Everything Leads to You by Nina LaCour – Book Review

Title: Everything Leads to You

Author: Nina LaCour

Genre/Themes: Contemporary YA, Love, Romance, LGBTQ+, Hollywood Behind the Scenes, Female Friendships

Blurb from Goodreads

“I want you to do something with the place. Something epic.”

Emi has been entrusted with her brother’s Los Angeles apartment for the summer as a graduation gift, but she isn’t sure how to fulfil his one condition: that something great take place there while he’s gone. She may be a talented young production designer, already beginning to thrive in the competitive film industry, but she still feels like an average teen, floundering when it comes to romance.

But when Emi and her friend Charlotte discover a mysterious letter at the estate sale of a Hollywood film legend, Emi finds herself chasing down the loose ends of the movie icon’s hidden life. The search leads her to uncover a decades-old secret and the potential for something truly epic: love.

My Review

This was such a gorgeous book.

It was absolutely beautifully written. I was completely enchanted by the Los Angeles setting and how it gave a glimpse into how movies are made. Nina LaCour just knows how to capture the essence of something and truly imparted so much atmosphere and emotion into this book.

I loved learning about Emi’s life as a production designer in Hollywood. Her passion for films and film sets truly felt authentic and I was completely taken over by this intensity of hers.

Emi’s friendship with Charlotte is just #goals.

It’s so nice to read a book where there is no toxicity between two female friends. They were both individual characters with their own unique thoughts and identities and their shared friendship just made them seem more rounded as people. Just hallelujah for women empowering other women.

Even Emi’s ex Morgan wasn’t written as a heinous bitch type character as could have been so easy to do. God I just love reading about authentic female characters.

Also because this is Nina LaCour the book is properly diverse in a way that doesn’t feel like it’s pandering to some token gesture.

And I just loved Emi’s family, so nice to see a YA book with present parents that together with their children were just a great loving and supportive family.

But what was so great about the creation of Emi’s character and her family storyline is that it provided the perfect counterpoint to Ava’s storyline. Her family upbringing was far from ideal and I loved how the book showed her struggles as she came to learn more about where she came from.

And omg Emi and Ava together…

Gaaaah I just ship them so hard. I loved how their love story was always hinted at under the surface but it gradually built up throughout the book…

Slow burn heaven for sure!!!

This was such a cute read. It had all the magic of an old school motion picture mixed with sumptuous prose and relatable characters.

We love films because they make us feel something. They speak to our desires, which are never small. They allow us to escape and to dream and to gaze into eyes that are impossibly beautiful and huge. They fill us with longing. But also. They 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.