The Key to You and Me by Jaye Robin Brown is perfect for fans of Becky Albertalli and Julie Murphy.
This is Jaye’s #OwnVoices book about a girl named Piper who goes to visit her grandmother for the summer to get over her ex. Piper spends the summer with her grandmother thinking it’s going to be just them and the horses, but her grandmother is insistent that she gets over her fear of driving. Kat Pearson is struggling with a conservative hometown and things change drastically when Piper’s grandmother hires Kat to be Piper’s driving instructor. They’re only going to have this summer, but with the summer coming to an end is that enough time to figure out their feelings?
The driving lessons were fun to read about and I loved reading about how Piper was slowly getting over her heartbreak. Jaye did an excellent job of showing how it takes time to get over a heartbreak. I also really liked Piper and this book was different because of Piper’s love of horses. It’s something I could relate to. I also loved that I got to feel more of what Piper was going through with her fear of driving. I don’t have a fear of driving, but I loved that the author wrote Piper in a way that made it easy to connect with her as a character. I also loved that the characters were flawed. Piper’s a nice girl, but she’s also got a rocky relationship with her mother.
My only con about this book is that I would have loved to see that relationship explored a little more. It felt like it was just what drove Piper to visit her grandmother and it is not mentioned again until later. That part felt kind of rushed. I loved Piper’s relationship with her dad and her grandmother. It was refreshing to see parental figures in a YA book. I would highly recommend this for anyone who’s a fan of Leah on the Off Beat or Dumplin’.
Final Thoughts: This is a fun, heartwarming book that centers around moving on from an ex and following Piper’s dream of focusing on horseback riding. It’s a super cute story and it’s out on April 21st, 2021!
Thank you to author Jaye Robin Brown for this complimentary ARC of The Key to You and Me in exchange for an honest review!
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