i can recall many in my life. when i was 13, for example, and i thought that the height of fashion was a graphic twe all have our periods of delusion.
i can recall many in my life. when i was 13, for example, and i thought that the height of fashion was a graphic tee that said AEROPOSTALE in huge letters on the front, paired with a simple and understated pair of black fake uggs.
or most of my childhood, which i spent convinced i was destined to marry either joe jonas (the obvious best of the brothers) or my neighbor who once threw a snowball directly at my face — whoever showed up first.
or when i read this book, which i recalled as being cute and fluffy and one of the only romances i have ever given five stars, and lent to my mom.
this book IS cute and fluffy, in many ways, and talia hibbert Does It Again.
BUT THIS BOOK ALSO CONTAINS MANY, MANY MENTIONS OF A GIANT, COLORFUL, VERY ACTIVE DILDO.
AND I LENT IT TO MY MOTHER.
in fact, i generally misremembered this book, which is no longer 1 of 2 romances i've ever given five stars. it is funny, and it is fun, but it isn't the things i require in my perfect love stories (namely, mostly yearning and suffering). it is mostly silly and sexy.
and there is nothing wrong with that.
unless, and i can't stress this enough, you are thinking of book recommendations to give your poor, sweet, innocent mother.
bottom line: sorry mom.
(sidenote: this has been another installment of PROJECT 5 STAR)
---------------- original review
(view spoiler)[Do you ever have the food you've been craving at exactly the moment you're craving it?
That fasting-for-Thanksgiving feeling of finally sitting at the table, except for if turkey and canned cranberry sauce were ever everything it's cracked up to be. So more like pizza by the slice in the salt air and setting sun of the boardwalk after a day on the beach, or takeout-dim-sum pork buns and scallion pancakes when you've forgotten to eat and are suddenly hollow-stomached, or FINALLY experiencing the toothachey sugar of a warm cinnamon roll, which always take like eight times longer to make than expected.
That's what reading a good romance feels like after dozens of mediocre ones.
This is a perfect romance, for me.
I loved the brash kind protagonist. I loved the shy rough around the edges sweet love interest. I loved the fun dialogue, I loved (for once in my life!) the steamy scenes, I loved the complicated loving family, and I loved watching these two miscommunicate and yell and fall in love.
I blushed, I smiled, I heart-hurted, I winced. It's everything I want.
I thought the first book in this series was good. I thought the second was not. This was something else altogether.
I hope this holds up on reread.
Bottom line: Enemies to lovers wins again! (hide spoiler)]
“WRENCHING,” a book’s front cover will yell, and say it's a quote from like the Delaware Post-Tribune or the Huntington Park Journal or the Winding River Bend Rural Paper. “IMMERSIVE,” shouts a glorified neighborhood book club. “UNPUTDOWNABLE,” according to a woman with a lot of Instagram followers.
I very rarely agree with these influencers or made-up sounding publications. It is an infrequent occurrence that I put down a book and immediately begin referring to it in intense one-word statements.
I did not do anything of the kind upon finishing this book, but there are two Book Marketing’s Greatest Hits terms that I would ascribe to this book: FUNNY and HEARTWARMING.
This was a really good read. So good it cursed my brain and now I will have to live out my days speaking like the faux-Reese Witherspoon who writes her book marketing copy, my words forever taking up precious space that could be devoted to pretty pictures or actual, you know, synopses.
But I’ll try to stop talking about all my irritations with the idea of blurbs and give actual reviewing a try.
I really miss reading this.
It was half feel-good fiction, half-romance, and while I kinda wish it’d been one or the other...I’m not that mad.
Because both halves were - sigh - A DELIGHT. (Lift your curse from me, O The Oprah Magazine!!!)
In another rare occurrence, I liked these characters a lot. I consider it a stroke of luck if I enjoy so much as a single character in any book, so finding one in which I like multiples??? Nothing short of a miracle, my dear boy.
Bottom line: In conclusion, I will henceforth be reading everything Linda Holmes writes, and also please let me live inside this book thank you.
------------ reread update
messing with what works (rereading a book i liked several years ago) and surviving.
------------ update
raising this rating because i really miss reading this book
------------ pre-review
this did the trick.
review to come
------------ tbr review
i need a book where everything is bad and then they all live happily ever after, and if this book turns out not to be that book i will explode...more
I RARELY LIKE CONTEMPORARIES (EVEN THOUGH I READ A TON OF THEM), BUT I LIKED THIS SO MUCH.
I HAVE A HARD TIME *takes deep breath* I LIKED THIS SO MUCH.
I RARELY LIKE CONTEMPORARIES (EVEN THOUGH I READ A TON OF THEM), BUT I LIKED THIS SO MUCH.
I HAVE A HARD TIME WITH ““““OVERLY HONEST”””” (read: asshole) PROTAGONISTS, EVEN WITH CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT, BUT I LIKED THIS SO MUCH.
I AM EXTREMELY PICKY ABOUT ROMANCES, BUT I LIKED THIS SO MUCH.
ICYMI: I liked this so much.
I did not expect to, really, but I did.
Lucky me!
This wasn’t a profound or life-changing read, but it was fluffy and sweet and fun and I promptly added the author’s other books to my to-read list because I always like fluffy/sweet/fun.
Well, not always like. See above. But you get what I mean.
Bottom line: YAY!
---------
IT WORKED.
HOW DID I LIKE THIS SO MUCH.
SINCE WHEN DO I LIKE THINGS.
review to come / 4 stars
---------
i'm not asking for much from this book, just that it heal my soul and end my reading slump and help with my reading challenge and finally bring joy into my life
Emma Mills books are: - funny - gorgeously covered (this is probably the first most important thing except “don’t judge a book by its cover” or whateverEmma Mills books are: - funny - gorgeously covered (this is probably the first most important thing except “don’t judge a book by its cover” or whatever) - under the dust jacket, ALSO gorgeous (can’t emphasize the aesthetics enough) - charming - friendship-filled - banter-y - romance-y but not TOO romance-y you know?
Basically they are the perfect contemporary. Always. Without fail.
Okay. Maybe not without fail. This Adventure Ends is kinda meh. First & Then has its charms but it’s nothing to write home about.
BUT.
But but but.
Foolish Hearts is a five star read. A YA CONTEMPORARY THAT’S A FIVE STAR READ. (Mental note to reread Foolish Hearts immediately.)
I have given approximately four YA contemporaries five stars, and Foolish Hearts is one of them.
This one isn’t, but it’s still pretty good. And pulled me out of a reading slump!
Also, I don’t really remember it. But I know it was pretty good, so just...trust me without evidence I guess.
I’m going to end this review now. And reread Foolish Hearts right after.
Bottom line: Do I know what this review was? No. Do I know this book was good? Yes. Kind of.
------------- pre-review
i would die for emma mills.
review to come
------------- currently-reading updates
it turns out all i need to break me out of a reading slump is a new emma mills book and some heavy procrastination
------------- tbr review
somebody......please..........give me this book
i'm a good person kind of. i deserve it, or at least would like it a lot and be excited and stuff so it'd be nice of you to grant me that experience.
A short, by no means definitive list of just some of the literally innumerable awesome things this book Holly Bourne, where have you been all my life?
A short, by no means definitive list of just some of the literally innumerable awesome things this book contains: - feminist criticism of romcoms - a takedown of the bit in The Fault in Our Stars when the characters' steamy makeout happens in the Anne Frank House - a screaming rant against the line "not like other girls" - a powerful, badass, damaged heroine who heals herself - and a bunch of satisfying scenes in which that heroine screams and/or gets hers - a female character who isn't nice to our female protagonist...without veering into girl hate - a group of female friends who might seem shallow but are anything but - a romantic plotline that is secondary to the other aspects of our girl's life - and a (view spoiler)[romance that is secondary to the (hide spoiler)] happily ever after, too - happy fun workplace scenes!! which I am always a sucker for.
Basically, this book is such a revolutionarily good contemporary I might have to come back and five star it.
Bottom line: ?!?!????!?!?!?!?! More please.
---------------- tbr review
please....i just want a cute contemporary.......please reading gods let me have this...more
Okay just hang on one quick second we’re going to talk about the actual, you know, contents of this book but first: are you seeing this cover. My god.Okay just hang on one quick second we’re going to talk about the actual, you know, contents of this book but first: are you seeing this cover. My god.
I was killing several hours in a Barnes & Noble (not because I was waiting for something or anything, but because one of my favorite activities is “residing in a bookstore for long enough that I am forced to wonder whether I should update my listed address in several databases/paperworks”) when, like an oasis, or a dusty pink angel, this book appeared. I read the inside of the dust jacket, said “yeah ok maybe” (by which I mean I saw “contemporary that involves text messages” and did everything short of performing an original song entitled “Hell Yes, This Is A Very Good Thing”), and wrote the title down in my notes app.
Then I binge read the hell out of it.
THE WEEK BEFORE FINALS WEEK.
This book is, like, made up of my weaknesses. Everything I love. My fatal flaws. It is ideal and adorable and I love it. These perfect elements include:
ONE: It has a beautiful cover. Just look at it. (And by “look at it,” I mean pull a me and gaze at it lovingly for several minutes.)
TWO: It’s a contemporary. This is not necessarily something I like, but boy is it something I read a lot of.
THREE: Neverending darkness. Do not let the pink-and-gold color scheme and the calligraphy fool you: this is the darkest contemporary I have read in a long time. The characters are veeeerrrrryyyyy bitter and judgmental and hateful. This is 100% suffering and black sweaters and edginess. But in a good way. (If you’re me.)
FOUR: Full background characters. Most contemporaries manage to have exactly one (1) best friend character, because authors are like, Realistic worldbuilding and characters with real, populated lives = too haaaaaaard, presumably. But even the background characters of this book who aren’t mentioned very much feel like real people! Pretty rad.
FIVE: There are text messages in this!!! I love unique formatting in any incarnation, but man, I really love books with text messages in them. I don’t know what it is! Even when it seems like every writer either writes texting a) like it’s being written by a character using a pink Motorola Razr in a TV show from 2004 (“OMG u r a totl btch i h8 u”) or b) like it’s a formal letter from a founding father (“Dearest Abigail, Hast thou finished the math homework”) - even in those situations, I love it. But these texts were actually realistic AND fun??
Which brings me to the next section of this review: things it turns out I like but I didn’t even know I liked, because since when are they even an option?
ONE: Really pop culture-y dialogue/thinking, but not in a cringey way. In the past when contemporaries have mentioned anything internet-related, part of my soul has shriveled up in a perma-cringe and died. But in this book, there was a lot of pop culture sh*t, and it...worked? Which brings me to my next point.
TWO: The coolest author on the FACE OF THE EARTH. Seriously. Google Mary H.K. Choi. You will come out with a crush and an appreciation for Desus & Mero. (SHE WAS ON DESUS & MERO. What.)
THREE: Fantastic main characters? The guy main character, Sam, is objectively hot. Which I don’t think I have everrr said about a character in book, because kill me first that’s embarrassing, but I’m not sorry this time. It is too true. (Insert that god-awful John Green quote about not denying oneself the pleasure of telling the truth, or whatever.) The girl main character, Penny, is adorable. It’s all great.
FOUR: Also great character names? I mention this in my barely-a-pre-review below, but whoa. Very cool names. Penny. Sam (probably my favorite name - I have a complex). Jude. Mallory. Celeste. Great stuff.
Tragically, however, this is not a perfect book. Which makes sense, if you think about it, because so much of it feels like Mary H.K. Choi scooped out my brain and fashioned it into a tidy little package with aesthetically pleasing wrapping (have I mentioned enough how gorgeous this cover is?) and the contents of my brain are far from perfect, my dear boy.
There are some things I didn’t super-love about this book. The relationships felt unbalanced. The timeline was confusing or perhaps off. Penny’s mom felt flat (which is insane because literally no one in the entire book was anything less than the fullest, realest bundle of joy sadness and suffering you’ve ever encountered). Sometimes the judginess was overwhelming. There were lines that could be read generously, or could be offensive. (I chose generously, because I am overwhelmingly kind and sweet as everyone knows, and definitely not because I’m in a perpetual beggars-can’t-be-choosers situation with the entire contemporary genre.)
But what I get the sense is the major issue with this book is something I didn’t see as a problem at all: the flawed characters.
Sam and Penny are not easy to like. They’re prickly and judgy and pretentious. They’re mean to their moms and don’t reciprocate the care of their friends and treat people, in the depths of their internal monologues, as just background figures in their lives.
I understand the compulsion to just throw the whole thing away. To say, These characters are clearly unlikable and thus this book is toxic/problematic/just generally unpleasant and we should toss the whole thing into boiling lava, or a trash can if boiling lava proves too hard to find. I do get that. It’s easier to do.
Really, like the characters that populate it, Emergency Contact is a flawed book. It is prickly and difficult to reckon with and imperfect.
But I think that’s what makes people worth liking, and knowing - and the same goes for making books worth reading.
Bottom line: We love discovering new auto-buy authors through diverse fun beautiful bitter contemporaries!!
Note: Just to clarify, I am 100% not trying to say that anyone is wrong for not liking this book. I know that unlikable/flawed characters are outside of some people’s reading preferences, and by all means, if that’s you, steer clear of this book and feel justified in that. I am simply saying that those are not my preferences, and I f*cking love this book. Also if you DNFed it, you may have missed a facet of Penny’s backstory that I think explains a lot.
-------- pre-review
hey just so everyone knows: i reread this book and it still f*cking rules
also i promise and swear that i have a full review of this written + ready to go i just...haven't posted it yet. for reasons unknown
4.5 stars instead of 4!!!
-------- half-review
this author is so cool that this book is extremely cool by default, and i think also i am incrementally cooler for having read it. like it's so cool that i a) felt not cool enough, at several points, to be reading it and b) am significantly more cool for doing so.
SO. COOL.
this book was not perfect, but also it's good enough to get a straight-to-best-contemporaries-shelf-do-not-pass-go-do-not-collect-$200 card, and also now the author is on my auto buy authors shelf. after just one book! i'm like, blushing, writing this. i have a crush on Mary H.K. Choi and i have a crush on Emergency Contact and on penny and sam and on naming characters so well (penny! sam! jude! mallory! celeste! lorraine! andy! okay scratch that last one kinda).
okay i have to cut down on the stream-of-consciousness vibe, at least slightly, so i can tell you guys why this book is so rad.
wait i didn't think i was going to write a full review of this book but clearly i'm going to?? okay. be back with one later i guess
review to come (this is the me-est thing ever what is happening)...more
I don’t really know how to review this, or even rate it. I just know that everyone in the world should probably read this book.
My memory of it is not I don’t really know how to review this, or even rate it. I just know that everyone in the world should probably read this book.
My memory of it is not fresh (read it five months ago; shoutout to my renowned timely reviews), and even when it was I was rendered pretty speechless. Basically what I’m saying is that there are so many thoughtful reviews of this and mine will very much pale in comparison.
So what it comes down to is: you should read Elise’s review, or Melanie’s, and then if you want to watch someone struggle to write complex outdated faded emotions they didn’t even understand in the first place, journey on back over here!
Now that that’s out of the way: let’s do some sections.
SYNOPSIS
Mara’s best friend is her twin, Owen - until his girlfriend and her friend, Hannah, accuses him of rape. Faced with choosing between her own sense of morality and standing with her family, Mara struggles to do the right thing.
And also her ex-girlfriend is there.
THINGS ABOUT THIS BOOK THAT ARE BETTER THAN THEY HAVE ANY RIGHT TO BE
This book is approximately ninety-nine point nine percent five star ratings (and don’t @ me - I go to a college that doesn’t offer math). There’s a good reason for that. This book covers so many complexities of an unbelievably sensitive issue with deftness and wiseness and skill rarely seen in YA.
There is a “but,” but it’s coming later.
This story deconstructs the concept of “type of girl.” It covers means of healing that aren’t necessary quiet, or nonviolent, or quick or easy or simple but are unbearably, achingly real. It shows there is no such thing as a completely bad person, while steering clear of stating that people aren’t capable of completely bad actions.
Basically, this book realizes something that YA novels rarely do: that a complicated topic requires a complicated story. There are easier ways to cover sexual assault. None of them involve siblings or friendships or even intoxication or belief or morality. The simplest stories say “this is consent, and here we believe women.” And those stories are fine, and they bring awareness, but that’s not what’s real.
This book is mercilessly, unrelentingly real.
Which is why it sucks so bad that it didn’t click for me.
IT’S NOT YOU, PRETTY BOOK, IT’S ME
I stand by all the dramatic proclamations I’ve made about this so far. I think this is by far the best rendering of the complicated nature of sexual assault that I’ve read. However.
On a personal level, as a story with characters and a world, it didn’t work for me.
It’s mostly whatever, because everything that is so good about this book is capable of transcending normal book stuff. But I can’t really click with a book without clicking with the characters??? (Also: how many times can I use the word “book” in one paragraph. Book book book book book.)
Anyway. That’s the story for why this book didn’t make me feel much of anything, and I’m sticking to it.
Mara has a pretty wonderful development arc in this, but she’s just about the only character I feel like I halfway understand. And even she felt flat sometimes and it’s her!!! story!!!! From her perspective!!! And everyone else was even worse.
Also, I thought this book was trying to do too much. A lot of this was spent on Mara thinking about her relationship with her now ex-girlfriend, Charlie, and I just...didn’t care. It felt so much less meaningful than the main story, and every time we divulged into this B-plot I was just annoyed it was taking time away from the main focus.
Because, as mentioned, this book is overwhelmingly complicated. So trying to add more to that was unnecessary and, honestly, kind of annoying and distracting.
What it comes down to, really, is that as a book in the typical sense this didn’t work for me. Luckily, this is more than a book - and the more-than-a-book stuff worked.
Bottom line: Is this an unpopular opinion????
-------------------- pre-review
i haven't the FOGGIEST idea what to rate this book, which might be one of the most important ones i've ever read.
I know. I KNOW! There is no way on god's great green earth that a five-star read would be so forgettable it would be utterly lost in the cold dusty halls of my brain within 100 days, or whatever. But that's where we're at right now.
Let's talk synopsis. I will be basing the following information on what's been made available on Goodreads, and not on my own memory, because GUESS WHAT, I HAVE NONE. This is the most tragic thing that has ever happened to me. Ever.
Okay, so. We follow Lottie, whose favorite aunt/person, Helen, just died. Helen was mega-rich because she wrote Harry Potter. Fine, not Harry Potter, but a sprawling children's fantasy series about magical kids that sold hundreds of millions of copies.
So Harry Potter.
Helen left Lottie a bunch o'letters containing dares in an attempt to push Lottie out of her comfort zone. Because Lottie has anxiety. (Yay, mental health rep!)
I don't know what else I can tell you without #SPOILERS, but a lil magical realism comes into play at the end. Yes you read that right!!! Magical realism, my dear boy!!!
Some of you may know since I say it all the goddamn time that magical realism is pretty much my favorite genre - when it's done right. Which, like, rare. And when it isn't done right, it's garbage, I'm furious, I hate it.
But good news! This is the coveted Good Kind. Probably mainly because the magical realism only comes in at the veryyyy end and has straight up no time to be explained, let alone an explanation. It's just kind of left there. No time to mess it up! There are plus sides to abrupt endings with absolutely no closure!!!
Let's talk about the other good things of this book.
One, FAMILYYYYY. There is such a loving great wonderful supportive fun family at the core of this book, and I goddamn LOVE IT. Because orphans and dead/abusive/mean parents and fighting siblings and twins that hate each other can get a tad, uh, old. (Subtweet to the entirety of the young adult genre.)
It is très nice and refreshing to read about parents that give a sh*t and siblings who like each other, you know? (Once again subtweeting to all young adult authors in case you missed the last one. PLEASE NOTE THIS. My poor, semi-nonexistent heart can't take much more of this trope of familial suffering.)
Also, there are adventures in this book. ADVENTURES! Usually I have to outsource my adventure to middle grade, but here we are!!! Mini road trips and cool settings and a whole lot of ocean. It is, dare I say, pretty f*cking rad. It makes me want to go to the Pacific Northwest, which I can't say I had an inclination to do before. (Sidenote, is this book set in the Pacific Northwest? I feel like it is, right? I mean I might be wrong because I REMEMBER F*CK-ALL ABOUT THIS BOOK, but like...it's completely the Pacific Northwest.)
Oh goddamn I just Googled a cool real life setting from this book that I actually vaguely recollected (astounding) and it's in Connecticut. Oh my god. This book is set in Connecticut. Catch me hysterically laughing @ myself for being one hundred percent convinced that this was set in the Pacific Northwest. WHY. Do I associate cold spray-y oceans and harbor towns with Washington State THAT HARD? To a place I have NEVER EVEN BEEN?
I am full-on losing it. If I ever even had it in the first place.
There's also good female friendship in here (rad) and it's pretty diverse (also rad). This is the sh*t of which I am a faaaaan.
The romance is mediocre at best and totally creepy at worst but it doesn't really matter because it's not overwhelming. (Cough cough, young adult authors I subtweeted earlier. You up? Take note again.) (Cough.)
But even though all this stuff is cool as hell and you should totally read this book TOMORROW, if you are for some reason unable to travel back in time and have your past self read it so you've already read it by now...I can't really give it five stars. Because I straight up forgot it.
Still, though. Read it. And take it from me: Do not wait three-plus months to review it. It will be a true lesson in futility and the pointlessness of evading responsibility.
And not in a fun way.
Bottom line: VERY GOOD. IN THE HIGHEST RANKS OF CONTEMPORARY. READ IT IMMEDIATELY AND THEN REVIEW IT RIGHT AFTER THAT AND LEARN FROM MY MISTAKES OVERALL.
---
oh, wow.
a big yes from me. a big, huge, enormous yes. this is so Good.
four stars. or five. I DON'T KNOW I'M HAPPY AND FULL AND THINGS ARE GOOD...more
How did I wait so long to read it??? How was it so good???? How can I pull the high school experience of the protagonTHIS IS THE BEST EMMA MILLS BOOK.
How did I wait so long to read it??? How was it so good???? How can I pull the high school experience of the protagonist out of this book and live it for myself, despite it being fictional and me being in my twenties?????
My ability to work out such questions is even more ineffective than usual, because I have DIED of CUTENESS. I have only recently been resurrected from DEATH ITSELF, because this book is so overwhelmingly ADORABLE it MURDERED me in COLD BLOOD.
Sporadic CAPS for EFFECT.
You can tell just from the number of shelves this is on that it's got the Me Endorsement. Let's do a list of them, for proof (and flair).
- 4-and-a-half stars: That's a high-ass rating, boi! - auto-buy-authors Emma Mills made it to this list because her contemporaries are mediocre-to-good and the covers are beaut as hell. GUESS WHAT. This is my least favorite of her covers but the word mediocre belongs nowhere near this book I'll tell you that much! - best-contemporaries Yeah. I said it. It’s going on the most coveted shelf of all. (Just kidding favorites would be that, or at the very least favorites-2018, but please let’s not be ridiculous and just be grateful for what we have.) - couldnt-wait-to-read Honestly this shelf and its brethren, cant-wait-to-read, are lies. There is not a book on Earth I can’t wait to read, because this book came out a million years ago and has been on my TBR since pre-release and look how long it took me. BUT STILL. It conveys an excitement. - funny BOOKS ARE ALMOST NEVER FUNNY. Do people ever laugh at books?? I don’t. Except this time! Fooled you. This book is very hilarious. - i-love-these-characters This is...actually perhaps the highest praise I can offer any book. I Never love YA characters. They are always boring and interchangeable. Except, guess what, AGAIN NOT THIS TIME. This book: defying all expectations I set up for you in literally the previous sentence. - recommend Obviously.
THIS BOOK IS SO GOOD. The friendships are amazingly well-done. The family relationships (okay maybe not parents but definitely siblings) are fantastic. Gideon, the love interest, is the crown prince of my heart and my new favorite YA guy of all time, or at least this moment before I forget. Like, a boy with...charm? A personality? A sense of humor? In my YA? It’s more likely than you think.
I would say “book boyfriend,” if I didn’t hate that term and find it unbearably cringey/cheesy/embarrassing.
But I do, so.
Also there’s a FF relationship between two supporting characters (one of whom is indicated to be bi) and it’s just the sh*t. It does seem like Emma Mills may keep on writing hetero-ass romances for all times, but I’ll be more okay with that if she keeps giving me this fantastic adorable LGBT+ rep along the way.
The relationship development and the character development and the friendship development...it’s all just. <3.
The fact that I am losing the ability to use words and am instead using vintage-style pre-emoji emoticons is not a good sign. Time to wrap it up. EVEN THOUGH I COULD GUSH ABOUT THIS BOOK FOR A THOUSAND MILLION YEARS.
Bottom line: YESYESYESYESYESYES YESSSSSS!
--------------------- pre-review
THIS IS THE BEST EMMA MILLS BOOK!!!
HOW DID I WAIT SO LONG TO READ IT!!!!
REVIEW TO COME, ONCE MY ENTHUSIASM LEVELS DIP JUST ENOUGH THAT I CAN TAP THAT CAPS LOCK KEY AGAIN AND STOP SCREAMING AT YOU ALL!!!!!!!!...more
I first read this book as an ARC three years ago, and I remembered nothing about it. Except one thing:
It made me very, very, very sadI love to suffer.
I first read this book as an ARC three years ago, and I remembered nothing about it. Except one thing:
It made me very, very, very sad.
Armed with that knowledge and that knowledge only, I reread it.
I have no excuse other than my penchant for pain.
Once again I read this book, and once again it made me SO SAD.
I don’t necessarily love the characters in this book. They can be kind of annoying (especially one in particular. Okay yes I’M TALKING ABOUT YOU, LYDIA, WAKE UP AND SMELL THE CLASS PRIVILEGE OKAY). It can be kind of dry, very slow, a bit repetitive. It is by no means a perfect book.
But it made me actually FEEL something, and for that it deserves a high rating.
Bottom line: If you see me rereading this again in three years, it’s a cry for help.
-----------
I AM...RUINED.
review to come / 4 stars
-----------
yes, my only memory of this book is that it's super, super sad.
yes, i am rereading it.
leave me to my self-destructive decision making in peace...more
I dedicated the year of our lord 2018 to a little thing called the “Sarah Dessen Reread Extravaganza.” I spent the whole year (by which I meanFINALLY.
I dedicated the year of our lord 2018 to a little thing called the “Sarah Dessen Reread Extravaganza.” I spent the whole year (by which I mean an absolute fraction of it) rereading Sarah Dessen books and reliving my youth in order to Prepare Myself for her by then newish release, Once and For All.
It, uh. It did not go well.
Which is fair, honestly. I should not expect myself at the ages of 20 and 21 to like the same things I did when I was 13. Because those things included “wearing 18 coats of mascara in a misguided attempt to resemble the characters of the television program Pretty Little Liars” and “the television program Pretty Little Liars.”
Neither of which scream Refined Taste.
However, I was still disappointed. Because I still love fluffy contemporaries (okay fine, I read them a lot. I do not love them often) and I love nostalgia. So that’s a recipe for success, if you ask me!
This one was my favorite when I first read it in 2015, at the ripe old age of 17, and it is my favorite now, still, to this day. It has everything I love in a contemporary. Slow-burn romance built from friendship. Friendship. Pizza, and in-depth descriptions of pizza. Summertime. Complicated family dynamics that are magically and completely resolved within 300 pages. Coming Of Age.
This book is a dream and I have simply zero complaints.
For complaints, see any other Sarah Dessen review I have written.
I’LL GIVE THIS BOOK THE SUN. FIVE SUNS. More than that, if Goodreads had ever answered my impassioned plea to add a sixth star (which I sent by pony eI’LL GIVE THIS BOOK THE SUN. FIVE SUNS. More than that, if Goodreads had ever answered my impassioned plea to add a sixth star (which I sent by pony express after one too many perfect books). (Pony express means mail, right? I’m a fan of that.)
How do I love thee, book? Let me count the ways. (That’s both a reference to this book and an illustration of how difficult it will be to put my intense adoration of it into, like, a semi-coherent review.) (Sidenote: I’ve never strived for anything higher than semi-coherent.)
Let’s start with the characters. God, do I love the people in this book. They are so, so, so imperfect - imperfect doesn’t even begin to cover it. They should suck, honestly. I should hate them. In fact, I should hate this whole shindig for the things that happen in it. In any other context, they’d give me second-hand embarrassment cringes so hard it’d shoot this book down to two stars. But NOT HERE. This sh*t is different.
These characters are so human. They’re so lovable and deeply good that you’d forgive them for anything. Seriously. All of them do at least one thing (and mostly more than one) that should be, like, narrative-shatteringly awful, and instead manages to make them even better. I can’t explain it. YOU JUST HAVE TO READ THIS BOOK.
This book has alternating perspectives between 2 twins: Noah when he was 13, and Jude when she’s 16 (which is the present). Noah is so creative and talented and amazing, and Jude is such a badass and so interesting and equally amazing. Their mom’s a whirlwind, which has its ups and downs, and their dad starts off not great but becomes the best. There’s Brian, who loves space, and Guillermo, one of the greatest sculptors ever, and Oscar, who I’m not going to try to put into words. (Hands down the most inherently confusing character.) They’re all so wonderful and I wish I knew them in real life and could join their lil ragtag group of pals.
The character development is just unreal.
Also, the depiction of family is pretty amazing. (I’m going to use the words “great” and “amazing” a bajillion times in this review, AND I’M NOT GOING TO APOLOGIZE.) They can mistreat each other and fight and generally seem toxic, but they all love each other and they’re all good people. SCRATCH THAT - MAGNIFICENT people. (You thought I was done talking about how much I love these characters? Ya burnt. I’m going to spend the rest of my life talking about them. Every review from now on? Name-dropping Noah and Jude. Get used to it.)
What else, what else...the writing was just really beautiful. I’m always really happy to see that in YA. It’s pretty rare for a young adult contemporary to just be genuinely, no-holds-barred gorgeous.
And y’all know I love when my books are filled with fun facts. I wish every book had some character just inserting cool information in every once in awhile. This book? EVERY CHARACTER IS DOING THAT. There’s so much fun sh*t about superstition and art and sculpting and space in this book. Ugh. God, it’s perfect. It’s like Jandy Nelson read my mind and made this book to check all my boxes. WHAT A DREAM.
I thought there’d be one major downside. That’s the discussion of fate and ~true love~ in this book, neither of which I believe in and both of which I pretty consistently find dumb in like, every YA contemporary ever. But this book, no surprise at this point, IS DIFFERENT. It’s so well done and just makes you feel all warm inside and root for the characters. Hurray, hurray. I miss this book already.
The cherry on top, you ask? The best fictional encapsulation of and response to slut-shaming I’ve ever seen is contained within THESE VERY PAGES. When thirteen/fourteen-year-old Jude and her mom are fighting about everything, including Jude’s clothing and makeup choices, mommy dearest always asks if she reallyyyyyy wants to be “that girl.” Pretty yuck, right? The only blemish on the perfect record of this masterpiece.
But then. But then! Blemish surgically removed, or whatever. (That was really gross. I’m so sorry.) Jude has a realization. A great, perfect, better-than-cherry-on-top epiphany. I like cherries, but this is more like the lottery ticket on top, or the Zac Efron in Baywatch (a bad movie) on top. Jude realizes: “Maybe Mom was wrong about that girl after all. Because that girl spits on guys who treat her badly. Maybe it’s that girl who’s been missing. [...] I didn’t bring the bad luck to us, no matter how much it felt that way. It brought itself. It brings itself. And maybe it’s that girl who’s now brave enough to admit [it].”
A little bit of editing to remove minor spoilers, but how amazing is that?
Your clothing or your makeup don’t change who you are. They don’t prevent you from being a badass, or a good person, or brave.
God, I love this book. Read it in a couple days, and miss it already.
Can you believe how genuine this review was? That’s a testament to my loveeee for this book.
Bottom line: This is going on the all-time favorites list. EVERYONE: READ THIS PLEASE. Amazing, amazing, amazing. Even better the second time around.
* because if i don't enjoy it i might finally lose my marbles once and for all
(those invested in my mental health will be delighted to know that this is still 5 stars. less delighted to know that it made me tear up and threatened to send me spiraling anyway, but you can't win them all.)...more
Exactly one star less worthy-of-fangirling than I remember it being. Still fun. Not life-changing. But we’ll get there. (I think that’s like, my new cExactly one star less worthy-of-fangirling than I remember it being. Still fun. Not life-changing. But we’ll get there. (I think that’s like, my new catchphrase. I’ve said that so many times in my recent reviews. I had always hoped when I got a catchphrase, it’d be something cooler. I don’t have an example of a cooler one - if I did, don’t you think I’d be using it?!)
Let’s talk about what’s changed since I first read this book. First off:
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Technically speaking. I’m still incredibly youthful. And have very few responsibilities. Or at least live my life as if I have none. But legally, tragically, I have reached adulthood.
When I first read this, even though it was only a few years ago, I had No Semblance of maturity. I was very far from my freshman year of college (which is the surrounding storyline of this book), I was either into Justin Bieber or One Direction, probably, and I think I was into fanfiction.
Now, I am very not all of those things. I just finished out my freshman year, it’s been a long time since my male-teen-pop-sensation-fandom days, and fanfiction really, really makes me cringe. Also, I didn’t hate books all the time then.
A very different mindset, see?
Shall we start with the good stuff, though? I’m giving this four stars, guys. There was a lot of good stuff.
First off, I’m obsessed with Reagan. OB. SESSED. For the approximately 3 people on Goodreads who haven’t read this book, we follow Cath, a dweeby anxious fanfiction sensation entering her freshman year of college with her twin, Wren, who we are constantly told is the cooler/hotter/more confident sister. Anyway. Reagan is Cath’s roommate, who is super pissed at this living situation and has exactly none of Cath’s nonsense. She is so mean and badass and clearly could not give a sh*t about anything. While Cath is holing up in her room, she’s going out and having fun CONSTANTLY. Also she’s smart. She’s a less-creepy April Ludgate and I love her. I want to be her.
My favorite Reagan moment is when Cath keeps talking about how she’s not the ~type of girl~ who steals someone’s boyfriend and how Levi (we’ll get to him) would never date a ~girl like her~, Reagan just keeps saying, “The girl kind?” Because, you know, GIRLS DON’T COME IN TYPES.
There’s more good stuff, too! I can hardly believe it. Okay, so yes, the good stuff is mainly Levi. But he’s really great.
Levi is the love interest of this book. He is very fantastic. Just a total sweetheart and a charmer. Why aren’t there more adorable twenty-one-year-olds with receding hairlines in this world??? Anyway. If you pick up this book for one reason, let that reason be Leviiiiii.
More good things, more good things...I’m kinda blanking. There are a lot of descriptions of delicious-sounding Mexican food in this, which made me hungry and now I really want a burrito thanks.
I also pretty much flew through this book. Two sittings-ish, which isn’t bad for 400+ pages. (We’ll get to the length.) And it was fun, for the most part! So that’s a big positive.
Aw. (You can’t see me, but I’m frowning.) I think it’s time to get to the bad stuff now. Which makes me sad. Because I didn’t think there would be any bad stuff. (Don’t @ me about my unrealistic expectations; I’m still giving this FOUR STARS.)
First, I have to say: I almost reread this in August, during my college orientation, and I’m SO GLAD I DIDN’T. Rowell does a brilliant job of capturing Cath’s anxiety (although it’s undiagnosed, which isn’t actually great mental illness rep). The downside is it made me, as a reader, also feel that anxiety, and if I had felt that way going into college you can BEST BELIEVE it would not have turned out well.
Also, there are just some things about this book that are mildly stupid. I unlocked this knowledge after actually, you know, attending a college. Like, for one, who lets a freshman into a junior-level English class just because she asked? A freshman who doesn’t even know the professors yet? Wild. I barely got bumped into a sophomore-level class even when I knew the instructor super well.
And now that I’m thinking of it, who offers intro to fiction writing at the junior level?! That SHOULD be a freshman class. There’s gotta be a better way to let the audience know that Cath is talented. Ugh, God, can you imagine being a junior who’s worked their ass off to get into that class and some nobody freshman shows up and submits fanfiction as an assignment? I’d DIE.
Which, like, speaking of...of freaking course you can’t submit fanfiction as an assignment. That is inSANE to me. Are there people who could think that is okay? The secondhand embarrassment I got when Cath submitted gay smut about two wizards in a book series for children to a respected novelist...my God.
And about those children’s-book-series-wizards. The fictional series within this book, Simon Snow, just IS Harry Potter. There’s a Harry equivalent, a Draco, a Hermione, a Dumbledore, a Cho, a Voldemort, even a flippin’ Viktor Krum, and it all happens in a knockoff Hogwarts. It didn’t bug me the first time I read this book, or when I read Carry On, but the fact that Harry Potter also exists in this universe doesn’t add up. Why wouldn’t it be mentioned more than once, anyway? At least with someone being like, hey, did anyone else notice that these books are the same? Bleh.
I got all that information from the fanfiction mentioned in the first quarter of this book. Because after that, I stopped reading it. I got bored. I don’t care about Simon Snow, or Cath’s fanfiction empire. (How did I make it through Carry On? That’s literally all that is.)
Other bad stuff...Oh, yeah. The first chunk of this book features a sh*t ton of rape jokes. Like, of the “Don’t get raped!” variety. Which is just in poor taste.
I also am suuuper not into either of the twins. Cath is a total wet blanket, and Wren is dumb. Cath never does anything, and when Wren gets alcohol poisoning, she’s all, “It’s fine!!!” They’re both way too extreme. Just let Wren party once in awhile, and let Cath make a friend or two. Jesus. Could be kind of exhausting. Some of this is solved through character development, and their exhaustinglyyyy extra relationship gets better, but it’s a bumpy ride.
I also didn’t really...feel the chemistry between Cath and Levi? At some points I felt the angst, but not the SPARK. Their relationship just seems really hard. Instead of the typical oh-my-god-did-you-cheat-on-me-do-you-like-someone-else-I-can’t-be-with-you will-they-won’t-they drama of most contemporaries, this book just spent a bunch of time on Cath and Levi slowlyyyy, painfullyyyyy settling into a relationship. Which, like, not interested. Boring at best and upsetting at worst. (Not often the latter; I didn’t care that much.)
The last thing: This book is very, very, VERY long. At its best, I wanted it to be 10,000 pages/live inside it/neverever finish, but when it was more boring and I reality checked myself before I wrecked myself, I was all, “This could be 200 pages shorter."
Anyway.
Bottom line: I just complained SO MUCH (is anyone surprised?) but this was actually...fun....more
it is with a heavy heart that i must say...i'm dropping this rating to a 4 upon reread
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if there's a better mid-pandemic comfort reread than it is with a heavy heart that i must say...i'm dropping this rating to a 4 upon reread
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if there's a better mid-pandemic comfort reread than this, a romance that takes place while the protagonist backpacks through Central America, idk what it is
----------- ORIGINAL REVIEW 4.99999/5
Instant regret on saying I’ll write a full review of this book. Because I really don’t know if I can. I don’t even know if I can rate it!
First, I want to say it’s unfair how much I love this book. It should be undeniably dumb, right? Look at the COVER. It’s awful. Even the synopsis is pretty cringey. And it’s YA contemporary, and I’ve absolutely given up on that genre for the moment because I can’t deal with the constant disappointment.
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And yet here we are. Stuck between 4 and 5 stars. An impressive showing from the underdog!
Well, not really. I knew I was going to like this book - that’s why I reread it. In anticipation of the fact that I’m leaving for Vietnam tomorrow. Isn’t that bananas?! I can hardly believe it!
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Anyway. (Can you tell I’m putting off writing this?) I have been wanting to reread this book for at least 7 months, but I keep putting it off because I seem to be cursed to hate everything I want to love. And I reallyreallyreally didn’t want to hate this book.
But then - miracle of all miracles - I didn’t hate it at all! In fact, I loved it! Way, way more than I expected to!
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But then...I rolled past the 250 page mark. And things took a turn for the worse. (Am I cursed? Like, actually? Is that a thing?)
But let’s start with the good stuff! I am absolutely enamored with any book that centers on travel. Give me road trips, give me backpackers, hell, give me tour groups through Europe’s biggest clichés. Actually, don’t give me the last one. The last one sounds boring. I’m looking at you, Wanderlost.
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ANYWAY. Travel books aren’t always well done, though. I want visceral descriptions. I want to feel like I’m there, and like I want to really go. I want to feel, at the end, like I’ve been bitten by the travel bug. This book definitely, one hundred percent accomplished that. I think I’ll have to give it 5 stars because of it. That’s what matters to me.
So much about this book is just cool. The characters backpack, which is different from the usual YA travel-centered book. It takes place in Central America, which is VERY different from that usual.
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It’d be easy for this book to fall into some problematic-ness, but for the most part, it avoids that. Deftly. There are some stumbles early on with what could be perceived as a condescending look at life in other countries, but it’s solved by character development and addressed directly.
Plus, there’s the fact that white Americans carrying a backpack full of their privilege through developing countries is often considered problematic in and of itself. The main character discusses this, and ultimately the other characters provide what I see as an apt argument against it.
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Also, another really important thing: Rowan is my boyfriend. I’m calling dibs on him right now. (Benefits of reading a fairly underrated contemporary.) Yes, he has a ponytail, which is not ideal, but EVERYTHING ELSE about him is great. Nice, pretty funny, allegedly good-looking, and KNOWS HOW TO BACKPACK THROUGH CENTRAL AMERICA. It’s the dream, my friends.
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But now...the bad. It’s the last 50-75 pages or so. What had been, in my opinion, a travel-centered book with some classic romantic tension and drama thrown in suddenly...switches. We lose most of those gorgeous descriptions in favor of Bria pining over Rowan. Which, like, I get it. Same. But can we take it down a notch?
And then it all gets worse with the ending. (view spoiler)[After knowing her for like, what, two weeks? Rowan decides to move to California with Bria. And stop backpacking! I don’t like that at all. (hide spoiler)] What had been a great book about travel ends up...any other contemporary.
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But the huge huge huge amount of love I have for the first 250 pages - well, actually the middle 200 - will overcome all of that. This book is so great. You feel like you’re there. I spent the whole night reading backpackers’ blogs after I finished this, even though I had a paper due in the morning. (I turned that paper in, by the way. It’s abysmal. I’m trying not to think about it.)
Bottom line: This book is criminally underrated and you should all read it. I love it....more
i genuinely, truly, from the bottom of my cold and shriveled heart where very little other than hate and vitriol can possibly exist...love this book.
ai genuinely, truly, from the bottom of my cold and shriveled heart where very little other than hate and vitriol can possibly exist...love this book.
and it just seems that no matter how old i am or where i'm at or what i want from it, i still do. i first read this book in 2013, a time when i had braces and an enduring appreciation for a variety of teen pop sensations. neither of those have anything to do with why my feelings on this book would have changed, but i firmly believe they both had a significant impact on my evolving personality.
in 2013 also, notably, i was young and full of life. while i was still very tall, i was also little. emotionally speaking. and nice. i liked everything i read. (can you imagine.)
so suffice it to say that 15-year-old me and current me have very little in common. my teeth are metal-free. my heart is empty of celebrities. and i have one starred countless books that once were five stars.
but not this one!
11 years passed, i changed as a person, i apparently have all different cells or something, but guess what stayed the same.
if you guessed "my love for this book," you're today's winner.
ostensibly this is a YA contemporary romance, a subgenre which i used to read exclusively and now, despite my best efforts, seem to abhor. we follow allyson, who at the beginning is in a snoozefest teen tour of europe. she is one pair of glasses, a haircut, and a dream away from the 2000s movie style makeover that will reveal her to be hot the whole time when willem appears, a hot european guy who takes her on a Life Changing Weekend Sojourn to paris.
all of that is fun and fine and involves crepes, but it's not the good part. the good part is allyson.
she starts off the book very play-by-the-rules, very shy, very...boring. and her little parisian love story is nice and all, but it only takes up a fraction of the book. the rest of it is about allyson learning to take risks, to stand up for herself, and to live the life she wants to.
so maybe this book isn't perfect, but...i'm not open to that concept. because (CHEESY ALERT, I ADVISE YOU TO STOP READING HERE BEFORE WE BOTH GET EMBARRASSED): it is pretty goddamn inspiring. i hate to be emotional ever at all, both because it's off-brand for me and also just unpleasant, but...i can be the kind of snoozefest person allyson starts the book as. but all the best times of my life have been because of times that i wasn't!
as in, have happened when i was drunk. (just kidding! (kind of.))
i will finish by saying: willem is pretty hot in this book and all, and that’s a nice bonus, but what is really cool about this book is allyson.
bottom line: if you don't like this book you're wrong; allyson is my daughter; let's all go get drunk in paris and land some willems.
----------------------- project 5 star reread
welcome back to PROJECT 5 STAR, an undertaking in which i reread my favorite books and dare the universe to smite me by proving them lacking.
this one is especially auspicious as i read it (a book about a trip to paris) ahead of my own trip to paris.
AND IT REMAINS FIVE STARS.
(updated review to come)
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AMAZING NEWS: I loved this book just as much rereading it as I did in twenty goddamn thirteen.
Like, 2017 me: Bitter vessel of hatred; one stars books she used to love; in the midst of a Reread Extravaganza that is going, on average, quite badly.
2013 me: Fifteen, enjoys the simple things in life, still has braces I think, mentally rates every book highly (doesn't have a Goodreads yet).
But those two selves form a lopsided Venn diagram. And in the needlepoint-small cross section of that diagram: a love for this book. And also for sweets.
I legitimately, earnestly, worry- and sarcasm-free can't wait to read the sequel.
Review to come!!!
----------------------- rereading updates
me most of the time: there's no cure for depression me when i remember this book exists: there's one cure for depression
And now, nearly 10 years after first reading it, I'm giving it 5 stars.
I am old and curmudgeonly. I am essentiallyThis is the best Morgan Matson book.
And now, nearly 10 years after first reading it, I'm giving it 5 stars.
I am old and curmudgeonly. I am essentially an elderly grump shouting at ornery kids to get off his lawn. But I love this little number anyway.
This book has everything. (Please go back in time and read that in a Stefon voice if you didn’t the first time.) Road trips. Heart-shaped sunglasses. Bucket lists. That thing where characters have significant others but only to add a bit more spice to the will-they-won’t-they (even though the answer is clearly of course they will) and yes there’s cheating but actually it’s okay because the unseen girlfriend was also done with the relationship. Summertime. Pizza. Fun banter-y groups of friends. Playlists. The classic contemporary plot format in which everything starts out okay but with definite room for improvement and then gets good and then gets PERFECT and then gets so so so so so bad like even worse than the beginning but then turns perfect again and actually perfect-er than when you thought it was perfect because character development. And also romance, of course.
It is, in other words, as if someone took all of the best contemporary tropes and wrote them on lil pieces of paper and then tossed them in the air and then they floated down like confetti or snowflakes onto Morgan Matson’s angel head and she wrote this book.
I am a sucker for road trips and for bucket lists and for playlists and for snack descriptions and for summer and for banter and ESPECIALLY for when the friendships are more prevalent in a book than the budding romances.
And this book nails all of that. It is the most fun thing ever.
To give a touch of synopsis: We follow Emily, who has literally one friend. (Sounds like every character in every other book, am I right? It’s funny because most authors are too lazy or romance-focused to build realistic worlds populated with full, human-seeming individuals!) The friend’s name is Sloane, she is fun and adventurous and superhot, and she full-on disappeared a couple days back without telling Emily where she was going. AND NOW SHE’S NOT ANSWERING HER PHONE.
AND HER HOUSE IS EMPTY.
AHHHH.
Instead of worrying about whether ol’ Sloane and her parents got Mafia murdered, Emily focuses her boundless attention on a list of tasks that gal mailed her. Emily is very shy and introverted, where Sloane is extremely...not that, so the list is stuff like “skinny dip!!!” and “kiss a stranger!!!”
In her attempts to finish the list (in the hopes it’ll give her some Sloane-related answers), Emily makes friends and has fun and learns it’s not the end of the quest but the friends you make along the way and blah blah blah it’s cute. It’s fun. It’s summery.
It’s the best Morgan Matson book! (So far.)
Bottom line: This is essentially if mad scientists gathered all my favorite clichés and mixed em all together and published them in a 500 page hardcover with a reversible collectible cover. In other words: PERFECT.
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in a well-ordered universe, morgan matson would just write every contemporary???
she is the only one that seems to recognize that the ideal contemporary is a careful mix of friendship + banter + road trips + bucket lists + summer + snacks and then a liiiiiiiil bit of romance.
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