Title: The Disenchantments
Author: Nina LaCour
Publisher: Dutton Children’s Books
Publication Date: February 16^th, 2012
Classification: Contemporary YA

Goodreads Summary: Colby’s post-high school plans have long been that he and his best friend Bev would tour with her band, then spend a year in Europe. When Bev announces that she will start college just after the tour, Colby struggles to understand why she changed her mind and what losing her means for his future.

My Thoughts

I was already pretty excited to start reading this when it finally became available for me to pick up at the library but the second I opened it up and saw some song lyrics by The Runaways I just had this feeling that it was going to be great. It definitely was.

I don’t normally read books told through just the guys point of view (not because I avoid it just because most books I come across are told through the girls pov or it alternates) but I quite enjoyed it. Since I mostly read books with females pov it was refreshing to read everything from Colby’s perspective.

While everyone was making college plans Colby and Bev were planning a trip to Europe. They spent a long time talking about it and every day planning. Colby couldn’t wait and he fantasized about what might happen on their trip.  After being best friends with Bev since childhood he can’t help but be in love with her. In Colby’s mind the trip might just be the time when she realizes she loves him back. Unfortunately right as the tour is about to take off everything kind of falls apart. Bev comes clean and admits she got into college and she isn’t going to Europe. Worst of all she won’t tell Colby why she never told him anything during all those hours planning. They were supposed to be best friends and now Colby is just sort of lost. He doesn’t understand why Bev spent all that time planning with him just to throw it away and he has no idea what he will do now with no back up plan.

Colby spends a lot of time thinking about Bev and what her bailing on this trip means. He thinks of all the time he has spent with Bev and it definitely wasn’t a surprise at any time to hear how much he loved her and how upset he was about her not going. For a bit I thought he was going to be slightly pathetic but as I thought about it he really wasn’t. It was understandable why he felt the way he felt and I felt bad for him. Straight out of high school and the plans you thought you had all down the drain with no back up plan to speak of. Everyone else has plans and you all of a sudden have none. So whats a guy to do? Of course he is going to be confused and upset.

Off and on for quite a bit of the book I couldn’t help but wonder how Colby and Bev became so close. Bev was distant. She didn’t want to talk about her feelings. It was obvious she knew how much Colby cared about her and she flirted with so many people right in front of his face. I couldn’t help but think she was just a bitch. I should have known better and there was a reason for why she was the way she was. Plus, Colby and her had a long history and reading about his time with her helped me understand it all better.

Enough about just Colby and Bev the whole tour was great to read about. Colby, Bev, Meg, and Alexa went to a lot of places, met a lot of people and listened to a lot of music. The whole tour was a big adventure filled with good times and bad times. For a while I was worried about how the story would end but I was pretty satisfied with it. During the tour more than one character really had to confront themselves and their situation. There were laughs and smiles but there were also secrets and sad times which I think really made this book great.