Review: Let's Get Lost

Let's Get Lost
Author: Adi Alsaid
Publication Date: 1at August 2014
Publisher: Mira Ink
~A copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review~

One girl could change four lives forever…

Mysterious Leila, who is on the road trip of a lifetime, has a habit of crashing into people’s worlds at the moment they need someone the most.

There’s Hudson, who is willing to throw away his dreams for love. And Bree, a runaway who seizes every Tuesday—and a few stolen goods along the way. Elliot who believes in happy endings…until his own goes off-script. And Sonia who worries that she’s lost her ability to love.

Hudson, Bree, Elliot and Sonia find a friend in Leila. But Leila’s trip could help her discover something bigger — that sometimes, the only way to find what you’re looking for is to get lost along the way

Let's Get Lost is a book that sneaks up on you. You think road-trip, fun (which it is), light and fluffy (which it is not), something to get lost in (which you do), but not once before starting it did I think substance or significance. I know, I feel bad, but hear me out. I'm not a contemporary reader, sure, I've been reading a lot of them lately, but you can only take so much fun light and fluffy before reality starts taking on a Disney feel. While each person's story in Let's Get Lost ends in a way you want it to, it's not an easy journey getting there. Which, is what I absolutely loved about it. You want something? You want something to happen? You fight for it. You go and get it. You don't give up. And sometimes, it'll work itself out. And if it doesn't? You learn from it and take it with you.  Leila gave that to the people she came across, people like her, who needed a little guidance, and while Leila didn't feel like she had that herself, she gave that piece to them. By the end of it I was crying. I'm chalking that up to reflection. But, simplicity and subtlety is powerful, and that's the substance and significance Let's Get Lost brings.

Let's Get Lost is written in third person, and is split into five segments showing you the lives of five strangers,  of which are our central characters, Hudson, Bree, Elliot, Sonia and Leila, as she comes into their lives at the moment they need a little hope, and eventually, we get Leila's story. Leila's a character you can find a lot of yourself in, maybe not her position exactly, but the feelings that brings with it. Apart from meeting Leila, our other characters don't meet each other, and the hardest thing to do when a story is telling parts of each characters lives, is making them memorable and have their own voices- which, is harder to do in third person anyway. But, there's no doubt you know whose story you're reading, especially when it comes to the vibrant Bree, whose keeping a secret she's running away from.

Out of all the characters and their secrets, and the way Leila helps them, while Leila also learns something from them, for that little while with them, she feels like she's not alone. She's making a mark on somebody's life. I think she related more to Bree though, and Bree gave her something in return. I loved how Let's Get Lost showed clearly how one person in your life, whether they've been in it five years or five minutes, can change you. That a single person, known or stranger can define a moment in your life.

Let's Get Lost is a beautiful journey, showing you that it's okay to get lost for a while, whether you're running away from something or just seeing where someplace takes you, it's okay. It's okay to take chances. It's okay to acknowledge the bad in your life and move forward. It's how we define ourselves.

Rating: 4.5/5

 

 

 

 

 

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