The Geography of You and Me

In 2003, New York City lost power.  They city went completely dark.  However, the city came together to form a "party" like atmosphere- stores gave away melting ice cream, there was no looting, and very little crime was reported.  This is the situation that begins The Geography of You and Me, Jennifer E. Smith's latest romance novel.  Lucy and Owen are trapped together during this blackout in their apartment building's elevator.  Lucy lives on the twenty-fourth floor, Owen lives in the basement.  Lucy loves her city, living there her entire life.  Owen has just moved from a small town in Pennsylvania. After his mother died, his father took a job as the building's superintendent, hence the life in the basement.  After being rescued from the elevator, Lucy and Owen head up the building's roof, so Lucy can get a chance to see stars of NYC for the first time.  They share a connection, both feeling more comfortable with each other than they ever have with anyone else.  But then morning comes.  Owen sneaks out while Lucy is still sleeping, to check on his father, and doesn't make it back before Lucy wakes up.  Thinking Owen left her, she leaves and is unsure of how to approach him.  Then life gets in the way.  Lucy's parents move her to Scotland, for her father's work, and Owen's dad loses his job.  Since they can no longer stay in the basement, Owen and his father begin a cross-country trek out west.  So begins the journey of Lucy and Owen.  Each thinking about the other, but not sure how to ever connect again.  Lucy travels throughout Europe, while Owen sees much of the west coast.  Communication is rare, since they are both on the move so much, but they just can't seem to move past that one nigh.  Are they just full of hopeful wishing?  Are they making too much of one evening?  Will they ever reunite?  You have to read the book to find out!
I LOVED Smith's two previous novels- The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight and This is What Happy Looks Like.  If you haven't read those two books STOP what you are doing right now and get them.  They are both great reads.  Really cute stories that I couldn't put down.  And while I liked this book, I didn't LOVE this book.  First- Lucy's parents completely ignore her.  And she doesn't seem to have a problem with this.  They are constantly traveling the world, and leaving her at home.  By herself.  And when she finally brings it up, it is sweetly forgiven and swept under the rug.  Second- Owen is still in high school, yet he is traveling the country with his dad, enrolling in schools along the way.  As a teacher, this bugged me.  I don't think it's as easy as it was for Owen to just move in and out of schools.  The fact that he had lots of credits was emphasized ALOT, but it bothered me.  I just didn't love this book as much as her other two.  And while my teenage romance readers will probably love it, I would just say it was ok.