This book deals with grief and trauma, and even with all that, it also deals with moving forward and having the strength and courage to choose life. It has emotional turns and I guess you just have to feel the plot as well as feel for the characters. This is a special one, so please add this to your TBRs.

Amelia Unabridged follows Amelia Griffin, a book-obsessed girl who loses her best friend in a car accident after they have a big fight over meeting their favorite author, N.E. Endsley. Amelia feels rudderless in her grief as she tries to make sense of her life without Jenna, a mysterious edition of Endsley's book arrives at her local bookstore with no sender to be found other than Val's Bookshop in Michigan, which denies sending the book in the first place. Amelia is convinced that this is a sign sent from Jenna beyond the grave. She travels to Michigan where she meets N.E. Endsley himself. Will Amelia discover the connection between Jenna and Endlsey, or will she find more on her adventure than she ever anticipated.
Contemporary YA is either a big hit or a big miss for me. It isn't something I care for in general, so let me preface this review that way. Amelia Unabridged is not a bad book by any stretch of the imagination. It poignantly deals with heavy issues associated with traumatic losses and how they can impact people in different ways. As someone who lost a best friend in childhood, I could relate to what Amelia was going through and how confusing the aftermath of life after loved ones pass can be. I enjoyed Amelia's developing relationship with Endsley and watching them both deal with the grief of the people they've lost. I also found it heartwarming and relatable that Endlsey and Amelia are bookworms and how the author captures how many of us bookworms are. There is a sweet tone of hope and strength in the author's writing that made reading this book worthwhile. That being said, Amelia as a main character irked me. I don't mind flaws in a character and I understand how grief can impact behavior, but even before she loses Jenna her behavior came off as bratty and self-centered, and I couldn't shake that first impression off as I read the book. I also must have missed the part about the significance of the whales because that confused me. Also, the Insta-love trope is in this book and I don't care for those kinds of things. But Amelia Unabridged is a beautiful story of friendship, grief and hope that bookworms and fans of Contemporary YA will enjoy.

I really wanted to love this. The synopsis was so my cup of tea, and the writing was beautiful. However, I couldn’t relate to the story or the characters. I finished with a sense of “what was that”?

I think the effects of grief and depression are portrayed well in this, but the romance was a big flop for me. There was also a lot of repetition and the story was drowned out by the beautiful prose. Almost like it was trying too hard to be a masterpiece of a novel and it ended up totally drowning everything else.

I hope other enjoy this more than I did. I loved the idea and the synopsis. The execution of the story line and characters did not work for me.

<I>I received an advanced copy of the novel from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. </I>

I cried soggy tears with this one.
Ugly, snotty tears that left me with a hole in my heart, a little bit broken, but still complete and put together by the sheer love and hope transported by the words in this book.
I loved every second of this story, that felt magical and was still so real, that I felt it tearing through my heart and nestling into it to never be forgotten by me. I really need to buy a physical copy now!
I loved every single character in this book. Like literally everyone. The Williamsons, Jenna (just the best!), Amelia, Nolan, Valerie, and Alex. All of them are super individual and precious and I couldn't find a single thing I didn't love about them.
The Storyline also felt super magical, even when there was no magic involved at all. I don't know how the author did that, but I could feel the magic gliding through my fingers when it was only emotions she gave us. For me, this book was extraordinarily beautiful, calm, and stormy at the same time and it made me feel EVERYTHING.
I felt the guilt pushing into me, the hope for something new, the friendship, the loss, the love for books and the desire to change, the desperation of losing someone, and the gladness when beginning to find yourself.
The language in this book felt like prose and magic the same. It was real and yet so eery and like someone just poured their own heart on the page in black ink.

This book! It spoke to my love of books and to the grief I’ve felt when I’ve lost a loved one. Amelia’s story is beautifully written and I loved her character growth through the story. I don’t really know how to describe how this book made me feel, but I just wanted to wrap Amelia, Alex, and Nolan in a hug and spend days in Val’s book store. This book had me crying at a few points and laughing at others. I loved the experience of reading this story.

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for an egalley in exchange for an honest review.

One of the most anticipated YA books of 2021, Amelia Unabridged is about friendship, finding your own way, and dealing with loss. Admittedly this was a slow one for me and I felt the romance was a bit forced in the middle(it won me over by the end). On the other hand, I am not the target audience but was invested enough in the "mystery " to keep on turning the pages.

Publication Date 16/02/21
Goodreads review published 28/03/21

Amelia Unabridged is a remarkable story and one that has the potential to hit on a deep level. If you consider yourself a booklover, have experienced loss, and/or are a fan of YA fiction, don't hesitate to pick this book up.

Amelia's father ran off with another woman and her mother barely pays attention to her. A chance encounter at a local bookstore marks the start of Amelia's friendship with Jenna. Soon they are inseparable and Amelia essentially becomes a second daughter to Jenna's parents. Both Jenna and Amelia are avid readers and after graduating high school they attend a book convention. The author of The Orman Chronicles, N. E. Endsley will be there, and to say Amelia is super excited to meet him seems like an understatement. This is a story of love, loss, and finding direction just to name a few things.

This book was SO AMAZING. You'll cry, laugh, grieve, celebrate, and yearn for summer friendships of old. #netgalley #AmeliaUnabridged

Schumacher's writing is full of lyrical prose and imaginative scenery. Amelia's acceptance from the Williams' family is beautiful and I especially enjoyed the way she tucked glimpses of her friendship with Jenna throughout the book. I am a sucker for a love story, and this was more of a romance than I was expecting based on the description. I almost wish there was more of a mystery for Amelia to solve, though I understand the idea that "solving' her path forward into adulthood and navigating her choices without hurting those few people who care for her is the mystery that she needs to unravel in the end.
The analogy of the rope/thread for Amelia and Nolan's attraction was a bit overused, but I could roll with the 'instalove' moment from the photo and the way that their love helped them out of their grief. Yeah, it's a little 'love fixes everything' but I am okay with that and with the idea that found family is quite often stronger than blood relations.
I really enjoyed this book and look forward to sharing it with my high school patrons.

I absolutely loved this book! I didn't know what to expect from it, but I very quickly became engrossed in Amelia's life and her world. The secondary world of Orman was fantastic, and I wish it was a real book series! We are introduced to the characters of Alex, Val and Nolan quite quickly, not to mention Wally, and I instantly fell in love with them all, and I knew they would be exactly who Amelia needed, a chosen family!
I am so glad I was able to receive an ebook copy of this, thanks to NetGalley and the publishers. This is a fantastic debut novel from Ashley Schumacher, and I will be eager to read any future books written!

Amelia Griffin and Jenna Williams are best friends, practically inseparable. They’ve been that way ever since they bonded over their shared love of novels, specifically the Orman Chronicles, written by the elusive N. E. Endsley. And ever since then, Jenna’s had their whole shared lives mapped out.

But everything goes quickly astray when, while travelling in Ireland, Jenna is in a fatal car accident and dies. Now Amelia is alone, set-adrift, and unsure what to do. That is, until a mysterious package shows up and contains none other than a rare edition of the Orman Chronicles – one that shouldn’t even exist. Believing it must be somehow related to Jenna, Amelia sets out to find out where it came from, a journey which takes her all the way to a small bookstore in Michigan… and N. E. Endsley himself. Who turns out to be very different than Amelia expected.

Amelia Unabridged is an ode to book lovers everywhere. It’s clearly evident that Schumacher wrote this story with fellow book lovers in mind. Amelia, herself is a huge book lover, the kind that willingly stays up all night just to finish one more chapter, the kind whose thoughts leave reality behind more often than not to soar to distant magical lands with adventure, intrigue and glory the like that can only be found in fiction.

With a main character like that, and a premise that surrounds and interweaves the fictitious world of Orman and soaring whales as much as it does the real world of Michigan, Amelia Unabridged can’t help but feel like it was specifically written for the type of person who finds solace in reading the same way Amelia does herself.

Each sentence of this story is layered with so much emotion and vibrant imagery, it’s hard not to become entirely immersed within its universe. I can’t lie, I honestly didn’t know what to expect going into this novel, but my, did it ever blow me out of the water. Between the relatable characters, the heartfelt emotion throughout and the realistic struggles that Amelia must confront, it’s easy to get swept up in this tale of grief, loss, love and hope. The writing style is poetic, poignant and just a joy to read, even while you have tears running down your face as you do.

Amelia Unabridged is a novel that’s beautifully written, and impossible to put down.

Thank you to the publisher, Wednesday Books/St. Martin’s Press, and NetGalley for providing me with an e-ARC of this book. All thoughts are my own.

This was more than simply fantastic. I can't even express how well written and thought out these characters were. It does a great job of handling grief and friendship and I will definitely be re-reading this book in the future.

This book is an amazing portrayal of grief, love, and friendship. It has a magical book, soft and cute love interest, and a snappy main character. I adored it!

4⭐️

Amelia’s world has just been completely upturned. Then at the moment she needed it the most, she receives a mysterious package in the mail, one that sends her from Texas to Michigan in search of answers.

Amelia Unabridged is one that hits you in the feels, but also gives you hope. It’s a book that makes an impact and leaves a lasting impression. It’s a book that wants you to believe there is still a little magic in the world.

In many ways it reminded me of On the Jellicoe Road Melina Marchetta with the weaving of mystery, romance, grief, and healing. And in the way it explores the idea of soulmates, from friendship to the romantic. The writing was lyrical and layered, and had a unique way of blending contemporary and fantasy elements.

I loved the glimpses of Amelia and Jenna’s friendship, and they way they were peppered through the story. It left you feeling the loss of what could have been, and I found myself wishing they had had more time together. More than friends but each other’s family, they are the other’s person. However, I do think it’s a disservice to the story revealing Jenna’s fate in the synopsis. It took away from the impact of the moment because as a reader you go in already knowing to to get attached to the characters and the importance of their friendship.

There were a few things that kept this from being a 5-star book, like how fast the Amelia and Nolan go from strangers to being fate to be together forever in the matter of a few days. And how farfetched some of the elements are that the story is built upon, like total strangers taking her in at a moments notice, etc. It requires too much suspension of disbelief to actually be as effective as it could have been. It is one of the rare times when I wish a book was a part of a series rather than a stand-alone, I would have loved more more development and building of the relationships and plot.

I am thankful for whatever clever wind blew this book to me because it is a gem of a book. This was a wonderful debut from Ashley Schumacher, and I will enthusiastically read whatever she has planned next.

Maybe it’s middle-aged grumpiness. Maybe it’s cynicism and jadedness. Maybe it’s the book.

But “Amelia Unabridged” left me cross. Annoyed. And while I wish I had only wonderful things to say about Ashley Schumacher’s debut Young Adult contemporary novel, I just don’t.

Eighteen-year-old Amelia Griffin is infatuated with N. E. Endsley’s best-selling novels, “The Orman Chronicles.” They have been her lifeline, her anchor, ever since she first discovered them years ago, on the same day she met her best friend, Jenna.

As a high school graduation gift from Jenna’s parents, the girls attend a book festival with Endsley as the headliner. But when Jenna meets the author without Amelia, the two friends have a horrible fight. And then shortly thereafter, Jenna is killed in a tragic car accident, without Amelia ever having an opportunity to patch their relationship. Lost and drowning in grief, Amelia begins to doubt her future plans – the future that Jenna so perfectly mapped out for her.

But then a rare edition of “The Orman Chronicles” mysteriously arrives for Amelia. With no sender listed, she is convinced it somehow came from Jenna. After tracking the book to a small bookstore in Michigan, she hops on a plane, determined to learn exactly how the rare edition came to be in her possession.

Inside the bookstore, however, Amelia finds much more than she expected – none other than Endsley himself. And she instantly knows that he is the keeper of all the answers for which she has been searching.

So that I may first give credit where it is due, allow me to set aside my annoyance with “Amelia Unabridged” for a minute. Because the novel is certainly not horrible. It’s far from it.

At times, it is a beautiful story of grief, guilt, and regret. The first few chapters are especially sharp and poignant, as we are given great insight into the sisterly nature of Amelia and Jenna’s friendship. Jenna’s death hits hard. It’s a gut punch.

And for the most part, the novel is also an effective and empowering coming-of-age tale. Amelia has spent most of her teenage years allowing others to set her path. To control her course. And Amelia now knows she must stand up and decide, for herself, the direction of her life.

But then Amelia meets Endsley. And quite abruptly, “Amelia Unabridged” loses sight of its own beauty and becomes nothing more than an insta-love romance. The googly eyes, the tender face caresses, the sunshine smiles – I couldn’t buy into any of it.

It is at this point, too, that Schumacher’s writing takes a disappointing turn. Suddenly, her previously spare and lovely prose feels weighted down with overdone, sometimes nonsensical metaphors. Clever winds blow, invisible threads pull, and whales swim in the air – CONSTANTLY. It’s as if the same awful joke is being repeated, time and time again.

Of particular irritation were the whales. I never got the point of them, no matter how many times I reread the passages in which they appeared. And Schumacher’s brief explanation of their meaning at novel’s end did nothing to soothe my exasperation.

Sigh. I was SO over the whales.

Even more irritating than the insta love and whales, though, is the slightly off-kilter message that the ending of “Amelia Unabridged” sends. From a feministic perspective, it is not as progressive as I had hoped it would be, and I’m unsure as to whether Amelia truly accomplishes what she originally sets out to do. Instead of totally breaking free from the influence of others, it seems to me she simply trades control and manipulation for more control and manipulation, only wrapped in a prettier bow.

But again, this is my annoyed, middle-aged, grumpy opinion. Take it for what little it is likely worth.

If you’re a fan of YA contemporaries, by all means, still give “Amelia Unabridged” a go. My crankiness with the novel makes me a lonely outlier.

And just because I found fault with it doesn’t mean you will.


My sincerest appreciation to Ashley Schumacher, Wednesday Books, and NetGalley for the Advance Review Copy. All opinions included herein are my own.

I loved this!!! If you are a lover of reading, it is a MUST READ! Amelia is alone. She has a mother, but she doesn't have a mother. One day while at the local bookstore, Jenna befriends her, and her life changes for the better. A tragedy strikes, forcing Amelia to look at her life, where she wants to go, and who she wants to become. THIS WAS AMAZING!!! 5/5 stars for me!!

I was granted eARC access to Amelia Unabridged via NetGalley, but when publication day snuck past me I borrowed the audiobook through Libby. Thank you anyway to whoever was in charge of approving me on NetGalley, I'm glad to have an ebook copy to return to later, and I'll still be putting my review in all the appropriate places. My thoughts are my own and my review is honest.

Amelia Unabridged is heartbreaking, beautiful, uplifting, raw, and real. Just as Amelia's home life is falling apart she catches the eye of a school mate she'd never approached before, Jenna, a rich girl who's just as careful about her looks as she is about the condition of her beloved books. The unlikely pair spend high school attached at the hip, with Jenna's well-off parents practically adopting Amelia as their second daughter and doting on her like the functional family she so desperately wishes she had. Then suddenly Jenna's gone, buried too soon, and Amelia finds herself the substitute daughter off to college for Jenna's parents. They want her to go to the school she and Jenna had planned to attend, and they'll pay her way. They want her to take the degree program Jenna thought she should. They want everything to go the way it was supposed to go, and a barely-coping Amelia is willing to go along with it all. That is, until a mysterious gift appears for Amelia, mailed to the local book store. It's a special edition of her favourite author's first book, a printing that shouldn't exist, and she's convinced it's one last gift from her best friend. Wanting answers, Amelia takes a trip to visit the book store that sent it, not expecting to find her favourite author there, only a year her senior, wallowing in the shadow of his own grief.

The first two chapters felt like a parallel universe version of my own high school years. Even though my name is Jenna, I was the Amelia in my story. The quiet bookish nerd from the broken family who bonded with an unlikely best friend over a love of books. Mine was equally well off with a complete and loving family who were willing to take me along on family vacations and indulge the two of us as we chased bookish opportunities. Mine survived summer vacation after high school but our friendship didn't, for equally tragic reasons. Perhaps one day I'll get the chance Amelia doesn't get and reconnect with her. I think anyone who's lost someone so important to them as Jenna was to Amelia, be it through death or other means but especially through death, will also see themselves in Amelia.

The rest of this book is the roller coaster of Jenna's loved ones, and people she barely met, walking through a season of grief and learning to accept a world without a loved one (or two) in it. Amelia is learning that there's a light at the end of this tunnel, she can find other people to love and make her happy, but it's going to take making choices that don't necessarily make everyone waiting for her back home all that happy. Jenna's parents are using their honorary second daughter and the intent to keep supporting her through the original college plan as a bandaid that hides some of their loss, and they're not ready to accept that without Jenna, Amelia's plans for the future have changed. And that author? He's learning that sharing more of the fantasy world he created out of grief doesn't have to mean letting go of the memories that spawned it.

Amelia has a beautifully wild and chaotic imagination that lets her see whales swimming through the air around her, imagine a more mood-appropriate outfit change for herself in a flash, and walk through more mood-appropriate weather even if Mother Nature won't oblige. I do like a creative character and the way the things she sees are described truly remind me of the way Celia's performances are described in The Night Circus (which I just re-read before this,) but I'm not quite sure if I LIKE this level of immersive waking dreams for her. Amelia's a high school graduate, 18 or about to be, and she's lucid daydreaming ALL THE TIME. Since Jenna's death happens so early on in the book it's hard to decide whether or not this has been amplified by grief, which would be forgivable, but the uncertainty leaves the possibility that she's spending this much time in a fantasy world of her own because its her nature and it makes her seem too young. Her love of photography and desire to pursue that as a career are hinted from the very beginning, but as she starts to confront the fact that the English degree at the prestigious school she'd planned to complete with Jenna isn't truly what she wants to do, I honestly expected her to pursue writing. It might have felt too neat and tidy to have her path cross with an author and then have her turn into an aspiring author, but that imagination of hers that possibly makes her seem too young could paint compelling new fantasy worlds that leap off the page... and she's still drifting toward professional photography. This felt like she's completely oblivious to her greatest strength, which she might very well be, but I wanted her to take creative writing classes and start building a world to rival (or compliment) Nolan's.

I very much appreciate how unapologetically anxiety, panic attacks and dissociation are described and used in this book, and how the characters help each other ground and get through it. I hope this book will make a lot of teens and young adults suffering from mood disorders feel seen and understood, and that this will help to normalize mental health struggles and care.

This book is a strong 4, maybe 4.5 out of 5 stars, and I would recommend it to anyone who's ready for a story that will shatter their heart into pieces and then slowly put it back together again in the best way.

I’m crying, silent tears that don’t leave me gasping for breath or needing to rip books in half but that taste almost sweet in their saltiness. When did emotions start having emotions of their own, and how do I make it stop?” (p. 174).

I have been sitting with this story ever since I read it almost in it’s entirety on February 16th. This story filled me to the brim and I’ve been struggling to find the words to capture the experience reading it was for me. As soon as I finished it, I texted my husband that I was utterly enchanted and I so deeply wanted to own a physical copy of it–which he was so kind to tell me to buy it, even though he truly cannot understand why I want to own books I’ve already read. That’s real love, my friends.

The book opens up on Amelia’s less than stellar home life (her father leaving for a younger woman, her mother in complete shock and depression) and ushers her into a friendship that helped her discover her value. Jenna and her family welcome Amelia in as a surrogate family member, and Amelia spends her high school years wanting for nothing and cherishing the worlds found in the pages of her books with a wonderful friend. Suddenly Amelia’s world is shattered when she gets the phone call that Jenna has died in an accident. The last thing they had said to each other was a fight. Jenna had their lives together all mapped out, how was Amelia supposed to do this alone? After a mysterious and rare copy of the girls’ favorite book arrives for her, Amelia goes on a journey to find out if Jenna was behind it. On the way, she discovers a whole new cast of quirky book lovers like her who welcome her in and give her space to discover who she is on her own.

Once Amelia makes it to Michigan, it’s clear that she’s battling so many things internally. She doesn’t know whether she should continue to pursue the life Jenna had planned for her, which means she would have to allow Jenna’s parents to pay for the college she’d otherwise be unable to afford in order to study for a career she’s unsure she wants, all while keeping up appearances as Jenna’s replacement almost in a family that’s not biologically hers. But what is there for her if she doesn’t do this? And how can she possibly let down her best friend and her family by changing the plan after Jenna’s death? How can she continue reading books when the very person who taught her to love them is gone? How can she be a complete person without the person that helped shape her?

There are so many different forms of grief throughout several characters, which I feel like makes everything more relatable and tangible. Amelia’s grief and anxiety throughout the book is attached to images of whales she pictures in her head that bring her peace. I thought this was such a beautiful way of writing Amelia’s thought processes as a creative individual who spent so much of her life in other worlds. After she meets Endsley, she uses these pictures in her head to relate to his anxiety.

Everything about this story is just so wonderfully done. The cozy acceptance of an environment for book lovers, the sweet and very quirky friendships Amelia discovers in Michigan, and the tragically beautiful relationship she builds with Endsley. There’s even a wonderful dog who’s always in everyone’s space. I truly felt this was such a perfect illustration of true friendship being more than being there for each other in the convenience, but being an unwavering force in the inconvenience and uncertainty.

Schumacher’s writing is poetic and enchanting right from the beginning. Truly one of a kind. It was so difficult to put down or tear myself away for even the smallest thing because I didn’t want to leave this wonderful place she painted for me. I felt like I was there, on this journey of self discovery with Amelia, rooting for her, crying with her, and rejoicing with her. One thing that really stuck out to me about Schumacher’s writing is that she so beautifully crafted a world of book lovers without name dropping and shoving as many references as she could fit in there. All of the book references were so gently entwined into the story that it was more like a treasure hunt to see if I could figure out the reference instead of being pulled out of the story with a name drop. I don’t think I’m explaining it well, but this is something I struggle with in books because I often find name dropping so inorganic. Schumacher mastered this.

After all this rambling, I still feel like I only touched the surface of how wonderful this book is. And to think it’s only Schumacher’s debut? Sign me up for every book she comes out with ever, please and thank you? I will be fervently recommending this book to anyone and everyone possible.

I didn't want to put this book down because I needed it to have a happy ending. So much of this book was focused around loss from either Amelia having so many losses from a parent leaving and then the remaining parent just checking out for the most part, and then losing her best friend she felt very alone. Then you have this guy who feels responsible for two people that died in his life and they both have been dealing with all of this in different ways, but they do help each other in a way.

Was this book a little insta-lovey, yes but in this instance, it worked because Amelia was only going to be there for a little while. I loved the friendships that we saw and how they both had people that cared about them and just wanted the best for them. But we also need to acknowledge the fact that Jenna just decided that this is what Amelia should do and that was that and no changes could be made. Was Jenna supportive of Amelia in other areas, yes but she was also rather controlling at times.
Another thing I think should be talked about is how money did seem to play a big part in this book. Jenna's family had money and they ended up paying for everything for Amelia and because of this she did feel indebted to them, and like she couldn't change the plan that they had put in place for her despite it not being something she wanted. Amelia does eventually decide on something which was good but you can tell it was really hard for her to make that decision and is one that was hard for those she cared about as well.

Overall I really liked this book and it was a fun read that was a good distraction for me from college assignments.

Ashley Schumacher understands what it is like to be a reader/ book lover on a deeper level than most young adult authors. The plot is relatively simple but the characters are some of the most realistic that I have ever read. I am not much of a romance reader but this was the perfect love story. Schumacher's descriptions of grief are some of the most accurate I have ever read. She is master storyteller. I can not wait to read more of her work.

4.5 out of 5 stars

Thanks to NetGalley for an eARC of this book.

This is a touching story about two people dealing with their grief and finding the calm after the storm. Amelia is dealing with the loss of her best friend. They had plans. Their futures planned and it’s all gone in an instant. A mysterious package is delivered to Amelia and she sets off to find out the reason for it and finds more than she bargained for.

This was an emotional story. Losing a loved one isn’t easy. There are many feelings and emotions to process. I loved the story telling style and the story is very well written. I found myself wanting to take a trip and find this amazing bookstore! The characters were great and really made the story pop. My heart went out to Amelia and N.E. This book got me right in my feels!

This is a wonderful read. A fabulous debut for this author! I enjoyed both the story and her writing. I can’t wait to read more from her. I highly recommend this book! Add it your TBR today! I give this 4 stars.