Everything Leads to You by Nina Lacour

Synopsis: "A love letter to the craft and romance of film and fate in front of—and behind—the camera from the award-winning author of Hold Still.

A wunderkind young set designer, Emi has already started to find her way in the competitive Hollywood film world.

Emi is a film buff and a true romantic, but her real-life relationships are a mess. She has desperately gone back to the same girl too many times to mention. But then a mysterious letter from a silver screen legend leads Emi to Ava. Ava is unlike anyone Emi has ever met. She has a tumultuous, not-so-glamorous past, and lives an unconventional life. She’s enigmatic…. She’s beautiful. And she is about to expand Emi’s understanding of family, acceptance, and true romance."

Title: Everything Leads to You
Genre: Contemporary, Romance, LGBT
Series: None
Pages: 307
Ages: 13+
My Rating: 2.5 stars
One Word: Blaaahhh
Fave Quote:
"[Films] 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" (305).

Review

Actual Rating: 2.5 stars I wasn't aware that the main character was lesbian in the beginning of the novel because the synopsis on the hardcover book is more vague, but that in no way affected my rating. The actual reason for this book getting 2.5 stars is that the romance wasn't really meaningful, meaning that it was too light for my taste. The ending was expected and it was all just fluff. Don't get me wrong, I love fluff books, but this book was just too fluffy and even cheesy for my taste. More...more I wasn't aware that the main character was lesbian in the beginning of the novel because the synopsis on the hardcover book is more vague, but that in no way affected my rating. The actual reason for this book getting 2.5 stars is that the romance wasn't really meaningful, meaning that it was too light for my taste. The ending was expected and it was all just fluff. Don't get me wrong, I love fluff books, but this book was just too fluffy and even cheesy for my taste. Moreover, I also wanted to see more romance with Charlotte and Toby, but the only romance was literally just a phone call. I don't know, I feel like the main character, Emi, was very talented yet a plain character. And I didn't really like Ava just because I knew that she'd end up with Emi, a predictable ending. The plot was also just blah. I went to LA recently and I don't know why but I expected the plot to be a lot more glamorous because it's LA! The first couple of pages explained the whole plot and I felt that the book could've been one hundred pages shorter because by page 200, I knew exactly what was going to happen. Moving on to the cheesiness, this book was full of predictable things, and Emi kept saying how everything was meant for a reason, which doesn't seem bad, but the way she said it made it very tacky: "'I've been wondering,' I say. 'You know what I said the knight we found the letter? How I felt like there was something significant about it?' 'Yeah, I remember. It's the only time you've ever said anything like that.' 'I've just been thinking that maybe Ava is someone I'm supposed to know.' 'Know?' 'It isn't just because she's so pretty. Or because of Clyde. I know it sounds crazy but I swear there's this thing about her. I feel like I was meant to know her'" (97-98). Meant to know her? This book was not even fluff, it was just blah. The plot wasn't interesting enough and the characters were sort of predictable. I must say that my favorite character was Jamal just because he had a strong personality. Everything else wasn't captivating. ★★1/2