This book is a beautiful story of grief and moving forwards. After Marley loses both her parents in an accident, she drops out of college and enters a cycle of grief. But then she’s pulled into a gathering of her family, and she realises she doesn’t have to be alone in her struggles.

Marley’s journey was gripping. The imagery was beautiful and well thought out. I could clearly see the activities she went on, and it really made me want to go outside and just enjoy nature. I was captivated by the portrayal of her mental state and attitudes which clearly shifted as the book progressed. I think Mandi Lynn really captured the idea that grief doesn’t shirk, we just learn to grow with it.

My favourite part of this book was the unconditional love between Marley and Lori. Though all the the relationships throughout the book felt realistic and followed a good pace.

The overall story did feel a little slow and some paragraphs were quite difficult to get through. This is mostly an editing issue given the writing itself was nice.

Just 9 months after the death of her parents, Meet Me at the Summit by Mandi Lynn follows the reluctant journey of 19-year-old Marly from Washington to New Hampshire in her mother’s renovated vintage VW bus. Marley is forced to come to terms with the grief she has been suppressing in a tale that highlights that what we think we want, what we think we are capable of and what we need are not always the same things. As the story progresses, we are opened up to the lead character much in the same way she is opened up to herself and those around her. The novel reads like a love letter to the outdoors and the creativity it inspires not only for Marly but us reading her story. It is a wonderful multi-layered story about grief and adventure that I would highly recommend to teen and young adult readers as well as anyone who enjoys the outdoors and might need a reminder of how healing it can be.

While I do follow Mandi (the author) on Instagram, I've never interacted with her outside of liking some of her posts. Part of the reason I read this ARC was because of Mandi's Instagram.

This is my third attempt to write a review for this book. I’m trying to be short and to the point. So, hopefully third time’s the charm. This isn’t going to be a kind review and I’m going to touch on abusive relationships. So if this might be a concerning topic, I wouldn’t recommend reading further, or picking up this book.

Unfortunately I didn’t like this book. Other reviewers have addressed the typos and other errors. I wanted to discuss something that I haven’t seen anyone else mention yet.

There’s a weird toxic undertone to this story. And it’s all because everyone in Marly’s life does everything they can to take away her autonomy.

Lori keeps pressuring Marly to go back to her old ways. Her uncle pressures her to take the bus. Her Gran even pressures her to go on the road trip. Once Marly meets Dylan he’s no better.

Dylan not only pressures Marly to talk about her parents in unhealthy ways he also goes behind her back multiple times to do what he thinks is best for her. At one point Lori and Dylan conspire to break Marly’s trust. And what does Marly do? Not a whole lot. They give half-hearted apologies and all is forgiven. No one grows. No one learns. Nothing changes. Marly continues to be abused by her friend and ‘boyfriend.’

Marly is never given healthy ways to cope. Everyone is too busy shoving their opinions on her and trying to get her back to normal. No one understands that Marly can’t go ‘back’. Her parents are dead. Going back would imply her parents would magically be alive again. No one wants to accept that Marly is stuck and going back isn’t an option for her.

When Marly does start to open up and move forward nothing comes of it. Everything stays stiff and surface level. Marly shares the same things over and over. The opportunity to get deeper into her grief never really comes up. And instead Dylan chooses to dig up her grief after the moment has passed. But this of course never seems to set Marly off again. The girl has two full on panic attack breakdowns and they’re just treated as a minor inconvenience, like hiccups or allergies. They’re just something that happens sometimes and clearly nothing to worry about.

I think Lori is supposed to be the encouraging friend but I found her tiresome and problematic. She went behind Marly’s back multiple times and arranged things on Marly’s behalf, rarely ever worrying about what was best for Marly. As soon as things start to go south Lori cries and shifts the sympathy from Marly to Lori. This makes Marly feel bad and FORGET that she’s the one who’s been betrayed and harmed.

Marly is constantly emotionally abused throughout the entire book. When Marly finally breaks down and opens up to Lori (showing deeper emotion and finally voicing her own opinions) the only thing Lori comments on is Marly trying to sell her photographs on a stock website. Not a word about how she misses her parents or Marly’s guilt. Not a word about her struggling and not feeling connected to anything. Lori is not a good friend. I can’t think of a single time I enjoyed spending time with Lori. Maybe the one hike they went on. That’s it.

Dylan isn’t much better. He’s always there to hug her or ‘comfort’ her, but they never talk. She opens up and he feels sad for her and that’s the end of the conversation. He even has the audacity to show up unannounced at one point. He doesn’t care about what’s best for Marly either.

Dylan and Marly’s relationship is surface level. They don’t know anything about each other. They never learn anything about each other. I can’t even tell you what Dyan looks like aside from his muscular shoulders. I don’t remember his hair color and I think he had hazel eyes? Maybe. He works as some kind of social media ad manager for some unnamed company. I’m not sure Marley can tell you much more about Dylan that I just did.

Both Dylan and Lori are trying to make Marly be someone she can’t be right now. They keep pushing her beyond what she’s comfortable with and NEVER check in with her until she’s already having a breakdown. Until it’s too late.

Marly doesn’t need two terrible friends pretending to help her cope. She needs a therapist. A real, licensed, therapist to help her process all her emotions. She doesn’t need to hike up a mountain and blow some stupid bubbles. This isn’t how trauma is resolved.

I can’t in good faith recommend this book. It sends the wrong message. It subtly teaches girls that consent doesn’t matter and that what you want isn’t important. It teaches girls that everyone else knows better than them. And this point is reinforced because every time Dylan goes against Marly’s wishes it magically works out for her and she’s grateful for the experience. Every. Single. Time. The book teaches girls that abusive relationships (romantic and friendships) are healthy. I don’t think this was the intent of the book. But unfortunately that’s what happens.

One star. And I wish I could give less.

This book hits home for me personally . It’s a story about a girl coping with the loss of her parents and I think the author depicts grief in a way thats believable and easy to grasp for younger readers. The plot itself could’ve been more captivating and I did find my mind wandering while reading. Overall I would rate this book is 2.5 stars. I know this is an Arc but I feel like the editing was all over the place and it was rather slow paced.

I was a bit excited to have read the synopsis and was really looking forward to a great story but I
received not even a little bit of what I had expected.

Marly is still young but she already lost both of her parents in a car accident. She hasn`t face
the grieving process after you have lost someone. She focuses her attention on work so she
would not think any of it. But she was forced to drive her mom`s old bus and also now forced to
face the harsh reality she was avoiding all this time. I picture that the summit was really the top
of the wall that Marly had built around her so she won`t hurt again. A defense mechanism most
of us do without realizing. Is she going to peak at the top of the wall or is she going to break it
and embrace the life she has now?

That is all I can say or describe the story. It was literally like how the synopsis had told. a
journey of Marly facing the loss of her parents that she should have already faced. Some parts
of the story felt like it was a bit exaggerated and that is why I felt like this is like a diary of Marly
rather than a novel. I still appreciated the story even though it gave me less than what I had
expected.

While I thought the writing itself was pretty mediocre, Marly’s journey was really gripping, and I couldn’t get enough of it. There was never a part where I lost interest or had trouble finding motivation to read. Honestly, it would be a great book to read in one sitting!

The ending felt a bit abrupt, but other than that, the pacing was perfect. It moved along nicely, and the chapters were nice and short, which is something I love. I flew through it faster than I thought I would.

My biggest gripe with this book is that it was riddled with expository internal monologues on what had happened previously in Marly’s life to lead her to the beginning of the novel, and quite a bit of unnecessary overexplaining throughout, which I was not a fan of, and kept me from enjoying it fully.

Overall, though, a good read!

I really enjoyed how this YA book takes place at 19, the end of the teenage years, after high school, at a challenging time in ones life. I wish I could have read something like this when I was 18-19; I love YA, but it was a little disheartening when every main character was 16 at most. I also liked how it strayed from the typical path of going straight through college directly after high school. The mention of anxiety was nice to see as well, although it felt rushed and underdeveloped at times. However, I saw myself in Marly at times of panic and being unable to sleep.

As a YA reader, I really enjoyed how the book followed a romance while on adventure. At times, it did feel a little rushed and as if it was moving far too fast. I also wish the resolution was different as the book discussed many deep topics. I did enjoy this book though, and it was a good break from reality for a bit.

This book was really intense. A lot about grief and healing. It was really sad. But I really loved it.

I enjoyed this story. Part coming to terms with grief, part hike and travel log. I found it relatable in many ways though impractical in others. Overall a nice read.

This review will appear on my blog and on Goodreads on July 31, 2021

Introduction

Marly Price lost her parents in a car accident 9 months ago, and since then, she's just been going through the motions. She's getting through it, but every day feels the same as the last. When she's presented with the opportunity to travel across the US in a renovated VW bus, she knows she should do it. The old her, the person she was before her parents died, would have jumped at the opportunity. To travel again, to enjoy hiking again, to enjoy photography again. Those are all things Marly wants. But after everything that's happened, will Marly be able to find passion in the things that she used to love again?

Pacing

The pacing starts off very slow as Marly is being convinced by her family to take the bus on the road trip, but as it starts to take off, it quickly becomes very repetitive. The order of events for nearly the entire book is driving --> hiking --> Marly having a panic attack on the top of a mountain--> Marly taking photos --> Marly struggling to sleep --> repeat. Dylan, the romantic interest quickly finds his place in the cycle when he starts to calm Marly's panic attacks, but that quickly grows repetitive in nature as well. Because of this cycle, I found myself having to take a lot of breaks from reading to avoid getting bored with the story.

Romance

I was disappointed in Marly and Dylan's romance. They knew very little little about each other and there doesn't seem to be much of substance backing their feelings for each other, so it was hard for me to care about them.

Marly

Marly was just an average protagonist. The grief she felt about her parents dying was interesting to read about but I feel like she read a little younger than a nineteen year old. I think the most prominent example of Marly reading a little younger than she was intended to be was when she actually considered staying with Dylan in Colorado instead of finishing her trip so that she could make sure she kept his interest. It felt very childish to me and she didn't really get much better throughout the course of the book. I don't think she grew very much as a character with the exception of maybe the last 25 pages or so.

General Character Thoughts

I feel like at best, the characters were average, and at worst, a little forgettable. I especially feel this way about Dylan and Lori. They both had essentially no personality. Dylan enjoyed hiking, which is necessary, but we get enough of the hiking obsession with Marly. Lori felt a little bit excitable most of the time, but she just felt like the bubbly happy token character there to balance out Marly. Mostly, they both felt like they were both only there for Marly's development rather than having personalities on their own.

Conclusion

Overall, this book was only okay. The repetitive nature really bogged it down for me and since I wasn't really into the romance, even the cutesy scenes that served to break the routine a little bit didn't interest me very much. There does look to be a second book coming, so the story will continue, and I would consider giving it a chance in hopes to see a little bit more character development.

3 stars

Thank you Netgalley, Stone Ridge Books, and Mandi Lynn for sending me an e-ARC of Meet Me at the Summit in exchange for an honest review.

For the most part, Meet Me at the Summit was a good book, and I enjoyed the story. Unfortunately, it did have a large amount of typos, and tons of repetition. I felt Mandi Lynn could've been a little more creative in some parts of the book, and some of the dialogue didn't seem that realistic or natural.

Meet Me at the Summit tells the story of 19 year old Marly Price. 9 months ago, her parents died in a terrible car accident. She works at a TJ Maxx store that she hates, and the only reason she's working there in the first place is to keep her mind off her parents and to keep herself occupied. When she's invited to Washington for a family reunion, her Uncle Ethan convinces her to take a trip across the US in her late mother's camper van. During her trip, she meets Dylan. There isn't much depth to his character and you really don't learn anything about his background or interests. He pushes her to step out of her comfort zone, helps her face her fears, and accompanies her along her journey. This book explores the stages of grief and shows that grief isn't something that you can overcome quickly, and it will never completely fade.

The main thing I struggled with was the romance. Now this is my personal opinion when it comes to books, but I don't believe in love after the exchange of a few sentences, or dating literally 2 days after the characters have met. I prefer a book where after a while of the characters being introduced, they realize that they've begun to catch feelings for each other.

The concept of this book was good, but it was really slow. The characters were likable, although some of them were somewhat one-dimensional. But Meet Me at the Summit made me want to go hiking in all these landmarks that I didn't even know existed. You can tell a great deal of effort and research was put into this book, which I appreciate.

Overall, it was a good book, and I would recommend it if you have the patience to get through a really slow book and if you're looking for a book that shows someone's way of coping during their time of grief.

Meet me at the Summit by Mandi Lynn is a contemporary romance that follows Marly, a young American female whos parents both died in a freak accident. Marly is going day by day through life, not really living or enjoying life, but just going through the motions. Following a family gathering, and a lot of persuasion, Marley ends up driving home across country in a VW van. This is following out her late mothers (and all of our) dreams, while also trying to find herself, find enjoyment and deal with her grief. On the road, Marly meets Dylan... and you can tell where it goes from there.

I like Marly. We learn alot about her character, her thoughts and emotions as we enter this trip with her. Mandi Lynn has created a very enjoyable character,that we watch grow throughout the story. Dylan on the other hand is a very 2D character, who in my opinions has a lot of faults. We never learn very much about Dylan, that may be the authors intention, however it does mean the romance department of this story was lacking. Dylan is a very sneaky, pushy, male with a tendancy to gaslight.... you will see what I mean when it comes to North Carolina... I couldnt really connect with the romance at all, however I was 100% routing for Marly the whole time.

The book features a very heavy topic of grief. Its such a powerful book and very insightful. It teaches us that nobody grieves in the same way, there is not a right way or a wrong way. It also shows us the power of friendship and family, and how we can all try to support someone in different ways.

I originally was interested in this book because the cover is super cute and the storyline sounded good. Overall, this is a very enjoyable read. I finished it within 2 days, sitting down for long periods of time. If people were looking for a quick, easy read I would be recommending this.

My Goodreads view can be found here : https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4077766707

This is a lovely, poignant read that had me itching to go for a hike! Lynn's writing on grief and loss is stunning and I highlighted so many quotes that really resonated with me.
Marly and Lori's friendship should be explored more because I felt their friendship lacked a lot of depth. I think it would have been nice to see Lori's character developed more so we could connect with their friendship.
Marly and Dylan's romance was built up slowly and I appreciated that especially because Marly was dealing with anxiety.
Overall, a quick and easy read with some great writing!

“Meet Me At the Summit” was a lovely read which was unfortunately marred by typos, grammatical errors, and repetitive word choice. 33 typos, to be exact. Which really is a shame because the story itself was great! Marly is a young woman who lost her parents tragically and suddenly. She spiraled into a depression and before she knew it, she was living in a figurative groundhogs day without finding joy or hope in anything. Her savior appears just when she needs it most, in the form of a renovated VW bus. This story really hit home for me, not because of the tragedy, but because of my intense and frequent desire to just get up and go. Travel the country. Live on my own timeline and answer to no one. While that is not in the cards for me, at least I can live vicariously through Marly. I do recommend reading this story, and I will definitely read the second book in the series that Mandi Lynn alluded to, but I hope that the proofreader and editor step it up a notch before publication. Special thanks to @netgalley for providing me this book in exchange for my honest feedback and review. 2.5/5 ⭐️

I really liked this book, I though the concept was fun and it was a very easy read! I actually ended up liking the main character which surprised me because normally I end up not liking them. I really liked the pacing of this book it was steady and didnt feel super rushed like some books do. Overall I really enjoyed this book.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC of this book for this honest review!

Meet Me at the Summit was a nice read! With the fascinating descriptions of the hikes Marly went on and the depiction of grief, the book kept my interest throughout. However, it did feel a little wattpad-y: not in a bad way, but some the pacing was kind of slow and the romance was a bit underdeveloped at the beginning, though enjoyable. Overall, I'd give it 3.5/5 stars, and I'll probably be back for the sequel!

The concept and cover of this book really drew me in! With the rise of off-grid and camper van living being popular across social media it’s become a dream of mine to spend a year travelling across the UK in a converted camper.
The plot revolves around Marly’s trip across the US in her late mother’s camper van. She’s been struggling with her grief after the death of both her mother and father, leaving friends and family concerned. One summer her uncle surprises her with the van and somehow convinces her to take a trip in it… unfortunately that’s kind of as far as the plot goes. It’s a very slow paced book, and while that’s great to read across a few long, summer afternoons, it’s not ultimately the most gripping of novels.
Along the way she finds herself meeting new people including one boy called Dylan. As a reader we don’t learn a huge amount about him or his interests leaving the romance pretty one dimensional. I enjoyed how most of her friends and family firmly nudged Marly when she needed to push past her comfort zones. It showed that grief cannot be fixed in a day and it's a long process which you will never 100% heal from. Yet I found Dylan attempting to completely push her past all those carefully constructed mental defense mechanisms and in return pushing past most boundaries a new couple should have. At one point she asked if they could turn back home and instead while she sleeps he drives her to a completely different state so that when she wakes up she’s extremely confused and (rightly so) angry. This made me pretty uncomfortable to read and it was never addressed between the two of them! I understand what the author was trying to do with his character, ultimately helping her rethink her grieving process, but it came across too forceful.
Now I’ve spoken about the romance I can actually talk about the rest of the book which admittedly I really enjoyed! The writing was well crafted overall (with a few SPAG errors which I assume will be ironed out in the editing process?) and it had a huge escapism aspect to it. I felt like I’d hiked those mountains myself and felt a strong sense of accomplishment for Marly when she did so. I think overall the concept for this book is STRONG and the characters are likeable - it just needs the romance to be retouched and maybe a quick look at the pacing.
I would recommend it to anyone looking for a book to escape into while stuck at home due to the pandemic!

Thanks to Netgalley for giving me this e-ARC.

Meet Me At The Summit is about 19 year old Marly who is grieving the death of her parents who died nine months earlier. When visiting family is Washington they and her best friend team up to try and get to take a cross country road trip in VW bus. The story follows her as she goes on the trip and has to face her grief entirely on her own for the first time.

The story had some great parts and what it was best at was making me want to go hiking. The book was at its best during the hiking trips as you could feel the love behind it. This is definitely a book to take camping with you.

Overall the story did fall flat for me. I felt like it never truly had Marly in control of her own life and that she just lacked her own agency the whole book. I do really wish there had been another talk about she felt about everyone close in her life went behind her back to decide whats best for her.

My rating is 3/5 in the end because I did enjoy the book despite the story not really catching me.

Meet Me at the Summit follows Marly's journey of coping with the loss of both of her parents. To help her deal with her grief, her uncle and roommate coordinate a cross country trip for her in the mother's renovated van. Marly begins to reconnect with the things she loved before, and starts to face the struggles she has been trying to bury for the past nine months..

The cover for Meet Me at the Summit was an immediate draw for me, and it made me very interested in reading this book. Marly's struggle with her grief is prevalent throughout the book, and the fact that it is not easily resolved makes it feel more authentic. My favorite part of this book has to be the road trip, with all of the detail put into Marly's hiking and camping adventures; I also appreciated the additional information on the hikes provided by the author in the afterward. My main criticisms are that the plot felt a bit slow at times, and I had a harder time getting invested in the romance aspect of this ​book. However, readers interested in books with a outdoor adventure backdrop should still check this book out. 3.5 stars.

Thanks to Netgalley and Stone Ridge Books for this ARC; this is my honest and voluntary review.

In Meet Me at the Summit Marly Price is stuck in her grief 9 months after the death of both her parents. She's now a college drop out and works a minimum wage job that she hates but keeps her busy. Until during a family reunion her family and best friend push her to take a road trip across the US in an old school VW bus, to reconnect with herself and the memories of her parents.
This book is a great exploration of grief and the guilt that comes with having close-ones die unexpectedly, as well as a fantastic way to make readers want to hike and photograph the wilderness. Despite the writing not always being the most fluid to read, the story was captivating enough to make me finish the book in under 24 hours. The copy I got was an uncorrected proof, so my hope is that the final version will get some editing as I felt some passages felt repetitive or unnatural as dialogue. This was however mainly pushed to the back of my mind as the characters were easy to get attached to and their adventures made me want to plan a long hike through my closest access to wilderness.
All in all, I think this is a great summer book that manages to be both light enough at times while touching the very serious subjects that are grief, anxiety, depression and trauma.