Yerba Buena by Nina LaCour
Description: “When Sara Foster runs away from home at sixteen, she leaves behind not only the losses that have shattered her world but the girl she once was, capable of trust and intimacy. Years later, in Los Angeles, she is a sought-after bartender, renowned as much for her brilliant cocktails as for the mystery that clings to her. Across the city, Emilie Dubois is in a holding pattern. In her seventh year and fifth major as an undergraduate, she yearns for the beauty and community her Creole grandparents cultivated but is unable to commit. On a whim, she takes a job arranging flowers at the glamorous restaurant Yerba Buena and embarks on an affair with the married owner.
When Sara catches sight of Emilie one morning at Yerba Buena, their connection is immediate. But the damage both women carry, and the choices they have made, pulls them apart again and again. When Sara’s old life catches up to her, upending everything she thought she wanted just as Emilie has finally gained her own sense of purpose, they must decide if their love is more powerful than their pasts.
At once exquisite and expansive, astonishing in its humanity and heart, Yerba Buena is a love story for our time and a propulsive journey through the lives of two women finding their way in the world.”
Review: I love how this book intertwined the two lives of very different (yet somehow the same) women, Sara and Emilie. At first I was confused by how their lives would intersect but was pleasantly surprised by how they met and found each other. Overall I found the plot to be a little lacking. I wish I felt more of a connection to the main characters and I would have liked more of a storyline. What kept me intrigued in the book was all of the side stories.
Personally I found the most interesting parts of the book to be the back stories. I wanted to know more about Sara’s first love, her drug addicted mother, drug selling father and her brother. I also wish Grant, Sara’s traveling companion, made another appearance in the book. I was rooting for Grant and Sara to make it and I would have loved to see how his life had turned out. As for Emilie, I would have liked to have learned more about her family dynamics, her sister, Collette and her brief affair with Jacob. So many of the smaller characters had huge flaws and helped shape Sara and Emilie. I think the side stories is what made Sara and Emilie so unique and I think I might have felt more connected to them if there was more about the other characters in their lives who had such a large impact on them and less about their day to day life.
I enjoyed seeing how Sara and Emilie changed over the years but yet were still affected by their younger years. It was nice to see Emilie evolve from a wandering college student to a woman who knows what she wants and is able to make it happen. Sara also made a beautiful progression from a teenager in a bad situation to a woman who was able to take care of herself and her brother. Overall, it was a good book about two women trying to find their way in the world and finding love with each other.