Tonight the Streets Are Ours by Leila Sales

23310761“Like all stories, the one you are about to read is a love story. If it wasn’t, what would be the point?”

Arden is a kind and fiercely loyal person who takes care of everyone in her life.  Whether it be her best friend Lindsey, her family, or her boyfriend Chris. She’s always there for everyone, however as time goes by she begins to feel like not everyone is always there for her.  She finds comfort in a blog written by a boy named Peter in New York City, titled Tonight the Streets Are Ours.  In his writing she believes she has found someone who can truly understand her, the way that she understands him.  After Arden reaches her breaking point she decides to drive to NYC and meet Peter.  But not everything is as Arden imagined and it turns out to be a trip that leads to many realizations and much needed lessons.

Tonight the Streets Are Ours is not at all what I expected.  It is a love story, but a very different kind of love story.  I appreciated its realness and the fact that it doesn’t follow the same basic formula.  There were moments where I sympathized with Arden and moments where I was annoyed by her, but ultimately I found her actions understandable and she does learn and grow from her experiences.  The book also really speaks to how people are not always the way we assume they are, and quite often expectations don’t meet reality.  I didn’t fully engage with the story all the way through and felt it could have been edited down a little bit.  But overall I enjoyed its uniqueness and its overall message: people aren’t perfect, situations aren’t ideal.  All we can do is just try our best.

Favourite quote: “…I don’t want to mistake something good for something better.  And I’m going to trust that the best parts of my life haven’t happened yet.”

*E-copy provided by NetGalley for review.