‘Airports, Exes, and Other Things I’m Over’ by Shani Petroff captures the angst of romantic hardships and misunderstandings. When eighteen-year-old Sari, a senior in high school, plans a trip to Florida for spring break with her boyfriend (even though she plans to stay with her grandma), she thinks everything is coming up roses. Little does she know that everything is about to change when she unexpectedly shows up at a party and finds him kissing his ex-girlfriend.
Just as life becomes upended by this unwanted revelation, Sari decides to go through with her trip to Florida, all while her best friend Trina is insistent that she make an instant love connection down there and get over the cheating Zev. Sari’s conflicted feelings make her mourning process all that much more difficult, especially as Zev shows up on her grandmother’s doorstep, having still taken the trip to Florida that he had also planned on, just not by Sari’s side.
Trying to busy herself with the grandson of another resident of her grandmother’s senior complex, she finds that the new guy, Fitz, is good-looking, sweet, and goes to school in New York City, just like she plans to when she graduates. Living in the city already, she wonders that if something does happen between them, if it could truly work out since they will be so close together. Yet, she continually thinks of Zev and his insistence on making things right. His insistence that he didn’t really do anything wrong and they need to talk. She isn’t having it, and in a way, this is rightly so. However, he is going out of his way to make a point, and won’t let up, meaning maybe there is something to be explained. Yet at the same time, it is important the people understand that when others don’t want to be disturbed, that should be respected, and even though Zev has good intentions, he doesn’t quite come to terms with this and keeps at his goal of talking to Sari and explaining everything.
Through a series of additional mishaps involving airports, road trips, Sari’s guitar, and the desperate desire to get home to play a show at her favorite club, Sari discovers that life isn’t always as it seems, and sometimes you have to take the bad alongside the good. She learns about herself and how to best deal with her situation in the process, with a little bit of help from her best friend and, though she finds it unexpected at first, from her mother.
A fast-paced, everything-that-can-go-wrong-can-yet-things-are-destined-to-work-out kind of book, lovers of young adult contemporary romance will eat this up, flying through Petroff’s writing with ease.
You can find ‘Airports, Exes, and Other Things I’m Over’ by Shani Petroff here.
*Review originally posted at YABooksCentral.com*