Everything Leads to You Book Review

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Everything Leads To You is a contemporary romance set in L.A. The protagonist, Emi, is a set designer in high school and spends her free time as an intern for a film company. Her brother is away for the summer and leaves her his apartment under the condition that something great must happen there while he’s gone. She likes to go to estate sales to see what gems she can pick up to help design the perfect sets – but when she and her best friend Charlotte find the lost letter of a famous (and now deceased) Hollywood star, so begins an adventure to reunite it with its intended recipient. But along the way they uncover secrets and mysteries, and Emi just may also find love.

For me, easily the best thing about this book was its atmosphere – even after putting it down, I found my thoughts occupied with the world of the book and thinking about its characters and their situations. It’s not often that a non-fantasy book does this, but I loved how immersive the story was. All the elements helped achieved this, but Emi’s job as a set designer (while kind of unrealistic given her age and experience) is really what brought everything into focus – her love and enthusiasm for what she does was palpable, and coupled with the beautiful way in which she views films (and their sets), it was hard not to feel her joy and love too.

Emi was a likeable protagonist and had solid relationships with her brother, parents, and her best friend. This gave the plot a comforting feel to it, and while it was somewhat a little whimsical, I think that added to the book’s allure as the whole thing was dripping with old school Hollywood glam so I felt it made the book even more appealing to make it predictable and familiar.

Despite loving the romance in the book – Emi’s stream of conciseness heightened its impact and I loved the way LaCour built it throughout – it wasn’t my favourite part. I liked that the mystery of the plot enabled Emi to encounter loads of new people, as well as introducing us to the people already in her life, and the plethora of characters and their relationships with each other made this book so great. After reading some other reviews, I can see that it’s been praised as a sapphic book which doesn’t focus on Emi’s sexuality and I can see why as the romance is just one element.

This book is packed with different avenues and outlets with ample opportunity to fall in love with it regardless of what you’re looking for as a reader; Hollywood glam, slow-burn romance, mystery, platonic and romantic love – it’s got something for everyone! A young adult novel that once again excellently portrays people as flawed but beautiful, I’d really recommend reading this!