think that makes the best book. My absolutely favorite thing is book lovers and bookstore was involve in the story. I definitely enjoyed the book and appreciate early access it through the publisher and NetGalley. I will be buying a physical copy February 2021 to re-read.

Amelia is a loner until she is lured into a bookstore by schoolmate Jenna. They bond over Jenna’s favorite series the Orman Chronicles. Jenna is from a privileged family. Amelia lives with her mom who has never been able to recover from her husband’s leaving them. They struggle to make ends meet. Jenna’s family takes Amelia in, treating her like a second daughter. The girls get closer and closer. Jenna plans everything, down to where they’ll go to college as well was their majors and future jobs. For graduation, Jenna’s parents send the friends on a trip to a book festival where the author of the Orman Chronicles is the headliner. When the author departs the festival without fulfilling his obligations and Amelia finds out Jenna spoke to him, they have a blowout fight. Upon returning home, Jenna leaves for Europe and is killed in a car accident. Thus begins Amelia’s passage through her guilt and grief.

This is for anyone who likes books about books, bookstores, and authors. If you like books about recovering from grief, you’ll love this book. Amelia is a fractured character, looking for peace. I will happily have this book in my high school library.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read this arc in exchange for an honest review.

I'm not sure I have the words to convey how absolutely beautiful this book from debut author Amy Schumacher is. Amelia Unabridged wormed its way into my heart from the very beginning and by the end I find it situated in there so firmly, I don't think I will ever forget this gorgeous novel.

Take a look at the cover for a moment. The hand drawn image of a young woman, Amelia, screams "take me seriously," and the illustrations of a whale and foliage suggest a charm within the pages. The colors are dark and cool, suggesting a melancholy throughout the pages, but the colors surrounding the couple sharing a book together are warm and inviting, maybe even hopeful in the face of the darkness that surrounds them. Now read the description of the book again. Grief stricken at the death of her best friend, Amelia goes on a quest to find the source of special edition of the book they both loved, and finds herself in front of the young author himself. My first impression before even reading the book was that they didn't match very well but after reading, they do, they do!

In the hands of a lesser author this book could have easily disintegrated into something campy and twee. Something I've read dozens of times before, and despite enjoying them very much while reading, didn't stay in my memory even a few months later. Somehow Schumacher manages to create something so beautiful, raw, and realistic here that I'm in awe. According to her bio on Goodreads, she has a degree in creative writing but I think she has a way with crafting words that is rare, you either have it or you don't. Regardless of how she does it, she's on my must read list now.

Amelia's heartbreak is so raw and realistic I really felt for her. Her best friend Jenna is her anchor in a disrupted world where her father leaves and her mother stops caring, so losing that turns her entire life upside down. The timing makes it worse, on the cusp of starting college Amelia only has the summer months to figure out how to live life without Jenna. Her spur of the moment trip to Michigan is so unlike Jenna but is the start on her path to finding her true self. Enter N.E. Endsley. Some might argue that their dependence on each other is unhealthy and I agree, but don't hold that against the author because that is realistic. That's how life is; sometimes we cling to our partners with such emotional voracity... here Schumacher has written life as it actually is.

I can't recall the last time I read such a satisfying and stunning book, and if you love YA you ought to add this to your TBR immediately, or better yet preorder a copy. Amelia Unabridged is due out February 16, 2021.

This is one of those books that just come out of nowhere and you just get completely sucked in by the book. I was on a roller coaster of emotions and then some.
Amelia’s best friend gets killed and she’s devastated because they had their lives planed together and now, we get to see how Amelia deals with the loss of her best friend and her life.
I did not think that this book would have hit me as hard in the feels as it did. I can’t wait to see what the author comes out with next

This book is indulgent. I think every fervent reader has daydreamed about falling in love with a talented author, bonus points if they have to emotionally heal the recluse author first. That's why the tragedy at the beginning of the book is so important; it gives the book grit so it's not all wishful Mary Sue plot. The adult me wonders if they needed to fall in love to help each other heal (one typically shouldn't base their life choices on a week's long romance), but teenager me would have loved this story exactly as is.