Review: The Distance from A to Z by Natalie Blitt

Title: The Distance from A to Z

Author: Natalie Blitt

Series: Standalone

Publication: January 12th 2016

Genres: Romance, Young Adult

Goodreads / Amazon

Summary: This full-length novel by debut author Natalie Blitt is a pitch-perfect blend of Stephanie Perkins and Miranda Kenneally that proves the age-old adage: opposites attract.

Seventeen-year old Abby has only one goal for her summer: to make sure she is fluent in French—well, that, and to get as far away from baseball and her Cubs-obsessed family as possible. A summer of culture and language, with no sports in sight.

That turns out to be impossible, though, because her French partner is the exact kind of boy she was hoping to avoid. Eight weeks. 120 hours of class. 80 hours of conversation practice with someone who seems to exclusively wear baseball caps and jerseys.

But Zeke in French is a different person than Zeke in English. And Abby can’t help but fall for him, hard. As Abby begins to suspect that Zeke is hiding something, she has to decide if bridging the gap between the distance between who she is and who he is, is worth the risk.

This was a cute YA romance that has some appeal. It's similar to Miranda Kenneally's books, but there were some differences that didn't do it for me.

This is a romance-heavy story and it contains some clichés like the mean girl and roommate-turned-best-friend. I liked that the romance was slow and Abby and Zeke got to learn more about each other before they fell in love. We get to watch their friendship gradually transition into a relationship. I also liked the French in this book. It was nice that we get to learn a little about the French language and culture. I've watched Amelie, a French movie, and it's cool to see the role that movie plays in this book. You will have a greater appreciation for this book if you watch the movie.

Zeke was Abby's love interest and he is one of my favorite aspects of this book. He wasn't perfect and he had some flaws that made me love him more. This just shows that we don't need perfect hero's in order to fall in love with them. Personally, I think flawed boys are more interesting. Natalie Blitt knows how to get inside a teenage boy's head and that translates into her writing. Zeke felt very real to me and honestly, I liked him more than Abby.

Abby was a problem for me. I had trouble sympathizing with her. She is very judgmental and tends to treat others very harshly. She was completely rude and just plain mean to Zeke only because he liked baseball. I also think she can be dramatic and overreact to situations. There was some conflict towards the end that I think she blew way out of proportion. It was just unnecessary because it's obvious the intent was to separate the characters before they get their happily-ever-after.

I liked Alice, her roommate. She carries some burdens of her own, but it was inspiring to read her journey to overcome them. But I felt Abby and Alice's friendship was in hyper-speed because they were exposing their very personal secrets to each other within an hour after meeting. It felt very unrealistic to me.

Overall, this is a light YA romance that I just did not love, but had some potential. I didn’t find anything unique or special about it, but YA romance lovers might like this more.