Because his father, even though he kidnapped Oliver, had been a father to him, anyway. The reader is drawn into their burgeoning friendship, to the way Oliver struggles to call his hometown “home” and how, even though he knows what his father did was wrong, he can’t hate him for it. It was wonderfully done, and incredibly engaging. They’re strangers to each other, and so they need to get to know each other all over again. I wasn’t sure I was ready to trade them in for a brand-new set of issues and worries.Īlthough Emmy and Oliver were childhood best friends, his disappearance destroyed any chance for a future relationship or friendship. As terrible as the past ten years had been, they were familiar. His disappearance had created such a huge chasm that it still hadn’t fully repaired itself, and I didn’t know if I was ready to have it ripped open all over again. I wanted the neighbors to mind their own business and to my complete horror, I realized I wanted Oliver to go back to New York. It was a slow process, and Emmy felt as if Oliver was truly lost forever, even when he was standing right in front of her. Oliver had to recreate a new life with a mother he couldn’t remember, in a town he couldn’t recall, with people he doesn’t remember seeing. It wasn’t a happy-ever-after straight away. It was for those of us left behind, something to cling to when you realized that scary things could happen, that villains didn’t only exist in books, that Oliver might never come home.īenway made his return and the actions that came after incredibly realistic. People still hope, even when they know they should stop.Īfter a while, though, after years passed and pictures changed and false tips fell through, it started to feel like the beacon wasn’t for him anymore.

His childhood photo is changed to give people an idea of what he’s supposed to look like now. Every year, the tip-line collects another sighting of Oliver, another picture on the Internet. With a tight curfew and supervision, Emmy feels trapped in a place she calls home, unable to do the things she loves. For ten years, the town has tried to move on with their lives, but parents are still weary - especially Emmy’s. When Oliver was seven, his father kidnapped him and they disappeared. Although it may seem like this is a romance, the truth is it’s actually about friendship, family, growing up and rekindling that long-lost relationship that was horribly ripped away by one selfish man.

We stayed and looked and waited for him to come back, as if our love was a beacon that he could use to light his way home, to crawl up the sides of the earth and back through his front door, his tag still sticking up in the back.Įmmy & Oliver exceeded all expectations. BOOK REVIEW: Emmy & Oliver by Robin Benway

Emmy and oliver