Yerba Buena: A Novel by Nina LaCour
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Web ID: 14462507Best book I’ve ever read!
Anyone that is interested in romance novels 10/10 recommended!
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Growing together
This was very different from what I expected from the description. It was much more melancholy, and much more beautiful. While definitely romantic, the book was not a romance but a two-character bildungsroman, focusing less on the romance between Emilie and Sata and more on their characters, experiences, and growth as individuals, and how their experiences cause them to relate to each other and the world. It was lovely.
Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Loved it!
Sara loves Annie but Annie goes missing. Emilie's parents focus on her sister Colette who has an addiction problem. As their stories of growing up are told, their paths several times before they can find a time where they can stay in each other's lives. I was not sure what to expect but this book was so good I hardly put it down as I read. I also read it in one day. Sara's story was hard to watch as she leaves town at 16 and moves to Los Angeles. She finds her place eventually, but she had a tough road. Emilie had just as tough a road, but she had family around her. They weren't much support as they always focused on Colette. Emilie was unsettled as she looked for a path to follow. She does find it. When she and Sara find each other, both are calmer. Their pasts, though, keep interfering and cause hurt and uncertainty to enter their possible relationship. Neither is used to people staying for them. I could identify with them. I was glad when they faced their pasts and could see how it impacted them. I look forward to more books by Nina LaCour.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Coming of age story with romance
Yerba Buena is the adult debut of author Nina LaCour. It is a contemporary “coming of age” novel featuring two young women living on their own terms in Los Angeles. The novel follows Sara and Emilie from key points of their teenage and adult lives until they eventually fall into a whirlwind romance. When the novel opens in Northern California sixteen year old Sara is recovering from the loss of her mother and has fallen in love with her best friend Annie. When Annie is tragically found dead heartbroken Sara will run away to Los Angeles. The teenager and her accomplice will be exploited by adults as they try to earn money for the journey. Meanwhile, hundreds of miles away in Los Angeles Emilie nearly loses her sister to drug addiction and is drifting aimlessly through college majors and romances with unavailable women and men. Sara and Emilie will meet and re-meet, fall in love and fall apart as they try to find themselves. This novel has everything from cocktails, flower arranging, home renovation and Creole culture. I highly recommend it to readers that enjoy gritty stories about complicated young women. 5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Spare but Lovely
4 stars I love Nina LaCour as a YA author, and I expect that many will come to this - her first adult novel - for the same reason. Pre-existing fans as well as those entirely new to LaCour will not be disappointed. LaCour's style is very much like the cover of this book: spare but beautiful. The two main characters here come from backgrounds and experiences that are challenging in entirely different ways. One of my favorite aspects of LaCour's writing is how she reveals grief, and that happens in a stunning manner throughout this piece. There is no shying away from grittiness: sexual exploitation, drug use/overdose, and child abuse, among other areas. However, the depictions feel raw rather than gratuitous, believable rather than sensationalized. What LaCour does best is establish meaningful relationships between WHOLE characters. This book is not about forgetting but about facing the past and the self with aggressive honesty. The more successful the characters are at doing this, the closer they get to each other. I flew through this novel and expect that most readers will. The characters are engaging, the themes meaningful, and the writing characteristically pure. Of course, I recommend this (with a special nod to the audiobook where the narrator is particularly effective).
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Gorgeous
Yerba Buena is a fantastic exploration of nostalgia and vulnerability. I found Sara and Emilie to both be poignant characters with rich histories and complex emotions. I loved their connection throughout the story, and how their pasts contributed to who they are without defining them. This whole book feels as warm and sunny as light streaming through a window, and the descriptions of food, cocktails, and plants are all so vibrant. I know that this is a story I'll hold close to me, just as I have with all of Nina LaCour's previous books!
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Stunning Snapshot of Life
Wow. This book blew me away. Nina LaCour has blown it out of the park with her adult debut Yerba Buena. This story follows two young women as they move from their teens to early adult years and feels like a sort of snapshot into their lives. The characters are well developed and you can really feel connected with them through the artful storytelling. The worldbuilding and setting descriptions were written beautifully, and I could really picture the scenes despite not having been to that part of the country. This book was basically a recipe for a book I normally wouldn't like and then it turned out to be what I expect will be one of my top reads of 2022. This story was so impactful without being traumatic (though you should definitely review the trigger warnings before reading) as you experience the triumphs and tribulations of Sara and Emilie's lives. While this novel has been pitched as a romance novel, it reads more as a literary fiction book with a romance subplot. The romance is not the purpose of the novel, but you can appreciate the story much more when you set your expectations around that going into it. For fans of Taylor Jenkins Reid's Malibu Rising, Yerba Buena is a must-read. Truly phenomenal. Give this a read! I received an ARC of this book through a giveaway from the Flatiron Books and @readbyfin on TikTok.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Finding their feet in messy lives
In this never ending pandemic times, I’ve sought story with a strong plot line to carry me through while still glimpsing the inside of women’s lives in order to continue to build my stockpile of books to recommend to my female patients. As a cis-gender, heterosexual woman, Nina LaCour’s Yerba Buena appealed to me to expand my empathy and understanding of two women whose lives criss-cross with an undeniable pull yet obstructed by circumstances. To be fair, I am not a fan of the romance genre and this falls in that category. That is my issue - not the authors.. I also listened to this book - read by Julia Whelan - who is reason enough for fans of audiobooks to pick this one up. Nina LaCour has created multifaceted characters with messy lives. She sets them into worlds of beauty - flowers, a high end restaurant and craft cocktails. She gives them common struggles - with their own journey, finding their feet and dealing with family chaos. There are some trigger warnings here - particularly around sexual violence early in the book. Fans of Raven Leilani’s Luster will enjoy another messy protagonist story. Read from Net Galley
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com