I received an ARC from netgalley in exchange for this review

Let me preface this by saying this was not a bad book and I genuinely did enjoy reading it. Maybe not the most reassuring words but at least they're accurate ? The cover is gorgeous though, so extra points!

How can I imagine a future without them when they were in every memory of my past

Meet Me At The Summit is the story of Marly, a 19 year old girl who's struggling to come to terms with her parents deaths. She's working a job she hates, and is stuck in a routine she can't seem to break. So when her mom's side of the family practically forces her into a VW bus and tell her to travel, she doesn't know how to respond. A previous Marly, one before her parent's death, would've jumped on the opportunity, but now... things were different. She doesn't feel like the same person so how could she possibly do this trip? Eventually, Marly accepts her family's bus if only in an attempt to break her boring everyday routine.

This is a story of loss, grief, and dealing with the Feelings that come when you lose loved ones and it portrayed those emotions in a way that made sense. Marly's anxiety attacks, the way she could never sleep without the constant buzz of the television so no thoughts could overtake her, how she stopped taking pictures, and dropped out of college were all little things that gave glimpses of how she felt.

But sometimes, it fell flat. I liked the premise and the plot but it got repetitive really quick. I know there's only so many things that can happen living out of a VW bus and going on trails, but still. It became a cycle where we could only read about how pretty a trail was, how Marly had a panic attack, and oh look she's eating yet another hot dog, yay Marly! The only thing that seemed to break this entire cycle was Dylan, and somehow he failed.

Dylan had so much potential!!! He could've been like a 30 year old guy who stopped hiking for whatever reason and seeing Marly overcome her grief could've been motivated and it would've been awesome. And yet somehow, he just ended up joining this whole entire Marly cycle. At times, it honestly felt like Marly was using Dylan as a replacement for her dad not as a romantic partner.

Which brings me to My Issue™. Dylan should never have been a lover. You're telling me that a teenage girl who desperately needs therapy and has been bottling up her emotions for a 9 whole months, is EMOTIONALLY STABLE ENOUGH TO BE IN A FREAKING RELATIONSHIP WITH A GUY SHE *JUST* MET??? No thank you. Dylan is friend material and that's it.

And finallyyyy, let's talk about Lori cuz why not! I really liked her character but sometimes I forgot she existed. There were times when Marly would call Lori and I'd just be like huh?? why her?? Her defining characteristic was the bubbly sunshiney best friend who needed more hobbies than stalking Marly's friends on Facebook but we can't all be fully developed characters I suppose.

As for final thoughts, the writing style was pretty decent and there were some really great moments on Marly's journey that I enjoyed. I would especially recommend this book to anyone who's interested in hiking because there was a lot of that in here! I heard this is going to be a series and I'd definitely be interested in checking book 2 out :)