ARC Review – Meet Me at the Summit

Meet Me at the Summit by Mandi Lynn is a YA contemporary novel that will be published on August 31st. The story follows Marley, a 19-ish year old who’s parent died in a car accident about 9 months before the start of this book. Marley has dropped out of college and is working retail, generally avoiding life. Then her uncle convinces her to take a renovated VW bus across the country to get back into her love for hiking and photography.

I enjoyed this book a lot. It was an easy, summery read but definitely has heart. I didn’t realize until the very last page when it said the story would continue in book 2 that this was going to be a series but I found myself filing it away for a future read. So 4 stars.

I really enjoyed Marley as a main character. She is well developed and realistic. She has her problems which sometimes get the better of her but she’s always trying to do better. I enjoyed following her journey and wanted to see where it would go next.

The various hikes and parks were all fun and described in enough detail without bogging the book down too much. I thought the addition of the list of hikes and links at the end was a nice touch. I’ve been hiking once in my life and will probably never do it again but if you are someone who likes to hike, I can see this making you want to go.

There isn’t a huge plot in this one, it’s really more following Marley’s emotional journey but it was enough to keep me interested and there was a cute romance and some good side stories. My only real issue with this story was the idea that her family convinced a grieving teenager to go on a cross country trip alone and hike mountains. Not even just that, they don’t seem to be checking in on her (although her roommate does). I get that this was needed for the plot and it didn’t bother me all the time but every time I started thinking about that too much, it really bugged me. Sending a depressed, grieving 19 year old up a mountain alone just doesn’t seem like the best idea regardless of it helping her emotionally.

**I received a free ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.**

PS – I received an uncorrected proof and it had a ridiculous number of typos, even for an ARC. My rating assumes that these will not be in the final version as they were so numerous and often distracting.