The Disenchantments by Nina LaCour

Title: The Disenchantments

Author: Nina Lacour

Publisher: Dutton Juvenile

Release Date: February 16, 2012

Source: ARC from Publisher

Buy the Book: Amazon / Book Depository

Colby & Bev have a long-standing pact: graduate, hit the road with Bev's band, and then spend the year wandering around Europe. But moments after the tour kicks off, Bec makes a shocking announcement: she's abandoning their plans--and Colby--to go her own way in the fall.

But the show must go on and The Disenchantments wave through the Pacific Northwest, playing in small twins and dingy venues, while roadie-Colby struggles to deal with Bev's already-growing distance and the most important question of all: what's next?

Morris Award-finalist Nina LaCour draws together the beauty and influences of music and art to brilliantly capture a group of friends on the brink of the rest of their lives.

Before reading The Disenchantments, I had heard of Nina LaCour in passing, but I hadn't read her other book. So I didn't really know what to expect when I started reading. All I can say now is that I was absolutely blown away by Nina LaCour and this book.

Since freshman year, Colby and Bec have been planning the year they will spend in Europe after they graduate high school. But before that happens, they will tour along the West Coast with Bev's band, The Disenchantments. As summer and the tour roll around, Bev becomes more and more distant and Colby can't seem to figure out why. That is until the day Bev tells him that she's going to college in the fall and won't be going to Europe with him after all. Now Colby isn't sure what he has to do anymore. The only thing he knows for sure is that the show has to go on and so he stays on the road with The Disenchantments. And somehow, along the way, things start to fall into place again and maybe Colby will find out what his next move should be.

At first, I didn't really think much of The Disenchantments. Don't get me wrong, it was an enjoyable read, but not necessarily one that was exceptional. But then something happened and I loved this book. All of a sudden I couldn't put the book down and I couldn't turn the pages fast enough to find out what would happen next. The Disenchantments, if nothing else, took me by surprise and I absolutely loved it for that. And a large part of that was Nina LaCour's writing. Even when the story was slower, what kept me reading was her writing. There was something about it that took me in and wouldn't let me go. Despite the book being a contemporary novel, it still somehow felt magical.

Nina LaCour definitely knows how to write characters. Every single one of them felt completely real, even the more secondary characters. But not only did they feel real, each of the characters was also incredibly unique. And more than anything I loved that, despite this being mostly Colby and Bev's story, I still got to know the other people in the story, especially Meg and Alexa. I loved reading about everyone's stories and seeing how in the end they all came together and ended up all being connected. Even now, about two weeks since I've finished reading the book, I can still remember these characters, even the more minor ones, very clearly. All this to say that Colby, Bev, Meg and Alexa are definitely characters that are going to stay with me for a while.

I fell in love with everything about The Disenchantments. It was a book that took me by surprise in the best possible way. Even two weeks later, I'm still thinking about it all.