Review: This Adventure Ends by Emma Mills

Sloane isn't expecting to fall in with a group of friends when she moves from New York to Florida—especially not a group of friends so intense, so in love, so all-consuming. Yet that's exactly what happens.
Sloane becomes closest to Vera, a social-media star who lights up any room, and Gabe, Vera's twin brother and the most serious person Sloane's ever met. When a beloved painting by the twins' late mother goes missing, Sloane takes on the responsibility of tracking it down, a journey that takes her across state lines—and ever deeper into the twins' lives.
Filled with intense and important friendships, a wonderful warts-and-all family, shiveringly good romantic developments, and sharp, witty dialogue, this story is about finding the people you never knew you needed.

In THIS ADVENTURE ENDS, Sloane Finch has moved to a small Florida beach town, just in time for her senior year. Not much for friends, she plans to happily pass the time rereading her dad’s cheesy romance novels. But then, she falls in with the twins Vera and Gabe Fuller and their friends Remy, Aubrey, and Frank Sanger.

They are a witty bunch, and kind. They have a longstanding and somewhat complex group dynamic, but they welcome Sloane in like an old friend. Vera is an Instagram star whose girlfriend has already left for college; Gabe a curmudgeon; Remy a congenial guy who can’t get over his break up with the mysterious Aubrey; and Frank Sanger who reminds me of Christian from Clueless on steroids.

Sloane and Remy embark on a quest to return a painting that Gabe and Vera’s dead mother painted for them, but had been sold. And discover the truth about why Aubrey broke up with Remy. All this and problems at home too, including parental death, remarriage, depression, possible divorce, and some truly terrible Were School (imaginary TV show a la Vampire Diaries) fanfic.

Although This Adventure Ends is well–written, all of it together can sometimes be a little much. That said, the dialog is crackling and it’s nice to read a story where pretty much everyone in it is genuinely a nice person who is just trying to figure out life and how to get through it. Which, if you have good friends, makes it a beautiful adventure.

Memorable Quote from THIS ADVENTURE ENDS:

I think for a moment that he might not answer, but when I glance over at him, his expression—the top half of it anyway—is wry. “No. I hate to break it to you, but there’s more than one douchelord at this school.”

“And you’re responsible for them all?” I say, but then I shake my head. “No, wait—you’re just responsible for everybody else, right?”

He shrugs.

“No, but what’s worth getting punched in the face for?”

“He looks at me for a moment. “ I would do anything for my friends,” he says, and he’s totally serious.

“A fondness wells up in me, unbidden. I look away. “That’s…ridiculous.”

“Why? Wouldn’t you?”

Normally I would make a joke. Deflect. But for some reason, I just go with the truth: “I guess it’s never really come up. I, uh, didn’t have a ton of friends back home.” If I had, maybe it would’ve been harder to leave. Maybe I would’ve asked my parents to stay. It’s funny to thin about now, on the street in the middle of Opal, under stars brighter than I had ever seen at home—if I had, maybe I wouldn’t be standing here right now. “At least, not punched-in-the-face-for kinds of friends, anyway.”

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