{e-ARC Review + Giveaway!} Blog Tour: “The Impossibility of Us” by Katy Upperman

Hi everyone! I’m so excited to be a part of the official blog tour for Katy Upperman’s latest novel, The Impossibility of Us hosted by Xpresso Book Tours! After my review, be sure to check out the exclusive blog tour giveaway to enter to win a print copy of the book!

Title: The Impossibility of Us
Author: Katy Upperman
Publisher: Swoon Reads
Publication Date: July 31, 2018
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Format: e-ARC
Pages: N/A

My Rating: ★★★★☆

Find the Book: Goodreads | Amazon | B&N | Indigo | IndieBound | iBooks | Target | Book Depository*

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Synopsis:

The last thing Elise wants is to start her senior year in a new town. But after her brother’s death in Afghanistan, she and her mother move from San Francisco to a sleepy coastal village.

When Elise meets Mati, they quickly discover how much they have in common. Mati is new to town too, visiting the U.S. with his family. Over the course of the summer, their relationship begins to blossom, and what starts out as a friendship becomes so much more.

But as Elise and Mati grow closer, her family becomes more and more uncomfortable with their relationship, and their concerns all center on one fact—Mati is Afghan.

Beautifully written, utterly compelling, and ultimately hopeful, THE IMPOSSIBILITY OF US asks—how brave can you be when your relationship is questioned by everyone you love?

Review:

I received an Advanced Reader’s Copy on NetGalley as part of the blog tour in exchange for an honest review.

Initial Thoughts:

I’ll be honest and admit that one of my main reasons for wanting to pick this book up was because I wanted to give the author another chance because I wasn’t too impressed with her first book, KISSING MAX HOLDEN. Another major reason was because of the synopsis and beautiful cover. It looked like a cute contemporary romance novel, with a conflict that I had not yet read in any book before.

Things I Liked:

Mati is just a precious cinnamon roll. He’s sweet, gentle, understanding, charming, and a very talented writer. His point-of-views were my favorite chapters to read because they were beautifully written in poetry format (and that’s coming from someone who usually doesn’t enjoy reading poetry). He’s very honest and expressive, especially when it comes to his emotions and feelings towards Elise, but also very innocent. His character perfectly complemented Elise’s outgoing, outspoken, and witty personality.

I truly admire Elise for learning to stand her ground against the blatant racism and intolerance her family expressed toward Mati. There were many times where I felt frustrated and angry on behalf of Mati and Elise because their families were being so unfair and unreasonable, particularly Audrey and Elise’s mom, Jocelyn. She goes through so much heartache and conflict throughout the book, yet remained resilient. Her character development was very inspiring. As a couple, Elise and Mati go through so much conflict in the story but Katy was able to perfectly balance all the good and bad experiences so that it all still felt realistic.

I enjoyed learning more about Mati’s culture and beliefs just like Elise, especially the language and religious beliefs. I hope there’s an audio book for this because I’d love to listen to how the Pashto words are pronounced. The scenes where she tells her niece Janie stories of her brother Nick were so touching I couldn’t help but tear up. I could really feel how much her brother meant to her, and how much of an impact the loss of him was.

Things I Disliked:

There were times when I felt that Elise and Mati’s feelings for each other were a bit too close to insta-love, but those three words were not actually spoken until later on in the story. My main issue was probably them bringing up “love at first sight” and “soulmates” too early into their relationship, and when I say “too early” I mean that they literally didn’t even know what they were yet.

Also, I found some of Elise’s back-and-forth inner dialogue concerning Mati and the status of their relationship a little annoying after a while.

Final Thoughts:

I was very impressed and also surprised by how much I enjoyed this book. Heartbreaking but hopeful, THE IMPOSSIBILITY OF US is a beautiful, poignant, and compelling story about family, grief, acceptance, kindness, tolerance, and first love. With all the racial tension and negativity in the world today, this book felt like a breath of fresh air.

About the Author:

Katy Upperman is a graduate of Washington State University, a former elementary school teacher, and an insatiable reader. When not writing for young adults, Katy can be found whipping up batches of chocolate chip cookies or exploring the country with her husband and daughter. KISSING MAX HOLDEN is her debut novel; her sophomore novel, THE IMPOSSIBILITY OF US, will be available summer, 2018.

Website | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads

Blog Tour Schedule

July 30th
–Flipping Through the Pages >> Review
–So Few Books >> Interview
–BOOKAHOLIC MEETS FINANCE AFICIONADO >> Review
–Girl Plus Books >> Review
–The Curious Chapter >> Review
–Pages and Pugs >> Review

July 31st
–Sincerely Karen Jo >> Review
–Firstbooklove >> Review
–Viviana MacKade >> Guest post
–Character Madness and Musings >> Review

August 1st
–Paulette’s Papers >> Excerpt
–Mervreads >> Review
–Books and Blends >> Review
–My Fangirl Chronicles >> Review
–Adventures in Writing >> Review

August 2nd
–The Reading Faery >> Review
–Lisa Loves Literature >>Interview
–A Dream Within A Dream >> Excerpt
–Bookish Wisps >> Review

August 3rd
–Malanie Loves Fiction >> Review
–Dole Whip and Books >> Review
–Books Direct >> Review
–The Heart of a Book Blogger >> Guest post

Giveaway

• Prize: 1 print copy of THE IMPOSSIBILITY OF US
• Ends

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thanks for joining me for today’s stop on the blog tour! There’s still two more days left so don’t miss out!