I really wanted to love this book, but it just felt like it was dragging along. I wasn't in love with any of the characters and the slow plot just further disinterested me. I thought Smith's previous novel Don't Read the Comments was fun and relatable, so I had high hopes for You Can Go Your Own Way, but unfortunately this book just fell a little flat for me. I could see this being some people's comfort book though, just not mine!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of <i>You Can Go Your Own Way</i> in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

<h4 style="margin-top: 84px;">The Gist</h4>

<i>You Can Go Your Own Way</i> by Eric Smith is a sweet and heartwarming young adult romance that offers a delightful, albeit predictable, read. Set against the backdrop of a small, struggling pinball arcade in Philadelphia, the story brings together two unlikely characters who must navigate their differences and personal struggles.

<h4>The Details</h4>

The plot centres on Adam Stillwater, who is fiercely determined to keep his late father's pinball arcade afloat. And Whitney Mitchell, whose father owns a chain of successful gaming cafes. The two teenagers find themselves trapped in the arcade during a snowstorm, forcing them to confront their past grievances and the growing tension between them.

Eric Smith excels at creating a cozy, nostalgic atmosphere. The setting of the pinball arcade is vividly described and feels like a character in itself. The quirky, retro charm of the arcade, combined with the wintry Philadelphia setting, creates a perfect backdrop for a budding romance.

The characters are endearing, especially Adam. His dedication to preserving his father's legacy is touching, and his personal growth throughout the novel is satisfying to witness. Whitney, on the other hand, starts off as somewhat stereotypical but gradually reveals more depth as her vulnerabilities and insecurities come to light.

The romance between Adam and Whitney is predictable but enjoyable. Their journey from adversaries to allies is filled with the expected ups and downs of a young adult romance. While there are no major surprises, the progression of their relationship is handled with sensitivity and warmth.

One of the strengths of the book is its exploration of themes like grief, family legacy, and personal identity. Adam's struggle to come to terms with his father's death and Whitney's quest to find her own path in the shadow of her father's success add emotional depth to the story.

However, the novel does have its drawbacks. The pacing can be uneven at times, with some parts of the story dragging while others feel rushed. The dialogue, though mostly realistic, occasionally veers into cliché territory, which can take away from the authenticity of the characters' interactions.

Additionally, while the supporting characters are charming, they often feel underdeveloped. More backstory and depth for characters like Adam's best friend and Whitney's family would have enriched the narrative.

<h4>The Verdict</h4>

Overall, <i>You Can Go Your Own Way</i> by Eric Smith is a pleasant and comforting read that, despite its predictability, manages to charm with its heartfelt story and relatable themes. It's a good pick for readers looking for a light, feel-good romance with a touch of nostalgia. While it may not break new ground in the young adult genre, it delivers a satisfying and enjoyable experience.

I’ve been meaning to pick up an Eric Smith book for a very long time now. What’s disappointing is that I unfortunately started with <i>You Can Go Your Own Way</i> which I found exceedingly boring for basically the entire duration of the read.

This is the sort of thing I really hate about authors having a social media presence, actually. I requested to read <i>You Can Go Your Own Way</i> solely because I knew of the author from Twitter and it seemed to me that he wrote books in a realm of genre that I enjoyed. So, instead of picking up this book at random and just not liking it…I am now stuck with this uncomfortable and sad frustration about how much I didn’t like it and how that really blows considering the excitement and expectation that seeing the author on social media had built for me.

To cut to the chase, there’s nothing inherently wrong with this book. It’s an okay teen story with okay teen characters and an okay teen plot. Nothing stands out in particular about it, other than perhaps the fact hat it’s told from a boy’s perspective rather than a girl’s—and okay, we really do need more of that in YA fiction, especially where romance is concerned.

But aside from that? The characters have their quirks, their background is developed around those quirks, there’s some minor conflict that, in my view, is resolved far too quickly. I mean, my goodness, this book is marketed on hate to love with a forced proximity trope and literally all of that animosity is just POOF, <i>gone</i> by the time we get to the forced proximity. What even is the point, then?

I dunno. I was just so bored and nothing ever really brought me out of that boredom. The story took too long, the forced proximity took too long, the snowstorm wasn’t fun or engaging. Maybe I just had expectations that were a bit too high for this one.

5 stars. A sweet and enjoyable book, with Smith’s ever present humor. The characters were relatable and easy to root for.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for giving me a free eARC of this book to read in exchange for my review!

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
2.5 stars
I am just not connecting with any of these characters, and I honestly find them both pretty annoying, especially Whitney. She's very "not like other girls" which was a thing in YA in the 2010s but is something I hope we've moved on from. Liking video games, and knowing about Animal Crossing isn't an unique trait. If anything, all her friends not knowing about Animal Crossing and thinking it's a weird guy thing is the weird/ not believable part. Animal Crossing is huge with teens, teen girls especially. Even Adam is overly quirky and doesn't feel believable as a teenager. Late 20s or early 30s, sure. But not a teen. I had to stop myself from rolling his eyes when he was talking about how he doesn't know how to download Venmo on his phone. His mom not knowing how to work venmo or paypal, fine. But him not knowing how to download something off the app store, or even not having the skill to google it when he's supposed to be into engineering makes no sense.
I also wasn't a big fan of the writing style. There was a lot of exposition and over-explaining that dragged the flow. I think there needs to be more trust in the reader, even if this is for a YA audience. Teens are smart, they can intuit things. For example there's a scene where his mom is described as sitting at her desk, looking at bills with her head in her hands, clearly upset. It can easily be concluded that she's stressed about bills and money. But then the next line is explaining "we're really financially struggling and that's been making my mom stressed". Like of course, I didn't need you to explicitly tell me that. I would be more forgiving if this was middle grade, but I feel like teens are old enough to draw their own conclusions without having to be told.
For those reasons, I've decided to DNF since I am getting more and more annoyed as I am reading. It's clear that this is just not the book for me.
DNF @ 33%

Overall I would say that I liked elements of this story and its characters, but I didnt love it. I think that this was largely due to pacing issues that went from way too slow to way too fast and felt almost chaotic. I liked the characters, but I think that because of the issues with pacing and also the fact that we didnt learn much about the characters beyond their love for pinball. All in all I had a bit of a hard time connecting with the characters and the story, but I also stylistically liked the was Eric wrote so I definitely think this is a case of right author but wrong story for me as a reader.

I wanted to love this book so, so much. It's right up my alley in genre and subject matter and themes. Unfortunately, I think this is one of those situations where the author's popularity on social media has overshadowed the technicalities of writing, as I struggled to slog through some of the most flat writing that I've ever come across. The plot moves slowly and the characters are not fully formed. This felt too much like a rough draft.

How did it take me so long to finally read a book by Eric Smith? You Can Go Your Own Way is SO charming. It makes me actually want to live in Philly even though that's way out of my price range. The story follows Adam and Whitney - former best friends who fell apart. Adam's family runs a pinball arcade that has seen better days. He spends his time in the workshop trying to finish the pinball machine his father had designed - an homage to Philadelphia. FYI, Adam's father passed away. Meanwhile, Whitney's dad owns a chain of eGaming cafes and he wants to buy out the pinball arcade. What happens when Adam and Whitney are snowed in at the pinball arcade? Will they ever get along again?

You Can Go Your Own Way is such a cozy, nostalgic young adult book. I mean, yes, it's about how things can't always stay the same and how life isn't static and change happens even though it is fricken HARD. But it's also about friendship and more than friendship and growing up. I loved this book. I liked that Whitney outgrew her awful friends who just use her. Adam is an actual gem. I liked the little easter eggs in this book. Highly recommend you pick up this book and as for me, I am about to dive through more of Smith's backlist.

I decided not to read this after all. Some of the reviews all said the same thing about how slow it was, how drawn out the first 70% of the book is before anything starts to happen remotely close to the synopsis. And that there’s too many pinball machine references. Unfortunately, I don’t have a lot of time to try to read something that drags on for more than half the book.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! this author has become one of my auto-buy author and i always suggest his books to others

A heartwarming YA contemporary read with all the right tropes with great character development. I genuinely loved the character dynamics and will be reading more from this author in the future.

In this horrible time of rampant book banning for the most inane reasons, I am having a hard time finding books that will both allow me to keep my job and get good books in the hands of my young readers. This book is so much more than just a safe selection, it’s endearing, engaging, & enlightening. I swiped to the last page with my heart full and my fingers itching to plant a terrarium and play pinball. The friends-enemies-friends trope is buried under a surface of thoughtfully crafted characters with problems that run deeper than they seem at first glance. This one is a keeper for my shelves.

I thought the pinball parts of this were interesting, but that was about it. Halfway through the book and the two main characters had just barely had an in-person interaction. Ugh. I was bored and annoyed at the pace. Did not finish. I'm still in love with the cover though.

The number of 80s music references ALONE should receive 4-stars.

Also love. Also pinball. Also plants. ALSO SNOWED IN A STORE TROPE.

Not to mention....we do know REO Speedwagon and we love them.

The end.

I follow Eric Smith on twitter, so I saw a lot about this book before I was approved on netgalley. And I’m truly glad that I was granted access! I really liked this, and it lives up to the twitter hype. Such a good novel. I really enjoyed it

I tried to like this book. I did not love the characters, the details about pinballs did not interest me, the pop culture references were a bit much. The book took forever to get anywhere. Thank you, though, for the opportunity to read this book.

I loved this book, but then again, I’ve loved everything I’ve ever read by Eric Smith, including his tweets.

Adam and Whitney go from being inseparable friends as children to enemies and rivals as teens. But even as they battle via tweets, the memory of their past friendship lingers. With the nudging of their moms, they slowly begin to rebuild the friendship they once shared, but misunderstandings can be damaging to newly repaired bonds.

The story is peppered with nostalgic (for me) music references, a clash between old school pinball and new school immersive role playing games, and all of the growing pains of trying to figure out your path in life. As well as Smith’s signature slice of Philadelphia… his settings a continual love story to his home town.

Adam is surrounded by a solid support system with his mom, best friend, and close community ties to the surrounding business owners. He’s pretty solid in who he is, though feels he owes it to his late father to continue his legacy rather than forging his own path.

Whitney, on the other hand, is surrounded by some pretty crappy people, aside from her mom and her mom’s business partner. Outside of them, only one of Whitney’s friends truly values her for who she is and not what her father’s wealth and success can get them. Even her father and siblings don’t treat her well.

This was a fun journey of two friends finding their way back to each other, and finding themselves along the way. I was drawn in from the first chapter and finished the book in one sitting, reading into the wee hours of the morning because I just couldn’t put it down. I’m already anticipating the author’s next book!

Disclaimer: I received an eARC of this book through Net Galley on behalf of the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This was just too niche for me. You will never forget where this book takes place because its references to Philadelphia are practically every other page. It's not just a winter in this book. It's a Philly winter. It's not a snowstorm. It's a West Philly snowstorm. I'm sure all of the obscure references are very fun if you're familiar with the city but they were a bit insufferable for the casual reader. While I thought the pinball angle would be cute, it turned out to be way too intricately explained and went way over my head with all of its explanations about how the machines work and can be repaired. I only understood a handful of the pop culture references throughout the book as well. It kind of felt like I was reading a Gen X book rather than a book set for Gen Z (I'm a millennial for reference). The romance didn't go the way I'd expected either. Instead of the turning point of the main characters being forced to face their rivalry during the snowstorm like the blurb suggests, they already started to sort things out between them days earlier. And the entire book focuses on only a handful of days centered around a Winter Festival. The pacing just felt off for me. However, I did enjoy the bits of the snowstorm and the way the various shops came together during it. I've never lived in a place with snow so it was a fun experience for me. I can see others enjoying this book, especially if you're from the east coast of the United States, but it definitely was not for me.

You Can Go Your Own Way was a delightful read. I enjoyed the author's playful writing as well as how realistic Whitney and Adam were. They both had flaws, but were still likable and relatable.