Elevated, by Elana Johnson

Elevated, by Elana Johnson

Genre: Young Adult Fiction, Contemporary, Romance

Rating: 4.5/5 stars










Goodreads Summary: The last person seventeen-year-old Eleanor Livingston wants to see on the elevator—let alone get stuck with—is her ex-boyfriend Travis, the guy she's been avoiding for five months.

Plagued with the belief that when she speaks the truth, bad things happen, Elly hasn’t told Trav anything. Not why she broke up with him and cut off all contact. Not what happened the day her father returned from his deployment to Afghanistan. And certainly not that she misses him and still thinks about him everyday.

But with nowhere to hide and Travis so close it hurts, Elly’s worried she won’t be able to contain her secrets for long. She’s terrified of finally revealing the truth, because she can’t bear to watch a tragedy befall the boy she still loves.

Review:

   Yay, Elana Johnson has done it again! After reading her Possession series, I was totally looking for more from this fantastic author, and then when I found that she was releasing a contemporary-romance novel about exes who get stuck in their apartment elevator, I bought the book right away and couldn't wait to start.

    This book was absolutely amazing. I enjoyed it so much and it's definitely a book that I'd come back to and would want to read again one day. The perspectives and format was perfection (poetry is absolutely awesome), the characters were okay, the romance was just memorable, and I was never bored! There's not much more I could be asking for from this fantastic author.

     Eleanor Livingston has recently been depressed and lonely- her girl best friend died suddenly in a car crash, and Elly feels that it's all because of her... and her best friend turned boyfriend. When Elly gets stuck in her apartment elevator... with Travis, she believes that fate really hates her. As they cautiously wait to get back into their homes, they spent a long time talking about the past... and about their possible futures together.

      This was the perfect coming-of-age story. Eleanor, the main protagonist, has created such a huge development throughout the whole story. She was stressed, and by the end, she knew what she wanted and grew out of her creeped up little shell and wasn't afraid to show who she really was and speak out her thoughts. I really loved Eleanor, she was a great main character who went through many hardships and overcame them in the end. She was a strong protagonist who absolutely had a lot of common sense and her and knew how to speak out for herself, by the end.

       Travis probably would have to be my only problem with this book, the only flaw. I just... didn't like him. He was selfish, snobby, and I didn't see anything special about him. Protagonists usually are supposed to be role models and different than most people in reality or different than other protagonists... but I just saw Travis as a really dull dumb guy. He used Elly, and expects love in return? I am so glad of her decision in the end, he deserved it, and she still had to overcome everything and be on her own for a while.

        

          Sorry, Troy/Travis. In reality, dreams don't always come true. Stop being such wimps. =_=

          And seriously, I felt so bad for Honesty, and what happened to her. She didn't deserve that at all. Her boyfriend betrayed her, and he shouldn't have even dated her if he still wasn't sure about his feelings. Again, with Travis. He irritated me, but when the romance was happening between Elly and him, all of those weaknesses and flaws I found in him just flew away and I saw a good side of him, somewhat.

         The romance was just beautiful. I loved it, and it was so deep and meaningful. That's the type of romance that I'm looking in every book, including all and every single contemporary-romance. It just has to be that perfect and that special in order for it to be classified as beautiful and unbelievable. 

         I was never bored with this book. It was written so rivetingly, and I was stuck with it from the first page until the end. Adding the gorgeous format of poetry, this was a sure masterpiece, no doubt about it. 

        I recommend this to any lover of Jennifer E. Smith or Sarah Dessen. This was a quick light romance read that will leave you wanting more.