Switching Gears

Love, Lucas #2

by Chantele Sedgwick

Still mourning the loss of Lucas Nelson, the boy she loved in secret for years, seventeen-year-old Emmy Martin turns to her passion for mountain biking to try to fill the empty void in her life. But just when things start looking up, Emmy discovers her mom has been diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's. Confused and angry that her parents didn't tell her sooner, she throws herself into mountain biking like never before.
When Cole Evans, the rich boy who usually doesn't care about anything but himself, offers to train her for the biggest mountain biking race of the season, she accepts, determined to beat her nemesis, Whitney, and prove she's good enough for a sponsor. The more time she spends with Cole, the more she realizes he's different than she'd expected, and, to her surprise, she's falling for him. Torn between the deep feelings she still has for Lucas and her growing ones for Cole, she knows she must choose a one offers her the chance to love again, while the...

Genres: Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult, Sports, Realistic Fiction, Fiction, Young Adult Romance

290 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 7, 2017

About the author

Chantele Sedgwick is a YA author, harpist, wife to one and stay-at-home mom to four. She loves happy endings, Kit Kats and judging by her book shelves, buys way too many books.

Reviews

[Katie (hiding in the pages) · Rating 4 out of 5]

My inner teenage self loves the angsty stories and I would have devoured this back then. Even now, I still really enjoyed it. I love the passion that Emmy has found for mountain bike racing, as that is something that carries her through the trials in her life. I love that she has an escape and something to focus on that helps her become a better person all-around.

A great moral to this story is to be careful how you judge others. I think it's human nature to jump to quick conclusions about people based on limited information and Emmy learns those first impressions can often be dead wrong. As she comes to know the very persistent Cole better, the lesson becomes more obvious. He's a keeper of a friend--how can someone stand so much rejection and still come back for more?!

Emmy is also dealing with a personal family issue and I love how a sensitive topic is brought up and recognized. When I was about the same age, my family went through a health crisis and her thoughts and feelings on the topic were very realistic for how a teenage girl might feel and try to deal with it all.

This story of growth and overcoming hard things is a tender tug on the heart and I loved the engaging writing style. I'll be back for more, Ms. Sedgwick!

Content: mild romance; mild violence (accidents, injuries, talk of death).

[Kara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this one up based on a blogging friend's high recommendation and was so happy I did! Even though I hadn't read the first book, Love, Lucas, this one is more of a companion novel than an outright sequel, so it stands very well all on its own. Emmy is the reason I loved this story. Still coping with the grief of losing the boy she loved, I connected with her struggles to handle those complicated emotions. Add to that the fact that her mother has a huge health crisis and I completely understood the way that Emmy was barely hanging on most days. That's a lot for anyone to handle! Having experienced very similar emotions, I was with her every step, wanting so badly to hug her!

It's a slow journey, but with good friends around who refuse to give up on her, she ends her story in a much better place. Speaking of, I loved her relationship with Cole! It's not an easy one, mainly because she has no idea how to manage all the emotions he causes and therefore doesn't always treat him the nicest. But he stays the course and watching as she slowly warms up to him is fun. :) Overall, it's not just a simple story. Emmy's journey is quite difficult at times, but so worth discovering!

[Adriana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Please ignore the summary it is only partially correct which bothers me more than you could know. First of all Cole isn't the rich boy who only cares about himself. He does have money but he always has had an interest in our main character, Emmy. Second, Cole helps train Emmy after her one-on-one race with Emmy and that is at the very very end of the book. There is so much more that goes on with her and Cole before the training. Also, why is the terrible accident even mentioned? This summary....

Now that my complaints of the summary are over, which I completely forgotten about before I read the book, on to my thoughts on Emmy. Emmy has fire and attitude which is done in a way that makes her sound like the cool kid in the story. Not the actual kid because she has exactly one friend at the beginning of the book, but just like that loner kid in the school ground that doesn't take anything from anybody. I loved her spirit and that spirit was only rivaled by her best friend Kelsie who will not let Emmy lose her fire. Kelsie is always there for her friend. She's just the type of person you would want as a best friend - encouraging and (for the reader's sake) always the one trying to push her towards her love interest.

Cole is very sweet when we first meet him. He cares for Emmy clearly and will keep on teasing her even when she tries to push him away. He always tries to be encouraging towards her mountain bike training. He races as a mountain biker as well and is captain of the team she created which is where a bunch of tension is placed towards him. The bad news is that the first half I really liked him but in the second half I felt he was too pushy. It felt like he thought she owed him something because he liked her/was nice to her. So Emmy tries to push back. If you don't like it go away. Don't complain. I know it's something she obviously needs to work on but I just didn't like him later on. The relationship kind of bored me after a while. By default, I didn't feel as connected to Emmy because of the relationship she was in or really the way she kept on acting as I did in the beginning.

Emmy's mom has been diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's which pretty much sucks on Emmy's end. The way Emmy goes about it isn't right. I would hope I would do the direct opposite. I can see her point of view of it all. She latches on to the bad part to justify her behavior but still. That's your mom. Her relationship with her mom ended up being unclear to me. There was something that I see could have been done towards the end to get them closer. Their relationship could have been explored more but that twist at the end changed things. That twist never really registered with me because it felt so unnecessary.



Lucas is a character who died a little while back that Emmy hasn't been able to get over. At least, I supposed that was true. I was worried from the initial Cole flirting with her and her focus on training that she didn't really care about Lucas anymore. But there were moments throughout the book that had her mentioning him and I got the sense that she really did care. There is actually another book I discovered about his sister's adjustment after his death called Love, Lucas. I wouldn't mind reading about her time because I got something really juice spoiled in this one about what happens to her.

I almost forgot about Emmy's brother and father! I really liked her relationship with her brother. I felt with her father she interacted with him just enough to make me satisfied. I liked that she did interact with her family and it wasn't just her out in the world. I dislike when books ignore the family.

A note on the mountain biking: It really made me want to get outside and go running. I would never do mountain biking like my crazy brother but I do enjoy being in the outdoors in other ways. I love being motivated by books! All the training and races were the best part for me because I like all of that stuff.

Although the first half did better for me than the last I did enjoy Emmy's personality, her friend, her relationship with her brother, and the mountain bike training. The romance could have done with a bit of less in the book, the mother-daughter relationship could have been resolved, and the twist didn't need to be there. I will still like to try Sedgwick's other books because her character writing shows she has potential.

Thanks to NetGalley and Sky Pony Press for letting me read and review Switching Gears in exchange for an honest review!

[Roxanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to Sky Pony Press for providing me a copy of book in exchange for a fair review.


Emmy hasn't been dealing with things well, she quit the mountain bike team after Lucas's death and hasn't won first place in a long time. Just when things are starting to look up she finds out that her mom has been diagnosed with early on-set Alzheimer.


Now she is trying to navigate her feelings for Cole, her place on the team and the reality of losing her mom as she knows her. Then an accident almost changes everything and Emmy has to decide what is really important.


I am going to note that I didn't realize this was a sequel or a follow up until after I started reading it. Love, Lucas is the first book. However, I didn't feeling like I was missing anything by not having read it first. Emmy is a passionate mountain biker who is still kind of reeling from Lucas dying a year ago.


Lucas is Emmy's first love, but they really never had a relationship. She never told him how she felt until right before he died after he revealed that he had been in love with her for years, but he was too afraid to tell her. Cole moved to Utah during that time frame and has only been Emmy's friend up until now. He is helping her train for her rematch against Whitney.


She feels more than a little guilty about her feelings for Cole, but she cautiously begins to deal with the past and the present until the moment that everything changes. This was a quick easy read. It had me in tears several times, and I enjoyed the book and it's message a lot.

[Sarah]

Cute!

[Mia Giarritano · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best book ever, and the sequel to "Love Lucas."

[Jeanene · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a great follow up to book one. It is it’s own story with sneak peeks at book one. Loved it 💗💗

[Beatrice Rivers · Rating 5 out of 5]

*I received a copy of this book from Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review*

This is a gripping, reality which shows that you are in danger doing the simplest of things…

Emmy Martin intrigued me. She has lost her best friend, the one boy who she can’t stand likes her and her family is not as close as she thought it was. Even after all of this happening, she still pushes herself every day to keep herself fit enough to race her mountain bike. But she is always just that little bit behind Whitney, whom she has never beaten before.

I liked Cole. He seemed like a nice guy, and I think that the only reasons that Emmy didn’t like him were that he had taken her captainship on the biking team at school and that she was afraid that she might like him too.

I think that after all Emmy goes through at the end of the book, she is very lucky to be alive, let alone still able to ride her bike. I loved that through everything, Cole and Emmy’s brother were both very supportive and that Emmy's mother finally gets to see her race.

I Highly Recommend this book to anyone.

[The Flipped Page (Susan K) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Romance, clean, YA, series but stand alone
Emmy's second book with Cole. This can be read without reading Love, Lucas, although that was a wonderful read. Very poignant. The disease (won't say who), the competition, the injuries, the 'thing' between Emmy and Cole. It was just a beautiful, heartfelt, read. Two competitors, who become friends, who trust and build on the attraction. Kelsey was a great foil and friend, Gavin a nice secondary character in her brother, and the relationship with her parents, tricky, but so moving. This is not just a romance, but a life story. Bad things happen, good moments happen, trust can be given again, even in the midst of the pain and hurt. Lovely read, and beautiful moments of self discovery.
Emmy and Cole's story was definitely worth the 'truths'.
Definitely a fan of this author.

[Kristie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review originally posted on www.yabookscentral.com

Lucas Nelson loved Emmy Martin, but he waited until a week before he died of cancer to tell her that. Emmy had loved Lucas for years, but she kept quiet out of respect for their friendship, her friendship with Lucas's sister, and her belief that he only thought of her as a friend.

As SWITCHING GEARS by Chantele Sedgwick begins, it's been a month since Lucas died, and Emmy is understandably still grieving. Mountain biking is one way she copes with her loss, and her close relationship with her family along with the support of her best friend, Kelsie, help keep her going when missing Lucas seems too much to bear.

As she struggles to deal with he loss of Lucas, Emmy engages in a rivalry with another talented female mountain biker, Whitney. Emmy is also trying to figure out how she feels about Cole Evans, a handsome and persistent classmate and the captain of the school mountain biking team. And then when Emmy thinks that these are her biggest problems, her parents share the news that Emmy's mom has been diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's Disease, and Emmy's world is rocked one more time.

SWITCHING GEARS is a classic young adult love story. The action provided by the bike training and racing scenes helps keep the plot moving, and Emmy is a believable character as she reacts to the events happening around her. There came a point where I wondered what else this poor girl could be put through to help things progress, but the story was put together well, so none of Emmy's trials seemed too forced.

Emmy's reaction to her mom's diagnosis was well written, and Emmy's and Kelsie's friendship was natural and fun. Cole seemed a little too perfect, but after everything she had been through, I think Emmy deserved a little perfection, so I forgave Cole for being too good to be real. Emmy's nemesis, Whitney, was a bit of a stereotype, too, but there are a few references to a hidden depth to Whitney that save her from being one-dimensional.

Overall, SWITCHING GEARS is a quick read, and despite the sometimes heavy and depressing subject matter, it never gets bogged down in sadness and desperation. Kudos to Chantele Sedgwick for handling difficult themes while walking the fine line between hope and desperation with a light touch. It's the second book from the author that focuses on the aftermath of the death of Lucas Nelson (LOVE, LUCAS is the first), but both books stand alone.

My thanks to the publisher and YA Books Central for a copy of the book in exchange for my unbiased review.

[Marley Sarafinko · Rating 4 out of 5]

Switching Gears is the second book of the Love, Lucas series. The author did an amazing job blending the books together as well as she did. She went into detail and described every character and setting so clearly. I was able to easily imagine them in my mind. This book was an easy read. However, had a powerful story line. Overall, I thought it was an excellent book
This book is about a teenage girl named Emmy Martin. She was in love with Lucas for 17 years. Tragically, Lucas pasted away from cancer. To clear her mind, Emmy turned to mountain biking. In the mixed of the pain she is feeling from Lucas' passing, she discovers her mom is suffering from Alzheimer's. Emmy was very distraught that her parents had never mentioned this to her before. Now, more than ever, Emmy spends lots of time on the mountains training. Emmy mentions in the book "To make our way, we must have firm resolve, persistence, tenacity. We must gear ourselves to work hard all the way. We can never let up." I found this quote to be significant because Emmy can relate to this quote both through mountain biking and her everyday life.
Switching Gears is from Emmy's point of view (first person). We watch and experience the pain she goes through with lose and grief, and we experience the excitement and thrill of races. We experience Emmy falling for another boy and her best friends comforting her in a difficult time. I feel that mentioning that the story was in Emmy's point of view was important because it really makes the story so much better and worth the read.
A problem that occurred in the story which I find I should mention is Emmy is racing with a boy named Cole Evans. He was known as the 'rebel' in school and was a bad boy everyone loved.. except for Emmy. However, the more Emmy got to know Cole, he was different than what she imagined. Now she had to pick between Cole, the bad boy, or Lucas, the boy she loved for 17 years.
In conclusion, I thought Switching Gears was an excellent book. I would recommend this book to teenage girls, around the age of 12-18. This book is about love and overcoming challenges and I think everyone should get the chance to read this if given.

[Sharon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sky Pony Press and NetGalley provided me with an electronic copy of Switching Gears. This is my honest opinion of the book.

Only one month after Lucas, neighbor and best friend, died from an illness, Emmy decides to ride in her first mountain bike race of the season. When a second place finish prompts her to accept a race with her biggest rival, Whitney, will Emmy put everything on the line to prove that she can win? Will family issues and confusing feelings about Cole, fellow racer and high school team captain, help Emmy to gain perspective or lose focus?

This YA romance shows a teenager as she struggles through confusing feelings and immense grief. A story about loss, love, and hope, Switching Gears is a clean romance with realistic undertones. A little typical for a YA romance, I nevertheless liked the story and the main characters. YA readers will enjoy the clean romance, as well as the strong and determined main characters.

[Natalia · Rating 2 out of 5]

21 January review:
The first book i read written by this author is “Interlude“. I just loved it. This book was the second one. It’s an epic fail for me. One star. I could tolerate it only till I reached a middle of it (60% to be precise). Then I gave up and returned the copy to the library.
The main character had been annoying me from the beginning. Then it got worse and worse.
Others characters were not written enough to get to know them better, and I didn’t feel to them anything. The love story begins with affection one party to the other, so nothing surprising there for the first place.
So, probably it’s not my book at all.

23 January review:
Well I don’t like to review a book without reading till the end. So I got a copy again and finished it. The funny thing is that I gave up reading in the place when everything became less and less annoying and even better. So I change my score to two stars. So I still don’t see myself rereading it. :)

[Emily F - Seriously Sweet Reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fantastic teen drama, and it demonstrated that emotional teen drama DOES NOT have to have vulgarity and explicit content to reach teens. This was a beautiful wakeup call. It was poignant with emotional depth and shows characters recognizing potentially harmful coping mechanisms. So inspiring! I borrowed this, but I definitely want my own copy of this book, along with (at least) one for my classroom! It is so well-written - I'm wanting to underline stuff left and right. I thought Love, Lucas was good...this is phenomenal!! And the title is so fitting!

[Rebecca Baughman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This companion (not sequel) to Love, Lucas stands alone.

Emmy is having a hard time getting over the death of her best friend, Lucas. On top of that, her mother has been diagnosed with an unforgiving disease. Emmy decides to put her focus on mountain biking and pushes everyone else away except her friend, Kelsie. Cole sees something special in Emmy and is quite persistent in getting to know her. Despite how hard she tries to alienate him, Cole won't give up.

[kk · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutly adored this book. Everything about it was well written. The book was not to rushed nor was it too slow. Emmy's romance with Cole was not rushed or too slow like many other romance books. This book showed a lot of Emmy's complex feelings which is quite rare in many books because lots of times authors tend to reveal a character's torn feelings but then dismiss or forget about them later on. Kudos to Chantele Sedgwick for dealing with Emmy's feelings and for displaying them to satisfactory! This is by far my favorite book!

Switching Gears by Chantele Segwick is a story that emphasizes obstacles. Emmy Martin, a highschooler obsessed with biking, still mourning on the loss of her best friend and one true love. The action provided by the bike training helps keep the plot moving. Emmy is a believable character as she reacts to events occurring around her. There are times where I wondered, what else this poor girl could be put through to help things progress, but the story was put together well, so none of Emmy's obstacles seemed to out-of-the-box.


Important Aspects of the Book


1. Emmy Martin is still grieving the loss of her one true love and lifelong best friend, Lucas Nelson.

Lucas's death takes an extra toll on Emmy because she saw him suffer. The author chooses to give Lucas cancer twice. The first they caught it early and treated it early as well. While the second time was unexpected, and was caught late. Emmy saw him suffer twice right by his side, and a week before he died, he told Emmy that he loved her. Emmy secretly loved him for years but decided to respect their relationship, and not push anything. I think the author opened up about this more in the first book, Love, Lucas, rather than the second but it was well written in both books. I personally didn't enjoy this part because it was just too sad, but others may contradict.


2. Emmy engages in rivalry with another talented female mountain biker, Whitney.

As I may have already said, Emmy is a competitive mountain biker, and she uses it to figure out events in her life, and also as a sport. She is very passionate about it because it's what makes her feel better about her thoughts and events in her life. But all her life, she has had to compete with Whitney, her absolute enemy. Emmy's nemesis, Whitney, was a bit of a stereotype. Whitney is beautiful, popular, and everthing Emmy wants to be like. But, there are a few references to a hidden depth to Whitney that save her from being one-dimesional. The author wrote Emmy and Whitney's relationship, in a simple, yet complicated way. Emmy envies Whitney, but Whitney envies Emmy. Confusing, right? I did enjoy this aspect because it really showed another way to look at Emmy.


3. Emmy is also trying to figure out how she feels about Cole Evans, a handsome and persistent classmate and captain of the school’s mountain biking team.

Since Lucas's death, Emmy thought she would never catch feelings for anyone else, because after all, he was her lifelong love and bestfriend, and never got the chance to express her love to him in a more-than-friend-way. But, she seems to be catching feelings for Cole Evans, who seems to perfect for her, but after everything she's been through, I think Emmy deserved a little perfection. Cole Evans at first doesn't have feelings for Emmy, but as he gets to know her, he catches feelings too. I think the author dealt with it pretty well, not rushing anything. The author showed the whole process of them getting to know eachother which made me enjoy it.


4. Emmy has a bigger problem which is that her mom has been diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s Disease.

Emmy's reaction to her mom's diagnosis is pretty well written, emphasizing how her mom didn't deserve her diagnosis. Emmy shows anger and frustration against her parents, wondering why she didn't know sooner. Right after she was told, she takes a bike ride, and tries to process what has happened. I enjoyed reading this aspect because it was full of detail, which authors do miss often. Emmy has had enough problems in her life, right?


5. The theme, "Life never comes without obstacles."

Honestly, I think the theme is so fitting for everything in Emmy's life. From grieving a death to her mom's diagnosis, the author really emphasizes that Emmy's life came with a lot of obstacles.


Important Quotes from the Book

“You got this. You can do this. Keep pedaling and ignore the pain.”

“Get ahold of yourself.”

“Get your head in the game.”


Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It's a quick read that personally took me only three days to read. As granted, Emmy ends up falling for Cole, and accepts her mother's diagnosis. She also becomes a better, more talented mountain biker, climbing up hills, and going down them. Despite the sometimes heavy and depressing subject matter, it never gets too bogged down in sadness and desperation. Kudos to the author, who dealt with a difficult theme while walking the fine line between hope and desperation with a light touch. It's a great book that consumes time out of your never ending days of quarantine.



Similar Books by Chantel Segwick

1. Love, Lucas by Chantele Segwick

2. Interlude by Chantele Segwick

3. The Summer of Lost Things by Chantele Segwick

I JUST LOVE THIS BOOK SO MUCH I LOVE THE AUTHOR TOO!!!!!!!!!!!111111111

[Carmen Shick · Rating 4 out of 5]

As good as the first one! I loved the character development. I will definitely have to read the next book in the series. 🤩

The overall plot was full of emotions, and it made it a very captivating read. Cole and Emmy had cute banters, and I was so happy when the family conflict was resolved. I will say, I was shocked at the climax (plot twist!) but it really made it a spectacular book. Chantele Sedgwick does such a good job with her writing. Recommend!

[Christina Burbage · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a goodreads win and I am thrilled that I got to read it. It is probably not one that I would have purchased but I will definitely look forward to reading more from this author. The characters were lovable and relatable. I thought that it was going to be just a predictable sweet read until the end and then it became a fantastically weaved story.

[Summer Bennett · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was well written and knew how to mess with my emotions. Right as I got close to the end and started to guess how it may end boom a bomb explodes, a volcano erupts, a hurricane hits. Whatever metaphor you want to use, that's what happened. I wasnt expecting it, but that's okay because everything turned out good.

[mckenna (draco’s version) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Soo good!!!!! Like no joke!! Usually second books aren't as good as the first but this one definitely was!! Cole is so good! And the fact that Emmy when she realized how bad she was hurt she thought why did it happen to me but then she thought that she wouldn't wish it on any one else. Dang. I am not that selfless.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I definitely shed a lot of tears reading this one. It would have been five stars, but a lot of the writing didn’t seem totally natural to me, especially the dialogue, which seemed more like someone would write and less like what someone would actually say out loud.

[Brenna Penner · Rating 5 out of 5]

it was interesting. something tragic happens towards the end of the book just like her first book. that adds an interesting touch to the book. like I said last time on my Love, Lucas review, I can't wait to read the next book! until next time! 👋🏼

[Tamara · Rating 3 out of 5]

A worthy and well-written YA novel about navigating life.

[Suey · Rating 4 out of 5]

A companion novel to Love, Lucas about the girl that loved him, that he left behind and how she tries to get on with her life.

[Tami · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think the writing was much improved from her other book I recently read. Similar-ish plot line...she likes the plot twist close to the end of her books.

[lucy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book 😂👏

[Briana.C · Rating 5 out of 5]

i love it

[Siani · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an amazing story about a girl only used as an example of what happens on the day to day.

[Jayden · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story is so intresting and I honestly loved it all.

[Juniper Schaefer · Rating 5 out of 5]

AMAZING, loved it.