Saturday, March 2, 2024

*Review* The Atlas of Us by Kristin Dwyer


 Genre: YA Coming of Age
Published: January 9, 2024
Pages: 336


Atlas has lost her way.

In a last-ditch effort to pull her life together, she’s working on a community service program rehabbing trails in the Western Sierras. The only plus is that the days are so exhausting that Atlas might just be tired enough to forget that this was one of her dad’s favorite places in the world. Before cancer stole him from her life, that is.

Using real names is forbidden on the trail. So Atlas becomes Maps, and with her team—Books, Sugar, Junior, and King—she heads into the wilderness. As she sheds the lies she’s built up as walls to protect herself, she realizes that four strangers might know her better than anyone has before. And with the end of the trail racing to meet them, Maps is left counting down the days until she returns to her old life—without her new family, and without King, who’s become more than just a friend.



I received a copy of this audiobook through Netgalley. This is my honest review. 

I grabbed this book because I loved the cover and it was available as a "listen now" so I didn't have to get any sort of approval for it. It wasn't until after I downloaded the book that I realized the copy available wasn't the voice actor version of the audiobook. The version I had was AI generated for review purposes only, which certainly lent something to the experience. It confirmed for me that I would never want to pay for an audiobook with AI generated audio because it has some serious drawbacks, namely unnatural pauses (and a lack of pauses in some places they should really exist). 

This book is a good example of why you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover (but I'm still gonna). Although I'm not sure exactly what I was expecting from this book, what I got wasn't it. And sure, I could have read the blurb first, but that would have ruined my 23 year long blurb non-reading streak. I was definitely expecting a heavier romantic storyline than I was treated to. I struggled to feel a strong connection with the characters. Me no longer being a teenager and having a more privileged childhood than they did may have contributed to that, but I'm not sure. 

Overall I give The Atlas of Us 3.7946 out of 5 stars because although it wasn't what I was expecting and I didn't feel particularly connected to the characters, I was still mildly invested in the story itself and wanted to see where it went. - Katie 




Kristin Dwyer grew up under the California sun and prayed every day for a cloudy sky. Now Kristin and her spouse are currently raising their mischief-makers in the hills of North Carolina, where there is just the right amount of clouds. When she’s not writing books about people kissing, Kristin is a part-time hair model and full-time TSA PreCheck. One time a credible news outlet asked for her opinion on K-pop (it was the best day of her life). Please do not talk to her about your fandom; she will try to join.

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