Todo me lleva a ti

by Nina LaCour

Tras instalarse en el departamento que su hermano le encomendó en la ciudad de Los Ángeles para pasar el verano como regalo de graduación, Emi Price no está muy segura de cómo cumplir con su única condición: que algo fabuloso suceda ahí mientras él no está. Emi podrá ser una talentosa y joven escenógrafa que ha comenzado a encontrar su camino en el competitivo mundo del cine, pero se sigue sintiendo como una adolescente promedio, tropezando una y otra vez cuando se trata de asuntos románticos.

Pero cuando ella y su mejor amiga, Charlotte, descubren una misteriosa carta en la venta de liquidación de las propiedades de una leyenda de Hollywood, Emi tiene que salir de su zona de confort, de su mundo cuidadosamente aderezado y funcional, con tal de atar los cabos sueltos en la vida oculta de un icono del cine. Sus pesquisas la llevan a descubrir un viejo secreto que se remonta décadas atrás y la posibilidad de hallar algo verdaderamente épico: el amor.

Genres: Young Adult, Romance, LGBT, Contemporary, Queer, Lesbian, Fiction

317 pages, Paperback

First published May 15, 2014

About the author

Nina LaCour is the Michael L. Printz Award-winning and nationally bestselling author of six young adult novels, including Watch Over Me and We Are Okay; the children's book Mama and Mommy and Me in the Middle; and Yerba Buena, a novel for adults. She's on faculty at Hamline University's MFA in writing for Children and Young Adults program, and teaches an online class of her own called The Slow Novel Lab. A former indie bookseller and high school English teacher, she lives with her family in San Francisco.

Reviews

[may ➹ · Rating 4 out of 5]

what kind of gay sorcery is this???

this is a slow book. not at all action-packed. but somehow I was just so engayged that I barely noticed, and I just fell in love with the story and these characters. this is... so beautiful

[emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would like to live inside this book, please.

If I cannot be a teenage set designer with exactly one best friend living in LA, with parents who order garlic-based takeout every night and have cool jobs, who is usually on a quest of some kind and ultimately falls in love...

Well, I'd at least like to be inside that story forever, if I cannot be the story itself.

Bottom line: So cute so sweet so nice!

---------------
pre-review

i liked this...way more than the first time?

that has never happened before.

review to come / 4 stars

---------------
currently-reading updates

this was my first ever nina lacour. now i'm rereading it after having read EVERY nina lacour. life is filled with nonstop excitement.

[Riley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actual rating: 4.5

This book was so beautiful

[Whitney Atkinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm trying to get back into audiobooks, and knowing that contemporary and memoirs are the funnest to listen to, I gave this one a try. I really enjoyed the narrator and the story, so it was a fun listen! But I proved to myself that once again, I have a tendency to let details slip through the cracks when I listen to audiobooks.

The main thing I enjoyed about this book is the characters. I thought Emi was a good lens from which the story is told, and her friendships with Charlotte and Ava were so cute and realistic. I rarely read books that are just strictly fun anymore, so this was a lovely change of pace that kept me interested even though I'm not the biggest fan of books about the movie industry. Ava and Emi had great chemistry, and I like that this book talked about the difference between movies and real life, how people glamorize one another, and how in reality, real life is so different than in movies.

I know this shouldn't be an official part of my review, but I just can't help but mention that it warms my heart to see books with f/f relationships where the entire plot of the book isn't about 1) everyone around that character being homophobic, or 2) the two characters spending the entire book not knowing if the other is straight. This book cuts straight to normalizing same sex relationships and talking about it openly, so they chemistry and angst that occurs all stems from the plot occurring, not internally, which I find so much more interesting and less repetitive. In the end, I loved the relationship that occurred in this book and how the build up to it was so subtle and supportive.

For a fun contemporary featuring a lesbian relationship, I got everything I wanted from it. Even though it's not a full five stars to me, it still was highly enjoyable and didn't really even have any major flaws. I'm kind of just pulling comments out of my ass to finish this review because audiobooks are difficult to review since I forget the content so quickly after I read them. But anyway, read this book.

[Elle (ellexamines on TT & Substack) · Rating 4 out of 5]

“We love films because they makes us feel something. They speak to our desires, which are never small. They allow us to escape and to dream and to gaze into the eyes that are impossibly beautiful and huge. They fill us with longing. But also. They tell us to remember; they remind us of life. Remember, they say, how much it hurts to have your heart broken.”

Everything Leads to You is a book about movies and lesbian love, and even though it didn’t impress me as much as I’d hoped, it's a really incredible story and definitely worth the hype.

The main character, Emi, is an aspiring film worker. I loved the descriptions and depictions of her sets. I’m not a movie person, but if I were, this would’ve been amazing. Anyone who loves movies will absolutely LOVE this book, but honestly, even without loving cinema, LaCour’s writing was visual enough that I could picture everything.

Emi’s arc is about realizing she can’t idealize people, and that she can’t idealize the happy endings of movies either. It’s a well-executed arc; it ties in nicely with her new career and with her new relationship.

There's a romance here between Emi and a girl she's just met, Ava. Ava is a likable character with a bit of mystery surrounding her past, and also, I'm realizing writing this that she shares a name with a girl I have a crush on! Tea. Unfortunately, I thought the romance here overtook things just a bit, which would've been fine if the romance were spectacular, but frankly, the romance was good, not great. Neither this particular romance nor the movie-star plotline were quite good enough to hold this up for me, which again, is primarily a personal problem.

“They weren't cheap and I was almost broke. It was a choice between dinner and flowers and I chose flowers because it was a dark time in my life and my room was hideous and my heart was broken and I needed something beautiful.”

I honestly don’t have many complaints about this book, but I somehow didn’t enjoy it, in my 2016 reading, as much as I probably should have. I liked it, but I didn’t obsess over it. That being said, I think this was a complete case of “it’s not me, it’s you” and I do want to recommend this to anyone who wants more books about gay girls and about the movies. I also think this is one I should probably reread soon, as I was incredibly uninterested in both film and romance at age fifteen and now... am a huge cinephile who is aggressively in love with love and would like to read 30000 books about girls kissing.

TW: abusive / toxic parenting, overdose death.

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[Zoë · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVED THIS SO MUCH. THE FILM ASPECT AND THE LGBTQ ASPECT AND THE MYSTERY AND YAY

[˗ˏˋ lia ˎˊ˗ · Rating 5 out of 5]

“as much as i had wanted a love story out of a movie, i know now that movies can only hope to capture this kind of love.”

look, this was everything i wanted, and more. going into this novel, i wasn’t really expecting something that i would absolutely love. what i expected was a generic 3 star read that i’ll put off as eh, contemporary isn’t really my preferred genre and that’s nothing new but THIS is the kind of contemporary that i would die for time and time again.

everything leads to you is an incredibly visual novel, which is due to nina lacour’s amazing writing. i’m not really a movie person but even so i could appreciate the descriptions of the sets and rooms and could literally picture every single thing.

honestly, i did not care too much for the protagonist emi at first (and even forgot her name at one point in the beginning, but whatever i guess). as the story progressed, however, i grew more and more attached to her. ava, on the other hand, is a complete angel that i fell head over heels in love with from the start. she is the kind of person i would like to read more about in books. coming from an abusive household, she still manages to stay so incredibly strong and willing to change things about her life and the way she approaches situations. also, the mystery that surrounded her was really intriguing and kept me guessing if i’m not actually reading a mystery novel instead of a contemporary lmao.

oh and of course, THE GAYNESS. very important. maybe the most important part of this. scratch everything i said up until now, it’s the gays that won be over. genuinely speaking, i could only name a single f/f book off the top of my head that i’ve read and if i think about it i could maybe come up with like five but that would be it. this story was just soo important, also for me personally, because emi was so open about her sexuality and that was really refreshing to read about. this whole story was so painfully beautiful and i’m so incredibly happy to have read and enjoyed it so much.

→ 5 stars

[demi. ♡ · Rating 2 out of 5]

❥ 2 / 5 stars

This book was kinda boring, slow and way too predictable. I thought I would eventually end up liking this one since I’m always interested in film industry and the synopsis really captured my attention but it turned out that I did not enjoy reading it at all and I had no feelings for any characters in the story. I couldn’t connect to any of them and I couldn’t feel the chemistry between two protagonists, either. :(

[Kaylin (The Re-Read Queen) · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Stars

"Because in the conversation beneath this one, what we're really saying is I am an imperfect person. Here are my failures. Do you want me anyway?”

Awww, this was so cute. Seriously a nice palate cleanser in between all the angst and fantasy I’ve been reading lately. This story revolves around Emi, who whole working set design in LA stumbles onto a mystery involving a classic film star and a troubled girl named Ava. There's this really fantastic element of movie magic, and it was great reading about all the behind the scenes work.

First off, I am here for unapologetic lesbians. Both Ava and Emi are open about liking girls, and neither was defined solely by their sexuality. They both had strong characters arcs, a cute romance and a role in the mystery.

Emi's best friend Charlotte, was also great and a large example of the strong theme of friendship that took place. Charlotte and Emi were both devoted to each other, without enabling or pitying.


One problem I did have was with how much Emi idealized Morgan-- or I'm told, but never shown the idealization. Emi consistently thinks about how she shouldn't call Morgan, or how she wants to kiss Morgan, but that was it?? There was very little talk involving what it was about Morgan that Emi liked so much, and I still don't have any understanding of Morgan's personality.

Overall: This was cute, lighthearted fun, and I'm ready ALWAYS ready for more F/F stories. But there was a lot of telling vs showing in the writing, and it felt like I was only seeing surface-level of most of the characters.

Buddy Read with Emma!

[Juliana Zapata · Rating 5 out of 5]

Este libro fue una sorpresa absoluta, empecé a leer sin tener una idea de que se trataba, ni siquiera lo había visto en ningún blog ni en ningún canal de youtube así que esta "virgen" con respecto a la historia.

Una de las cosas que mas me gustaron de este libro, es como lleva el tema de la homosexualidad, de una forma tan natural, tan simple, no es ningún hecho sorprendente o novedoso que la protagonista tenga novia, es algo totalmente normal en la historia, que esta centrada en un tema totalmente diferente.

La narración de esta autora es maravillosa, sabe llevarte a través de la historia que te quiere contar con un ritmo perfecto, un cambio de escenas y de temática totalmente acorde y justo cuando es necesario. La verdad es que este libro me atrapó desde las primeras páginas y lo terminé sin darme cuenta si quiera.

La historia no es para nada pretenciosa, es simple, es ligera y esto no la hace para nada aburrida ni le quita valor, toda la parte "Holliwood" de la historia se me hizo muy divertida, como se mezcla el trabajo de la protagonista con el misterio que debemos descubrir y la historia que la autora nos quiere contar es absolutamente maravilloso.

Los personajes son encantadores, hay muy pocos libros en los que puedo decir que no odié a ningún personaje, pude comprender las diferentes personalidades, el papel que cada uno desempeña en la historia (que no tiene escenas ni personajes de relleno) y como se mezclaban sus mundos para dar forma y desenlace a cada una de sus historias.

Por último tengo que decir que el final me encantó, aunque quisiera saber un poco mas del futuro de los personajes, en especial el de Ava y Emi, tengo que decir que el libro fue justo hasta con el final, tiene un ritmo perfecto y una narrativa asombrosa.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

My problem with Everything leads to you is how incredibly one-dimensional and shallow the story is. Everything is either modern! and chic! or vintage! and charming!, polished to perfection. There is very little realism. I always welcome diversity and was happy to see a a lesbian mixed race main character. However, you’re telling me she has never experienced discrimination, rejection or any type of struggle?
I don’t buy it.

We’ve all been there, especially if you're not white, cis and rich. Someone questions your competence because of an irrelevant trait of yours. You can’t do it because you’re a girl, you can’t do it because it goes against the prejudices people have about you. You can’t do it because you’re in a minority and different. Apparently our MC is completely blind and inexperienced with all of this.

Emi is privileged, extremely sheltered and knows nothing else than the glamorous side of Hollywod. She’s given amazing opportunities at random, because she has contacts and never has to work hard for anything. This girl is genuinely shocked when people don’t have the same condition and expectations as her, and that’s what made me loathe her. Ridiculously naive and wide-eyed, she jumps around like a goddamned fairy. None of her flaws are pointed out in the book, although I could find plenty. The same goes for every single character, who is confident, loved by everyone and have a buzzing cloud of creativity around them.

Ask any 18-year-old what they want to do with their lives and get back a terrified look and realize they are lost. Emi has everything figured out, zero real problems. That’s why Ava’s story seems so forced; it’s pitiful but in a tragic sense you see in Hollywood movies without substance. It’s not real, and it pissed me off.

These beautiful people are living their lives in beautiful Los Angeles (I’m not even hiding my jealousy), doing beautiful things. They should be on a kids’ show where everything is lovely and fun and BRIGHT. Not in a young adult contemporary novel. Calling the story shallow is an understatement. Pair that with a slow, boring plot and you have a book I struggled to finish.

I did enjoy how we found out a lot about the world of film-making and how Emi’s sexuality wasn’t the main point of the book. That’s it. It’s fluffy and sweet but feels forced and distant from reality.

[Hailey (Hailey in Bookland) · Rating 5 out of 5]

i loved this. like a lot. video review to come.

[Keertana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Without a doubt, this is LaCour's best novel by far. While I've loved and taken away something different from every one of her books, I was still blown away by this which, believe me, is no easy task.

Film

What I appreciate about LaCour's writing style, in general, is the fact that she never writes down to her audience. Instead of depicting young adults whose lives revolve around school, she imbibes each and every one of her protagonists which a passion. In Hold Still it was photography; in The Disenchantments it was music; in Everything Leads to You it's film. Growing up in California with a family thoroughly invested in the film industry, Emi has almost always knows she wants a career in the movies. Not as an actress or a director or even a writer, but as a set designer. Through Emi's eyes, LaCour brings to life the thrill, the frustrations, and the importance of shaping a film set. Frankly speaking, I sort of want to fly to Hollywood myself, now, and decorate a few sets of my own. Emi's passion bleeds through the page and I love this. It makes her such a real, three-dimensional character.

What's more, the film atmosphere of this entire story enables it to read much like a movie unfolding, scene-by-scene. Everything Leads to You isn't lacking in an action-filled and exciting plot line. Unlike LaCour's past novels, which have been primarily character-driven, introspective reads, her latest is a page-turning mystery (at first) which develops into a nail-biting romance. When Emi discovers a letter on set from a deceased, but legendary, actor she sets out, with the help of her best friend, to give it to its rightful owner. Emi tracks the recipient of this letter around town, eventually stumbling upon Ava, the grand-daughter of a famous Hollywood actor, and within moments, the course of her summer is changed. As Emi is offered a script to work on, she explores not only Ava's film talent--genetic--but also the secrets of Ava. With the backdrop of a film town, infused with characters thoroughly invested in movies, and with the additional inclusion of lines from Emi's new script, the setting of Everything Leads to You only adds to its story. LaCour has painted such a rich, vibrant atmosphere that it is impossible to look away; one must simply be content to be pulled into the tide.

Growth

LaCour's novels are all, in some way, shape, or form, about growth and Everything Leads to You is no exception. It's one of those books; you know, the novels where the protagonist discovers herself over the summer. It sounds incredibly cliched, but combined with LaCour's prose and command of characterization, it comes across as sophisticated and, most importantly, real. Emi, having just broken up with her on-again-off-again girlfriend yet again doesn't begin this novel in the best of places. Not only is she unable to leave her current relationship completely behind her, but she is also classically confident in her own capabilities in a manner only a teenager can possibly be. Over the course of the story, Emi grows to mature, if nothing else, admitting her faults and doing her best to rectify them. What's more, despite her sheltered and luxurious upbringing, at least compared to Ava's childhood which is riddled with far more economic struggles that Emi could imagine, Emi makes the effort to bridge that gap and understand not only Ava, but the world around her.

Romance

Lastly, I have to admit that the romance in this novel is simply to die-for. LaCour never emphasizes the fact that Emi and Ava like girls; it simply is. For once, I have to admit it's refreshing not to constantly re-hash the oppression homosexuals face and instead appreciate and enjoy a romance between two female characters. Even beyond that diverse aspect of the love story within these pages, though, LaCour goes above and beyond to create distinct, but powerful, secondary characters. Emi and Ava come from two completely different walks of life and are drawn together by their love for film, but the presence of these secondary characters helped to ground their romance to reality. With Emi and Ava, and their overblown enthusiasm for the scripts and sets in their lives, it is all too easy to fall into the fake, fleeting love story of Hollywood. Instead, LaCour uses her secondary characters as barriers between reality and fantasy, ensuring that Emi and Ava's path to one another is not half as easy as their first meeting. And, believe me, it's such a worthwhile romance.

Everything Leads to You completely be-spelled me under its atmospheric setting, not to mention the glimpses it provided into the script Emi and Ava were working on during the summer. LaCour's small details, ultimately, elevate her novels from fiction to reality, breaking those barriers until her characters feel like living, breathing humans. It's a gift and with her latest, she uses that gift to her fullest capability. Yet another stunning novel from LaCour; I don't think anyone is surprised by that, least of all, me.

[Regan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really great book!

[Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

With a mixture of Deb Caletti's quiet storytelling and Sarah Dessen's eye for detail, Nina LaCour writes the tale of Emi Price, an aspiring production designer who just graduated from high school. We first encounter Emi after her brother leaves her his polished Los Angeles apartment. His only instructions to her: do something amazing with the place. Emi feels at a loss until she and her best friend Charlotte stumble upon a mysterious letter at the old house of a deceased Hollywood legend. The message they find starts Emi on a journey to uncover the secrets of this old star's life, and along the way she may find some truths of her own.

Nina LaCour has a subtle and effective writing style. She imbues Emi with a passion for production design, and from that LaCour crafts a simple, emotional story about film, love, and the intricacies of family. Everything Leads to You feels like one of those books that pertains to nothing and yet everything at once. LaCour slips in little passages of wisdom every now and then, and several aspects of this book stood out in a non-overbearing way: its sincere lesbian romance, its fleshed-out focus on Emi's design interests, and the misty nature of Ava's character.

However, the book could have landed with more power in some parts. While LaCour has an elegant way of shaping her plot and developing Emi until her epiphanies, certain sections of the story lacked the emotional grip they would have had with a bit more emphasis or oomph. The themes of mysteries unraveling and accepting realities instead of false perceptions touched me. I just wish there could have been more substance to really make LaCour's main takeaways stellar (for example, by spending less time on Morgan, who contributed not too much to the story, while focusing more on the disparity of privilege between Emi and those around her).

Overall, a good novel I would recommend to fans of Hold Still or fans of Deb Caletti and Sarah Dessen's more quiet stories. Nina LaCour has not blown me away with her writing yet, but I look forward to giving her next book another chance to.

[✨ jami ✨ · Rating 3 out of 5]

“We love films because they make us feel something. They speak to our desires, which are never small. They allow us to escape and to dream and to gaze into the eyes that are impossibly beautiful and huge. They fill us with longing. But also. They tell us to remember; they remind us of life. Remember, they say, how much it hurts to have your heartbroken.”

This is such a Classic in the lgbtq+ fiction scene, especially for wow & YA LGBT lit. I thought this was really sweet, and I actually liked it more than I thought I would. I guess I had it in my head it would be kind of stereotypical, but it actually had some really unique aspects. The main character, Emi, is a set designer, and I thought the descriptions of her job and how set design and what she's making acted as a metaphor for her emotions was nice.

I also thought the representation was solid. It was nice to have a story about a lesbian who was secure in her identity. It was definitely not a coming out story and the romance actually takes more of a backseat then I thought in this book. But I thought Emi and Ava were sweet and I enjoyed them.

I really liked the Hollywood mystery/unsolved aspects too.

The reason for the lower rating is just that it didn't GRIP me. It didn't really capture my whole attention and I felt the characters could have had more depth. I do think it's a book I probably won't think about often now that I've finished it and I don't have a huge emotional attachment. That said, this is a 3.5 rating for me which is quite high for a YA contemporary romance.

If you like books about Hollywood, Hollywood mysteries, lesbian main characters & wlw fiction definitely you'd enjoy this

3.5 stars>

[Trina · Rating 4 out of 5]

SO good. Perfect touch of mystery without actually being a mystery. I didn't want this to end!

F/f romance and the MC is 1/4 Black.

Audiobook review: Narration was great! Would recommend. Some scenes seemed like they were script readings with stage directions, which might have had formatting in the print version, but I'm familiar with stage directions and didn't feel like anything was lost.

tw: death by overdose, toxic parent, teen homelessness.

[Mary Books and Cookies · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just precious.

[Monica · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.75
La forma de escribir de Nina me gusta, este libro tiene una portada hermosa y gracias a él ahora me pongo a pensar en todo el trabajo que hay detrás de los escenarios que vemos en las series y películas, nunca me había puesto a pensar en ello hasta que leí todo el esfuerzo que la protagonista gastaba para tener la decoración y el lugar impecable.
La historia es fresca y hasta sentí el calor de California, junto a todos esos lugares costosos que Hollywood tiene y lo caracteriza.
Una prosa muy buena, con una trama muy bien llevada, no es mucho mi tipo de libro pero es bueno y se lee muy fácil.

[KelseyDiane · Rating 1 out of 5]

So, this book, in lack of a better word, is awful.

There are so many problems with this book that I lost count while reading it so I'm going to try my best to be not spoilery and...nice.

I was told that every Nina LaCour book was good, but I don't think I'll be picking up another one anytime soon because her writing style is very similar to an amateur fan fiction writer.

"Oh," Ava says, looking at the screen. "The internet is locked or something."
"You just need a password. The front desk will give it to us."
Ava stands up and grabs the key.
"You can call them."
I cross to the desk, pick up the phone and dial zero.
"Hey," I say. "What's the internet password?"
I read it out to Ava and she enters it. She smiles.
"Success," I tell the man on the other end. "Thanks."

^Yes that is actually in the book. And yes you literally could sum that entire situation up in one sentence to: "Recognizing that the internet was not connected, I called the front desk for the wifi password." And that's not even a good sentence!

The amount of unneeded dialogue was way too extreme. It wasn't even portrayed interesting at all. I felt like I was reading a text conversation between two 13 year olds half the time. A lot of the dialogue was things that no reader would even care about, such as giving EXACT directions to a shopping store ( I'm talking road names and when to turn, etc). The imagery she decided to add to the book didn't even add to the setting at all. The main character is supposed to be a production designer and the author can't even design her own settings.

Speaking of characters I like how Emi isn't given any physical characteristics at all and about halfway into the book you find out she's partially black. I was picturing some spunky blonde this entire time because she is never once given any physical characteristic throughout the book. But when Ava enters the room her entire physical appearance is described the same way that all the other character's physical appearance is described: How their hair is styled and what they're wearing. There is no background whatsoever of how Emi and Charlotte became friends (none that I remember) and also no background on how they obtained the internships onto a famous movie set. I also like how Emi's brother gives them his apartment for two months and THAT night they literally move in without consulting their parents or talking it over at all. This book did a great job of giving a lot of unneeded information but lacking the actual information the reader wants.

I'm also going to briefly touch on the gay pairing. Don't worry, you find out Emi is immediately gay as soon as you open the first page. Since the LGBT community is taken very well amongst society today (including myself) I feel like Nina La Cour was trying WAY too hard to make this "normal" so to speak. There is a very tasteful way to present a gay couple normally in a book without the reader giving a second thought but La Cour just did not make it happen. She's gay La Cour, I get it.

Can I also talk about how predictable this book is?! It's supposed to be about this mystery letter that Emi and Charlotte find and how they want to discover its secrets and all this other bull crap. The mystery is solved in 50 pages, very easily by the way, who they encounter a girl their age (WHAT NO?!) and Emi confesses that all of their evidence "Led to her." (Really....really...?) Side note, I hate books that use the title of their book 75 pages in. It gives away WAY too much to the reader, aka the entire rest of the book.

Why did I keep reading? I read a review here that said it picks up about 150 pages in. It didn't. But I was determined to finish it. Turned out to be a huge waste of time. The worst book I've read this year.There wasn't a single theme in this book that I could name that even mattered. This book literally could have been 90 pages long. It would be considered a middle grade book if it wasn't about a lesibian couple and didn't throw the F bomb out once in awhile. So now, I'm finishing my very first lengthly review I've ever written because I don't want anyone else to go through the torture that this book held for me.

1 star for poor effort.

[Jeann (Happy Indulgence) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This review appears on Happy Indulgence. Check it out for more reviews!

It’s not often I rate a contemporary 5 stars, but Everything Leads To You deserves every accolade. As a completely enchanting, elegant exploration of movie making in LA, it’s a story of hope, a young starlet and a designer, artistic passion and love that only grows when you give it a chance.

The novel starts off with a mystery, where Emi and her best friend Chantelle stumble upon a movie star’s inheritance letter, which leads them to Ava, a budding starlet who just wants to know who her parents are. There’s a mystery and magic surrounding Ava, she’s a muse who is a blood relative to fame, and Emi just wants to know her.

Unlike other LGBT books, Everything Leads to You is not purely about Emi’s sexuality. Liking other girls is something that she’s comfortable with and is a part of her. She doesn’t need to be shouting it from the rooftops or even broadcasting it to everyone she knows, she just lets it happen. This is how I think LGBT and diversity should be done – it’s just a part of the story, but not the ONLY part of the story.

Emi’s romantic journey is tumultuous, as she learns to figure out what love she deserves. I loved how the romance was for all the right reasons, how Ava and Emi appreciated each other for who they were not who they wanted them to be or because it was convenient. It’s such a tentative journey, with both girls needing to work through their own lives but discovering parts of each other they loved.

Emi’s role as an intern designer on a movie set was a fascinating part of the novel – it’s not often we learn about how movie sets are put together. Emi puts her heart and soul into her job, and her passion, talent and pride for her work shows. This dedication and focus was incredibly inspiring, especially when she had to struggle against real life career setbacks, such as limited budget, no pay and your boss not liking your ideas. But, the lessons she learns along the way and her pure dedication helps her spread her wings and succeed, which is something we can all learn from.

I loved the wonderful, supportive friendship between Emi and Chantelle as well. No matter what, they had each other’s backs, whether it was to do with career, romance, the mystery or their friendship. These girls know each other’s strengths and weaknesses, and by standing together could they withstand any obstacle.

Everything That Leads To You is one of my favourite LGBT contemporaries that I’ve ever read. I loved that magical, enchanting exploration into LA’s movie making industry, the mystery around Ava and the beautiful message of hope, passion and love by friends, family and others.

[Enne · Rating 2 out of 5]

”There are no scenes in life, there are only minutes. And none are skipped over and they all lead to the next.”

2 stars
TW:n/a
read full review here
*full review include favorite quotes and a spoiler section


The Writing
Okay, so, the writing wasn’t bad. It just wasn’t for me, personally. I found myself trudging through it because it felt so bland and was not expressive of Emi’s character at all, in my opinion. Like, there was absolutely nothing done for me to distinguish Emi’s character from any other YA heroine and I found that to be kind of disappointing. Just my opinion, though.

The Plot/Pacing
Okay, so this is my main problem with this book. It was just so slow. Especially the romance aspect of it – but I was okay with that. The thing that bothered me the most was that the plot couldn’t seem to find one thing to focus on. And I understand the importance of subplots, trust me, I do, but the thing that bothered me was that the book couldn’t seem to decide which plot was the main one and which one was the subplot, which led to a jumbled mess of a book where nothing really moves forward until the last 75-100 pages.

The Characters
Oh, look, another problem I had with this is that none of the characters have a multi-dimensional personality, save for maybe Emi, but that’s debatable too. They are all so one-sided and that made them not interesting to read about at all. I just wanted to relate to them, but I couldn’t because all they ever talked about is either their movie business stuff or Ava’s grandfather. And don’t get me wrong, I loved the sneak peek we got into the movie business, I just wish that wasn’t all the characters talked about.

Overall
I think others would enjoy this book more than I did, but this just wasn’t for me. I do love some of the themes explored in it, though, definitely, and I love the fact that this is a story about a gay girl and it isn’t entirely focused on the coming out process, which is definitely something we need more of in YA. But that’s all.

~~~
gay fluff?
gay fluff.

[TheGirlFromSmallville ❀ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well.... Technically I would give this a 2 star rating but the Hollywood setting was just amazing I had to give it another star.

I'm a huge, HUGE movie buff. And not the type that just binge-watch films... I look at everything; the direction, acting, lighting, sets, cinematography, the details. So this book really hit home for me. The fact that the protagonist is a budding set designer just fascinated me. I loved the way the book describes the world she's in and her job so vividly.

However, that is the only thing I liked about this book. Some parts were just unrealistic for me--- Ava's development was just too Cinderella-ish, I can't help but roll my eyes. Most of this book was just too unbelievable.

I did appreciate the LGBTQ+ aspects of this book though. It wasn't a sob story or any coming out struggle. The characters knew they were gay from the get go. So I really liked that.

But unfortunately I couldn't really love this book. I didn't expect much, but I was still disappointed.

[Warda · Rating 3 out of 5]

[3.5]
Nina Lacour has a way with words. Incredible way with words! I'm not a movie buff, but this book made me want to become one. And r made me appreciate the art that goes into creating visual stories.
Emi was a great main character! The passion she had for her job really came through and I loved the way she saw the world. She's a romantic at heart about everything.
I feel like we just scratched the surface with the characters though. I desperately wanted more development. The romance also developed too quickly for my liking.. Or it didn't feel convincing enough, because of the lack of growth or substance in the relationship.

Other than that, I highly enjoyed it. The book really came to life when the movie aspects were depicted and it was beautiful to read. I can't wait to see what more Nina Lacour writes. I know I'll read it all!

[BJ Lillis · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely, absurd YA romance. The story is completely over the top, but somehow the novel stays tethered to earth, avoids floating away into nonsense. I have mixed feelings about Emi, our heroine. It was a little frustrating to see the whole story through her eyes, when everything that really mattered actually happened to Ava. But then, Ava’s extraordinary fairy tale of a life works best, in the end, as a kind of metaphor or heightening of the way first love can explode the world. I enjoyed the Hollywood aspect, which like the romance was realistic but then also not. The truth is, YA tends to wilt without at least a sprinkle of pure wish fulfillment.

[Romie · Rating 5 out of 5]

What ? You’re telling me I needed to read a cute lesbian romance with a happy ending ?
Excuse my French, but HOLY FUCKING SHIT.
This book is everything I've been waiting for without even knowing I needed it in my life.
I didn't know I needed to read a book about a movie nerd, this beautiful soul Emi who believes in details, in the beauty of a coral wall, in the perfect green sofa ; who fell in love with a freckled nose or the raw talent of a sweet summer girl. I didn't know I needed this.
I could say a lot more things about book, because of course this book is more than a love story, it's about the beauty of life. I could say you have to read it for the atmosphere, for the 'behind the scene' of Hollywood, for all these little thrift stores and the time it takes to only find one damn sofa.
You have to read this book because you want to experience something else, something more.

"We love films because they make us feel something. They tell us to remember; they remind us of life. Remember, they say, how much it hurts to have your heart broken. Remember about death and suffering and the complexities of living. Remember what it is like to love someone. Remember how it is to be loved. Remember what you feel in this moment. Remember this. Remember this."

P.S. Nina LaCour is my queen. Just saying.

[Angela]

I enjoyed The Disenchantments and LOVED Hold Still, so I have really high hopes for this one. :D

[Jacob Proffitt · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 June 2018 reread: This is every bit as good as I remember. And it bears up well on a reread even though I still recalled all the major (and many of the minor) story beats. I'm even more blown away by the parallel effect of discussing illusion and story even while showing those elements in Emi's story.

I had a specific purpose for the reread, though, and I'm still not sure what to do. I wanted to see if this was something I wanted to share (explicitly) with my kids and particularly the niece living with us. So much of this is about growing and learning and while it shines showing Emi's successes, it's even better with her mistakes. Still, Emi is a particularly gifted, accomplished, and, frankly, lucky girl and I'd hate if my kids measured their struggles against her talent and success. I dunno. I'll have to think hard and pray on it.

A note about Chaste: I'm also adding my "chaste" tag to this. There's talk of sex and some of the past events they uncover (about Ava's mother's past) are disturbing. But none of it is actually explicit. The only "on screen" bit shown is a fairly innocuous (though evocative and well-written) kiss.
-----------------------
This book was fantastic, and in all the right ways (though I'll understand if you don't agree). It has a strong voice, so you can probably tell pretty quickly if it's going to be enjoyable for you. If you enjoy the first chapter or two, I'm pretty confident in predicting that you'll like the rest of it as well. And vice versa on the hate (or even "meh") side of things.

Okay, this is going to get long because I'm going to go all pretentious about art and illusion and movies vs. books. The tldr; is that the characters are outstanding, the story moving, the romance understated but powerful, and all that said, I have a hard time pinning this as either YA or NA so much as it's just a good story I think should find an audience of any age that can be engaged by a strong voice and a story about pursuing your dreams by being good at what you do.

Personally, I was drawn to Emi right from the start. That's not a surprise as I like stories that include people doing things they are good at and proving themselves along the way. LaCour has a light touch with both humor and heart, but in the way that makes them rich and deep. It's like milk chocolate wrapped around a raspberry gel—a light taste that deepens on repeat experience and anticipation.

And despite the romantic overtones of much of the story, I thought the friendships were actually a stronger presence. Emi and Charlotte were a fantastic female friendship, but Ava and Jamal as friends was equally well-handled and the two groups melded in an organic way that illuminated both, highlighting their individual strengths even as they came together into something more. Jamal's concern for Ava was particularly touching and you could see how she had come to rely on his quiet strength and how that was a central support amidst her otherwise rocky past. And even if I hate the casual throw-away of Ava's mother and its stereotypical play-out, I think the story would have been weaker if it had gone any other way. A reconciliation would have been cheap and a stronger rejection would have been farce.

What deepens this and elevates it above a four-star read, is LaCour's handling of art as described through the movies. Emi is deeply engaged by her passion for set design. She describes why what she does is important and why it's worth so much energy to get everything exactly "right". Her ruminations about "the illusion" and the storytelling done through set design are an excellent discourse on the storytelling process in movies. Don't get me wrong, this wasn't an actual discourse. It's spread throughout the book and is never boring. It serves as background to Emi's activity. Necessary background that LaCour delivers with an incredibly deft touch. Still, those ruminations about how the accepted illusions of movies allows readers to engage with the story were deeply insightful.

As Scott McCloud points out in Understanding Comics, art often works best by inviting the observer in. Unlike comics, movies do so by giving expected details that add context without having to be processed explicitly. Hints, both subtle and overt, gained from scene backgrounds contribute to our understanding of the characters and story. But Emi also points out that there are lies embedded in these illusions and not just the obvious "this isn't really an apartment, it's just a set" kind of way. For instance, the flatware for one character that was technically so expensive that the specific character could never have afforded was nevertheless right because it was the right kind of eclectic mix of style and elegance. i.e. it conveyed the right truth even though it was a thorough lie.

What struck me on finishing this book is how authors do the same thing with illusion and story. And, not surprisingly, this book is an excellent example of doing so. This story needs Emi to be self-possessed and excellent at her job. For the story to work, she needs to take on a challenging position and excel at it. There's some handwaving around it, but really, an 18 year-old really shouldn't be in charge of set design even on a small indie film like the one in the book. So the illusion the author creates and the readers accept is that Emi has these capabilities and opportunities, even though she's an untried teenager. I don't know if this was done on purpose, but LaCour did a fantastic job of both the explicit illustration through movie set design and the implicit illustration through Emi's story itself. I love this kind of artistic self-reference and for me, it worked powerfully.

Which brings me to the reason these illusions are important. They are an example of the lie that tells the truth. Emi's story tells profound truths about work and life and love and doing what is important for the people in your life. Along the way it tackles image and desire and trying to find the reality behind the lies we tell ourselves and basing relationships on as good an understanding as we can achieve of those we want to be with. Emi makes some tough choices about her relationships, particularly with Ava, that show her growing emotional maturity. And in doing so, the story invites us along as well—allowing us to experience that choice and test the reasons behind it for ourselves as she does so. This makes the book a powerful story, indeed and one that encapsulates a truth that is as simple as it is profound.

Which brings me to the last part that blew me away about this story. In the end, this is a deeply heartfelt illustration of romantic love and a relationship growing out of caring and honesty. It's subtle because there's no explicit scenes and displays of physical affection are light. Since Emi's and Ava's emotional maturity both have substantial growth to undergo before they can become true romantic partners, the romance truly needs the entire novel (and its illusory background) to reach satisfactory culmination. The magic that LaCour captures, though, is the strength and depth of that relationship. She draws you in to a woman's attraction for women in a way that avoids all the titillation and yet stays absolutely true to its core. And then she draws you into a woman's attraction for a specific woman and gives you the purity of that connection in a way that is everything that we, as a society, find ennobling about love and intimate relationships. All without polemic or even partisanship. It's as powerful an argument for normalizing homosexual relationships as I've ever experienced and without actually arguing at all.

Since politics, particularly sexual politics, aren't the point of my reviews, I'll leave it there. Suffice to say that I found this story powerfully true and I find great value in it as such. It earned every one of my five stars, no quibbles, and I hope LaCour continues with a long and successful career.

[Chelsea SWATCHSEA · Rating 3 out of 5]

Check out my blog for more reviews and other bookish posts! This is a spoiler-free review!

Everything Leads To You has received many positive reviews and We Are Okay by Nina LaCour is one of my favourite books of 2017, so I had expected to love this novel as well. Unfortunately, I didn’t. This is by no means a bad book, I just had expected something more profound.

My main problem is that this is a young adult contemporary, yet it is neither realistic or relatable. Emi is an eighteen-year-old set designer who at the start of the book is still in high school as well. Though it was nice to learn more about the film industry, I couldn’t relate to the characters and their experiences because it seemed so far-fetched. They have jobs on film-sets while attending a private high school, have enough spare time to go wherever they want AND their parents are never around? Their lives seemed so perfect, it just didn’t seem real.

It took me five days to finish this book, even though it’s only 300 pages long and I picked it up regularly! The pacing was odd: a lot of time was spent learning more about Ava’s family, but I didn’t care to learn more about her. It wasn’t as if there was much of a mystery to solve.

Though you can’t tell while looking at the cover, the protagonist of this book is biracial. Her grandfather was black, so she refers to herself as “I’m a quarter”. I feel the need to include this in my review because I know some multiracial people aren’t fond of expressions like that.

There were some things that bothered me, but they weren’t a huge deal in the book. Firstly, Emi says “I wore a skimpy shirt to show off my girlishness”. This rubbed me the wrong way because it sounds as if you can’t be girly if you for example don’t have breasts to show off.

I also didn’t like how Laura was presented. It seemed as if she only wanted to be queer in order to gain popularity, in order to be liked by the boys. Yes, many allocishet boys and men are aroused by femme queer girls, but that’s not at all a compliment. It’s objectifying and fetishising. There would still be a lot of anti-queerness coming from other people, so this doesn’t add up.

There was only one closeted queer girl in this book and I felt like she was presented as some sort of “villain”, because she claimed the other girl had tricked her. The closeted girl’s family was very religious, which is why she was afraid to come out. I understand this hurt her girlfriend, but this narrative hurts, especially because there weren’t any other closeted queer characters who were presented in a more positive light.

Even though this review is rather negative, I ended up giving this book 3.5 stars. Like I said, it’s not a bad book, I just didn’t love it.

content and trigger warnings for: a lot of ableist language (such as crazy and insane), breaking and entering, homeless shelter, deceased parents, adoption, anti-queerness, overdose, drug use, underage drinking

[Jess | FairyTale Pages · Rating 5 out of 5]

*I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review*
4.5 stars

I really enjoyed this book. This was my first book by Nina LaCour and I loved her style and the tone overall. The only problem I had was I felt like it was just a touch slow in the middle, but it picked up and I really enjoyed it!

I loved the plot surrounding film-making and of course the mystery they encountered. I really enjoyed all of the characters in this book, especially the mysterious Ava. These characters were flawed, yet seemed so real to me and I love reading about characters like that.

I appreciated that the main character was open about her sexual orientation and instead of this being a coming out story, Nina LaCour just made it a part of who Emi was. I've read stories where the secondary characters were gay, but not the main character so this was a first for me. I loved that our main character wasn't struggling with how she felt, but accepted it. I'll admit I was frustrated with Emi in the beginning because of her poor relationship choices (just learn how to walk away girl! she doesn't love you!) but I grew to love her.

Honestly, while reading this book, it almost felt like I was becoming friends with Ava, Charlotte, Emi, and Jamal. You see them for who they are, their flaws included, but despite it all you grow to love them all the same. I finished this book feeling happy and it gave me closure (which we all know I love.)

I like that this book encourages you to not wait, but to act. You never know how much time you'll have.