With and Without You was an interesting book to read. As someone in a long-distance relationship (I actually read this with my partner), I liked seeing the ways that Siena and Patrick made their relationship work.

One thing I would say is that this book is less about the relationship itself and more about Siena’s growth throughout the book. She starts the book feeling like she isn’t her own person, only a part of Patrick-and-Siena, and that her relationship with Patrick is stagnant. The only way out that she can see is breaking up. Patrick moving is a new opportunity for her to see how they can work and who she can be when he’s away. It’s really interesting watching Siena try out all of these different hats (“actor Siena”, “artist Siena”, etc.) and that by the end of the year, she’s a more confident version of herself.

Overall though, there were certain things that Siena did that made it difficult to get through the book. The fact that because she expected Patrick to change his mind about medical school because she was changing was infuriating, and hiding that someone else kissed her from her boyfriend? I fully expected the third-act breakup, but I did appreciate the amount of time it took for them to get back together. It’s an interesting read, and if you think about it primarily from Siena’s growth in confidence about who she is, you’ll enjoy it a lot more. It’s a fun read and I enjoyed it, but it relies HEAVILY on a lack of communication.

As someone in a LDR, it gave me and my partner some ideas on things we can do for our own relationship (he even took me on a date to go read together at a café because of the book) and I think it shows a lot of the highs and lows of LDRs.

I appreciate the opportunity to read and review this book at the time prior to release. Unfortunately my taste in books have changed a good bit in the last couple of years, and I am not reading as many YA books. Also as a mood reader, it can be quite difficult at times to read book around the time of release. If I read and review the book in the future, I will add my review here. Thanks again for the opportunity.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.

This was such a realistic view of dealing with a long-distance relationship while trying to still be separate individuals and finding their way back to each other.

I loved the story, the world building and meeting the different characters. I felt completely immersed in the story and couldn't stop reading it.

I honestly got bored halfway through and couldn't continue. I just couldn't get into the plot, the characters were boring to me, and it feels like every other books Wibbroca has written. DNF at 56%

I typically love second chance romances so was excited to read this will they/won’t they long distance love story. Overall it had a great promise, but it lacked the typical tension or spark between love interests that usually lights up a second chance romance. Without this component, it unfortunately fell a little flat for me.

dnf at 10%. i did not enjoy these characters at all, they felt shallow and i didn't like the plot. i wish i could've stuck it out, but i just could not

I ENJOYED…
☂️
The relationship between Patrick and Siena is, obviously, the main focus in With and Without You and I have a lot of things to say about it.
First of all, I loved how this book focuses on the relationship’s growth and change with time. I too rarely read books when the couple is already established (and has been for a while, now), at the very start of it all and it was so refreshing to see. They’re already settled in with their routines, they’re comfortable with each other, know each other really well… While this might seem a little boring, at first, let me reassure you: it’s not, at all. This book is a second chance romance and you’ll fall for Siena and Patrick as they learn to know each other again, re-discover each other after months apart, every time and it’s just as heartwarming as seeing love blooming for the very first time.
Second of all: it was absolutely lovely to see a long-distance relationship. It’s something I’ve really, really been craving in stories and I personally thought that it was so well done. The missing each other parts, the awkwardness of seeing each other again at first, the need to try and make the most of each little second that you get to spend together… I just had a lot, a lot of feelings about this. Some moments and some quotes echoed in my mind for ages and I still do think about it, now. Not going to get into details here, but it was a book I deeply, deeply needed and I’m glad it exists.
I’m thrilled to say that, despite the focus on Patrick and Siena together, I loved how the authors also gave us some wonderful moments of character growth. Told from Siena’s POV, we get to see, at first, her frustration of feeling like she’s not quite her own person, but always part of a duo, a couple. That deep need to find herself as an individual person, shines through the page. I found it really wonderful to see how she grows, how she takes chances and fails, tries new things until she finds hobbies and friends that fit her, too.
There was so much to love about the other relationships in this story, too, starting with the family dynamics. I especially loved Siena’s brother, he made me smile a whole lot. The friendships were also lovely to see, especially the best friendship between Siena and Joe and how he was always there for her, no matter what. I loved them!

OVERALL
☂️
Once again, With and Without You is another Wibbroka book to add to my favorites’ list. With a wonderful second chance romance and lovely, real characters you’ll root for, it’s a book I’ll cherish and can’t wait to see on every YA contemporary fan’s shelves.

This was actually my first Wibbroka YA book, believe it or not. Despite the fact that I mostly read young adult novels, I had somehow picked up their adult book before any of their YAs. That being said, I’m really happy that I finally got a chance to read one of their YA books, because it was an absolute delight. I realized while reading this that we really need more stories about teens already in relationships learning how to be more emotionally mature and communicate better with each other because the story never stops as soon as you get together. This was adorable, and I will absolutely be exploring Emily and Austin’s backlist now.

Will be published on Forever Young Adult's blog.

Cover Story: I Mean…Okay?
The book is set in Phoenix, AZ and Austin, TX and the characters hike occasionally and wander around Austin so…okay? Like for such a relationship-focused book, why aren’t both Patrick and Siena on the cover? I also don’t think this model looks anything like Siena, both in personality or style. It matches the authors’ other covers but at what cost?

The Deal:
SienaandPatrick. The phrase makes Siena feel suffocated despite how attractive she finds her boyfriend of three years, Patrick. Who IS Siena without Patrick at her side? She’s all set to break up with him when he announces his family is moving to Austin, and so Siena jumps at the opportunity to stay together long-distance and still have the space to explore her independence.

What follows is snapshots of how their senior year plays out. Is it possible to fall back in love with someone who lives a thousand miles away? Or will Siena realize that she can only be herself when Patrick isn’t there?

BFF Charm: Roger Murtagh
I can tell you who Siena is without Patrick: annoying. She’s super annoying.

Okay, okay, she’s not THE WORST, but I really wanted to, like, push her during the first 25% of the book. She’s so inside her head trying to figure out whether or not she should stay with Patrick and visualizing herself trying all these different versions of herself and feeling frustrated when she can’t make up her mind. GIRL, ME TOO. It’s not that deep. You’re seventeen. You’ve got time to keep developing as a human.

Things sort of improve as the book progresses, but Siena (and Patrick, to an extent) have a lot to learn about healthy communication and even as she got there by the end, I was still struggling to see exactly what it was that made Patrick love her so much…

Swoonworthy Scale: 3
There were so many communication issues between the two that I struggled to get excited about their love even when they were feeling it. There was a lot more telling of how good they were together than showing, and the connection between myself and the characters suffered for it. I think the story would have benefited from Patrick’s perspective as well (especially when you’ve got both authors pulling from their real-life relationship) instead of keeping us solely in Siena’s head, because, honestly, Patrick often seemed too good for Siena just based off what I saw.

Talky Talk: I See What You’re Trying To Do
As someone who also met her husband young (at seventeen), I figured I’d have an easy time connecting to this book. But I picked this up, read a few pages, and put it back down maybe seven times until I finally realized: I am a Patrick, not a Siena. I never had the same kinds of doubts and concerns Siena has. I also am sitting here with the benefit of hindsight because my relationship is going on 18-years strong, so obviously finding each other young worked for us even though I know it doesn’t for everyone. So maybe another young person who has been in a relationship most of high-school and is presently questioning whether to continue will find more illumination in this story than I did.

Putting that aside, I know I can definitely find value in books where I don’t personally relate to the main characters, so there was something else off about the pacing and plot of the book. The author duo’s writing style was still there, but it didn’t feel right. The authors said in their acknowledgements that this was a pandemic book. In my very unscientific opinion, all the books I’ve read lately that I know were written between 2020-2021 have felt a bit weird. I think all that stress and uncertainty everyone was feeling left an indelible mark on their works. Don’t ask me to prove it, but it feels true.

Bonus Factor: Independence
Regardless of the relationship, I do support Siena trying different things to see what she likes and dislikes as a person, because we should always be growing and changing and trying to be our most authentic selves.

Relationship Status: No LDR In Our Future

Good luck on the move, Book, but I don’t see our short time together as important enough for us to continue this a long-distance relationship. Sometimes relationships have a season, and the leaves on ours are turning brown.

I LOVE Emily and Austin's books, and reading this one after their adult romance THE ROUGHEST DRAFT, I had high expectations. Sadly it just wasn't my favorite book of theirs, it left me feeling a little underwhelmed. I had been excited about the long-distance relationship plotline, but it was so focused on Siena going back and forth on if she wanted to stay with her boyfriend that I was at times bored -- it took me longer than normal to get through this one because I would set it down to pick up something else.

While it was realistic for a teen I felt like the single POV hurt the story, and would have LOVED to have read Patrick's side to make the story seem more thorough. I wanted to love it because I always love how this duo of authors writes, but this one was a bit of a disappointment for me.

Thank you to Viking Books for Young Readers / Penguin Teen + NetGalley for the advance readers copy to read and review in exchange for my thoughts.

Emily and Austin’s never fail to deliver upper YA romcoms with just the perfect balance of heart, swoon, and deep thought. You can’t help but root for Siena and Patrick in this second chance, long distance love story.

#Wibbroka is back with another swoony YA--this time tackling long-distance relationships, in a novel based on their own romantic history.

wibbroka books are usually either hit or miss for me, if i'm being honest. i loved the premise for this book. second chance romance is one of my favorite tropes so I was very hyped to read this one. unfortunately though, I couldn't bring myself to read past the 60% mark. I had to keep putting the book down because personally I found it very difficult to get through and after a point I just decided that it probably wasn't for me. I feel like it was mostly just bland in many places and I wasn't really able to connect to the characters or the story as much as I would've loved to. I wish the impact it had, emotionally was stronger because maybe then I would've been a lot more invested.

3/5 stars, a quick read but not my favorite romance

Thank you to Penguin Teen for the arc through netgalley in exchange for an honest review!

This was my very first Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka and while I think it's very cute that they are a real-life couple writing romance, this romance just didn't really sell it for me. There were some aspects of the story that I came to appreciate, but there were more glaring issues with larger parts of the story that just brought my enjoyment down.

What a fast read this was, I read it in like 2 hours while I was laying in bed this morning. In some aspects, that was very nice, as it really propelled me through the story and allowed me to finish. But other times, it just made the story feel wrongfully paced. I think if there had been more background and buildup to Siena & Patrick's relationship, instead of launching right into the plot, I would have been way more interested in them and their second-chance-romance sort of deal. There were also some times that just felt choppy, like it went from very fast pacing to suddenly methodical, which it's fine to have both, it just felt very quick to change.

My least favorite part about this book was that 1/3 of the book's plot was Siena trying to decide if she was going to break up with Patrick or not. It says what happens in the synopsis, but I did not think that it would take so long for her to make up her mind, only to agree to stay in the relationship. I had a hard time rooting for them as a couple too, not because of the long-distance, I just didn't really see the spark. I understood what both of them were struggling with in the relationship, I just think they needed to communicate a little better and most of the conflict could have been avoided. Also at the end, what transpired was way too fast for me, everything suddenly turned around with their relationship and there was almost no build up.

While I did not have complete faith in their relationship like I said before, I do think there was critical emphasis placed on how long-term relationships can affect teens. Especially high-school sweethearts, and why so many of them break up. Both sides of the couple, or one, feel the need to fit into the mold of the person that they were when they began to date, which hinders their ability to discover new pieces of themselves and grow as a person. What this book showed was how even in a long-term relationship, with proper communication and understanding between both parties, change can be accepted and appreciated. Just because they were someone when they started dating, does not mean they need to stay the same, the other person should love them no matter what if it's "meant to be" which doesn't always happen. I really enjoyed that emphasis in this book, as it provided a more positive light on high-school sweethearts and long-term relationships in the end.

I felt very complicated feelings about Siena, in the beginning she really annoyed me. Again, for the first third of the book she just couldn't make a decision if she wanted to break up with Patrick or not and it frustrated me so much. As well, I think I just found her to be a bit dislikeable based on the way she was written. I did love to see her change into a better person, and grow into who she really wanted to be at the end though. But still, something was just off about her in my opinion. Maybe it was just me being annoyed that she was not communicating totally openly and honestly, though she is a teenager so I cut her a bit of slack.

Patrick was an interesting character, though I think the story would have benefited from seeing a bit into his perspective too. He was a fairly honest person to Siena and those around him, but his thoughts and feelings still felt closed off. Maybe that was just the way he was written, but he was a quiet person and this made it harder for me to connect with him. Again, I think the story would have greatly benefited from seeing both of the people in the long-distance relationship and their feelings. Then it would not have felt so one-sided.

Overall, I don't think this is the worst romance book I've ever read, but I wasn't prepared for the second chance romance plotline and for the girlfriend's decision to take up 1/3 of the book. There were some interesting aspects that were explored, but it just wasn't enough to pull my enjoyment higher than 3 stars. I think I'll check out more books by these authors in the future but probably not in the near-future, I'll find other romances I enjoy more first.

[TW: wrist injury, sex (mentioned), brief infidelity (kissing & misunderstanding), breakup]

“Sometimes, high school feels like a place where you can be whoever you want as long as it’s who you already were. When everyone here has known you since kindergarten, the you they expect is only the product of unconscious choices from when you were seven, or ten, or fifteen. The contours of a mold you didn’t know you were carving.”

𝙒𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙒𝙞𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙔𝙤𝙪, Emily Wibberley & Austin Siegemund-Broka
Another exceptionally easy five stars for the next #Wibbroka YA.

It never ceases to amaze me how these two can make me, at 30, connect with the innermost thoughts of a 17 year old, and yet…

This was a true coming of age story, following Siena as she navigates a seismic shift in the very fabric of her life. When her longtime boyfriend tells her he’s moving from Arizona to Texas right before the start of her senior year, and literal seconds before she’s going to break up with him, Siena sees this as her chance to branch out, break free from the chains her relationship has shackled her in, and hopefully allow their relationship to fizzle out naturally.

Only it doesn’t. And suddenly Siena finds herself falling for Patrick all over again.

“But memories aren’t enough to hold two people together.”

𝙒𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙒𝙞𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙔𝙤𝙪, Emily Wibberley & Austin Siegemund-Broka
The distance allows these two to find themselves outside of their relationship, but the more things change, it seems the more they stay the same. Watching Siena grapple with her new friends, new interests, new everything outside of her former life with Patrick, was STRESSFUL for me. Mostly because I can really step into her shoes, and remember what it felt like to be 17 and rolling with the punches of all of these major life changes. Of trying to find myself. In the end, Sienas realizes that maybe the thing that had been holding her back all along wasn’t actually her relationship, as she had thought, but herself. Both Siena’s AND Patrick’s character growth was

Also the Alison and Ethan cameo is officially my fave Wibbroka couple cameo EVER. I love them so much.

I was really hopeful for this book after reading The Roughest Draft and reading the synopsis, but ultimately this book fell flat. I know the book is geared more toward a YA audience, but the characters in the book felt immature and lacked growth. It's hard to describe, but a lot happens while simultaneously not a lot happens. The first 30% of the book is spent with Siena grappling with whether or not she's going to break up with her boyfriend, Patrick, then the next 40% of the book is spent with them trying to decide when's the right time to take their relationship to the next level. Siena's indecisive nature left me frustrated at times. With and Without You ended up not being the right book for me, but I think a younger audience will gravitate toward the story more.

Honestly, With and Without You is a wonderful story about young love and how it grows and changes. I really found myself in Sienna and her journey to find herself - something I find very relatable. She became a really loveable character when she struggled and failed but still tried new things. This was an adorable second chance romance and a super fun YA read.

I'm not sure how much of my opinion of With and Without You is influenced by how much I disliked The Roughest Draft. Then on top of it, this book is also a relationship in trouble book, which isn't my favorite trope. Overall, this book is a solid YA Contemporary.

While a lot of the book is focused on making a high school long distance relationship work (and I mean a lot), it's also about how are main character, Siena was feeling stagnant in the relationship, and how in some ways being half of a couple was her whole identity. She was no longer her own individual person. However, she was also not confident enough as an individual to speak up.

The long distance that Siena and Patrick experience allows the two of them to grow into themselves, and explore their own paths. To find themselves, and sharing new aspects of themselves. Once Siena finds her improv club, she finds her groove, and where she feels herself in ways she didn't when she was in the same activities as Patrick because that is what Patrick was doing. How now she is her own person, and not half of a couple.

There is a third act breakup that makes sense, but I'm not sure that they become a couple again works.

Thank you Penguin Teen for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.