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girlinthepages's review
3.0
I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.*Thank you so much to the publisher for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review!*
Novels set in college are one of my FAVORITE things as a reader. There's so much potential for character development, self exploration, new themes and tropes, and just endless possibility really to break out of the traditional YA mold. What's even more excellent is finding a college set novel that doesn't fall into the romance/erotica heavy New Adult categorization either. Kiley Roache is an author who writes college stories that are just authentic enough to keep readers connected to the characters despite the potentially extraordinary things happening to them, like a girl rushing a fraternity or building the next multi-million dollar social media app. I was really excited to pick up The Dating Game and experience my college days again in Roache's sophomore novel.
There's a lot of really good things about this novel- set at the same university of her debut book, it features three freshmen students trying to find their footing and navigate the cut throat Silicon Valley culture at a premiere university where everyone's resume is already a mile long. I think the topics of self worth, competition, and stress on young adults nowadays were really realistic and poignant- there's so much pressure to overachieve from such a young age for a normal teen, let alone for teens wanting to go to top tier universities with 2% acceptance rates and major in computer science. The story also explores a variety of social statuses and privileges through its POV characters.
The story focuses on three protagonists, Sara, Robbie, and Braden, who all come from different background and socioeconomic backgrounds but are all dealing with significant levels of stress and anxiety from their own unique circumstances. When they are sort of thrown together for a class project they end up accidentally making a "hot new app" that basically exploits the human need for vanity and validation. As you can imagine, such instant success leads to all sorts of unique and challenging situations for the three of them. The story of their freshmen year navigating the app is told in rotating POVs that all have a distinct voice and a format that worked for me (until the very end- but I'll get to that later on).
While it was fun watching the characters have their own tech start up journey (and see how it did, and did not, mirror those stories of the founders of Facebook, Google, Apple, etc.) there was quite a bit of predictability in the plot, especially in regards to the moral dilemma some of the characters faced with the app. There was also a large romantic element that was unsurprising (they did invent a dating app, after all) but I think we're also all pretty tired of love triangles in the book community. ALSO this book contained the dreaded "sentence" in regards to one holding a breath one did not know they were holding and I'm honestly still trying to figure out if the author intentional put it there on purpose to troll readers knowing how everyone complains about it on book Twitter (and if she did, total props to her for the sort of inside joke lol).
***Please note the section below will contain some mild spoilers.***
One huge issue that I did have with the book, however, was the portrayal of the antagonist. Now, I'm all for the realistic portrayal of how greedy, selfish, etc. humans can be, however one of the main characters goes from 50 to 500 on the evil scale toward the end of the book and just completely stops being a POV character and I was just like ???? It felt rushed and underdeveloped and like it needed to be written with more nuance, especially since there's a scene earlier on where readers are obviously supposed to feel sympathy for this character and then NOPE he just ends up being a giant jerk at the end. In the epilogue there's a very short scene that I think is supposed to "redeem" the character but it didn't really work for me- it seemed half hearted and just thrown in.
Overall: A fun (if predictable) book set in college touching on entrepreneurship and the start up culture. While it isn't a new favorite for me, if you're looking for more YA/NA crossover without excessive romance this could be a good fit for you!This review was originally posted on Girl in the Pages
Novels set in college are one of my FAVORITE things as a reader. There's so much potential for character development, self exploration, new themes and tropes, and just endless possibility really to break out of the traditional YA mold. What's even more excellent is finding a college set novel that doesn't fall into the romance/erotica heavy New Adult categorization either. Kiley Roache is an author who writes college stories that are just authentic enough to keep readers connected to the characters despite the potentially extraordinary things happening to them, like a girl rushing a fraternity or building the next multi-million dollar social media app. I was really excited to pick up The Dating Game and experience my college days again in Roache's sophomore novel.
There's a lot of really good things about this novel- set at the same university of her debut book, it features three freshmen students trying to find their footing and navigate the cut throat Silicon Valley culture at a premiere university where everyone's resume is already a mile long. I think the topics of self worth, competition, and stress on young adults nowadays were really realistic and poignant- there's so much pressure to overachieve from such a young age for a normal teen, let alone for teens wanting to go to top tier universities with 2% acceptance rates and major in computer science. The story also explores a variety of social statuses and privileges through its POV characters.
The story focuses on three protagonists, Sara, Robbie, and Braden, who all come from different background and socioeconomic backgrounds but are all dealing with significant levels of stress and anxiety from their own unique circumstances. When they are sort of thrown together for a class project they end up accidentally making a "hot new app" that basically exploits the human need for vanity and validation. As you can imagine, such instant success leads to all sorts of unique and challenging situations for the three of them. The story of their freshmen year navigating the app is told in rotating POVs that all have a distinct voice and a format that worked for me (until the very end- but I'll get to that later on).
While it was fun watching the characters have their own tech start up journey (and see how it did, and did not, mirror those stories of the founders of Facebook, Google, Apple, etc.) there was quite a bit of predictability in the plot, especially in regards to the moral dilemma some of the characters faced with the app. There was also a large romantic element that was unsurprising (they did invent a dating app, after all) but I think we're also all pretty tired of love triangles in the book community. ALSO this book contained the dreaded "sentence" in regards to one holding a breath one did not know they were holding and I'm honestly still trying to figure out if the author intentional put it there on purpose to troll readers knowing how everyone complains about it on book Twitter (and if she did, total props to her for the sort of inside joke lol).
***Please note the section below will contain some mild spoilers.***
One huge issue that I did have with the book, however, was the portrayal of the antagonist. Now, I'm all for the realistic portrayal of how greedy, selfish, etc. humans can be, however one of the main characters goes from 50 to 500 on the evil scale toward the end of the book and just completely stops being a POV character and I was just like ???? It felt rushed and underdeveloped and like it needed to be written with more nuance, especially since there's a scene earlier on where readers are obviously supposed to feel sympathy for this character and then NOPE he just ends up being a giant jerk at the end. In the epilogue there's a very short scene that I think is supposed to "redeem" the character but it didn't really work for me- it seemed half hearted and just thrown in.
Overall: A fun (if predictable) book set in college touching on entrepreneurship and the start up culture. While it isn't a new favorite for me, if you're looking for more YA/NA crossover without excessive romance this could be a good fit for you!This review was originally posted on Girl in the Pages
raecat23's review against another edition
5.0
As someone who’s been in a software entrepreneurship class, this is super relatable from the business standpoint. The romance was HELLA CUTE too and realistic to college romances (if a little exaggerated)
kay1eigh's review
2.0
I’ll be honest I didn’t finish this book. Part of that is due to a stupid reading slump I’m in, but part of it is the book just didn’t suck me in. I can’t get into it. The characters are so trope-ish and maybe I just didn’t try long enough but I just didn’t enjoy it that much. I’m not opposed to trying it again later but as for now I’m taking a break from it.
bookishtiff's review against another edition
2.0
Disclaimer I received this arc from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Once again I requested this book because of the cover. I mean it's super cute. This book is about 3 students who are required to work together and build a startup business idea. If they fail their grade will suffer drastically. Finally they come up with idea of a dating app. One that's all about status and is exclusive to only certain school's campuses. The idea of the app is that you rate people and they rate you back. The higher you rank the picker you can be with your dating search. If you only want to talk to certain ranks then you can change it.
The story is told from three different point of views. Sara is a control freak who wants to do things her way but is slowly changing to try to fit in with the crowd. Braden is a self centered rich boy. All he cares about is becoming successful and not a disappointment to his father. Roberto is a boy who's doing everything he can to get enough money to get his mother a good lawyer to have her reapply to come back to the united states.
The plot of this book is kinda predictable. There's a love triangle which was very annoying in this book. Sara went from hating Braden to feeling sorry for him after one sob story next thing we know they are dating. I wished this book didn't have any romance at all or if it did it would be subtle. I wish it would have focused more on the app but I guess the love triangle was the main plot of the book. Who will Sara end up with. I wish Sara and Roberto would have put their feet down when they realized that the app was morally wrong. Neither of them liked the ranking system and how it made others self-esteem low. Braden is stereotypical rich boy. You automatically know he's going to be a jerk. He even told one character that they didn't need to eat a lot. I couldn't believe that he was trying to enforce how much she could eat in front of his rich friends. He's a terrible friend and overall a terrible person. His views of a relationship are boarder line possessive.
Overall I thought this book had potential and was an easy read but I would never want to read it again. I just didn't like the cliche's that showed up everywhere in this book.
Once again I requested this book because of the cover. I mean it's super cute. This book is about 3 students who are required to work together and build a startup business idea. If they fail their grade will suffer drastically. Finally they come up with idea of a dating app. One that's all about status and is exclusive to only certain school's campuses. The idea of the app is that you rate people and they rate you back. The higher you rank the picker you can be with your dating search. If you only want to talk to certain ranks then you can change it.
The story is told from three different point of views. Sara is a control freak who wants to do things her way but is slowly changing to try to fit in with the crowd. Braden is a self centered rich boy. All he cares about is becoming successful and not a disappointment to his father. Roberto is a boy who's doing everything he can to get enough money to get his mother a good lawyer to have her reapply to come back to the united states.
The plot of this book is kinda predictable. There's a love triangle which was very annoying in this book. Sara went from hating Braden to feeling sorry for him after one sob story next thing we know they are dating. I wished this book didn't have any romance at all or if it did it would be subtle. I wish it would have focused more on the app but I guess the love triangle was the main plot of the book. Who will Sara end up with. I wish Sara and Roberto would have put their feet down when they realized that the app was morally wrong. Neither of them liked the ranking system and how it made others self-esteem low. Braden is stereotypical rich boy. You automatically know he's going to be a jerk. He even told one character that they didn't need to eat a lot. I couldn't believe that he was trying to enforce how much she could eat in front of his rich friends. He's a terrible friend and overall a terrible person. His views of a relationship are boarder line possessive.
Overall I thought this book had potential and was an easy read but I would never want to read it again. I just didn't like the cliche's that showed up everywhere in this book.
thenatureofpages's review
2.0
I really wanted to love this story. It had so much POTENTIAL, which is maybe what disappointed me when it didn’t live up to my expectation.
The basic plotline is great – as I said above, the whole idea it revolves around is super intriguing! I think the novel gets a little caught up on subplots and romantic interests for my tastes.
I never felt as a reader that I had the chance to dive beneath the surface of these characters. It’s like the author gave us the icing on the cake – just icing. None of the rich gooey layers below it. Still okay, a little too sweet, but can still survive on its own. The author definitely succeeded in creating a character I love to hate – one certain character who annoys the living heck out of me. I definitely admire her skill for writing characters that make me cringe and roll my eyes (this sounds sarcastic but I promise, it’s not!).
Personally, I felt like everything moved way too fast in the story. Relationships, friendships, even plans go at breakneck speed. However, I would be interested in seeing other books by Kiley Roache, as she definitely has potential!
The basic plotline is great – as I said above, the whole idea it revolves around is super intriguing! I think the novel gets a little caught up on subplots and romantic interests for my tastes.
I never felt as a reader that I had the chance to dive beneath the surface of these characters. It’s like the author gave us the icing on the cake – just icing. None of the rich gooey layers below it. Still okay, a little too sweet, but can still survive on its own. The author definitely succeeded in creating a character I love to hate – one certain character who annoys the living heck out of me. I definitely admire her skill for writing characters that make me cringe and roll my eyes (this sounds sarcastic but I promise, it’s not!).
Personally, I felt like everything moved way too fast in the story. Relationships, friendships, even plans go at breakneck speed. However, I would be interested in seeing other books by Kiley Roache, as she definitely has potential!
sheila_60608's review against another edition
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
bookishnerdyjess's review against another edition
5.0
What a good book. It has a little bit of everything. I love the parts about immigration and the process that so many families experience. I like that it was relatable and put the process of coding into language that a layman like myself could understand.
kristie5's review against another edition
3.0
The Dating Game was a fast, easy to read contemporary novel. While this was a fun read, it wasn't really memorable and not something I would ever go back to and reread but I enjoyed myself while I was reading it. I agree with a lot of the other reviews, this book was somewhat reminiscent of The Social Network and I didn't fall in love with the characters.
jennifferoc's review
4.0
Fun and relatable. There were spelling errors, but I received an uncorrected proof so they were to be expected. An easy read, even considering the target market.
thegraduatedbookwormblogger's review against another edition
4.0
4.5/5 Full Review can be found at http://www.thegraduatedbookworm.com
First, I'd like to thank Harper Collins Canada (HCC Frenzy) for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review! I seriously enjoyed this book, and I don't think I could talk more about it while reading this!
Right from the beginning, you dive into these three very different characters, all who have their own back story that showcases how very different they are from one another. I loved how you get to read each character's point of view throughout the novel, and you get a glimpse of their home life.
I'm not even kidding you when I say that I seriously wanted to try and create some sort of billion dollar app after reading this... like is anyone down to start this, because this girl sure is! I loved how even if you weren't someone who knows about coding and websites, you feel like you've got a pretty good understanding of it all!
This was definitely a fast paced book and there were moments I felt like Kiley Roache played more on the safe side, where I felt like they weren't totally in college.
Overall, this was a great read! I loved how current, relatable and entertaining this book was! It had my emotions moving literally everywhere, but also had me totally believing that I knew everything there is to know about creating apps. The determination and beliefs that is written between the words was amazing, and I definitely recommend picking it up!
First, I'd like to thank Harper Collins Canada (HCC Frenzy) for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review! I seriously enjoyed this book, and I don't think I could talk more about it while reading this!
Right from the beginning, you dive into these three very different characters, all who have their own back story that showcases how very different they are from one another. I loved how you get to read each character's point of view throughout the novel, and you get a glimpse of their home life.
I'm not even kidding you when I say that I seriously wanted to try and create some sort of billion dollar app after reading this... like is anyone down to start this, because this girl sure is! I loved how even if you weren't someone who knows about coding and websites, you feel like you've got a pretty good understanding of it all!
This was definitely a fast paced book and there were moments I felt like Kiley Roache played more on the safe side, where I felt like they weren't totally in college.
Overall, this was a great read! I loved how current, relatable and entertaining this book was! It had my emotions moving literally everywhere, but also had me totally believing that I knew everything there is to know about creating apps. The determination and beliefs that is written between the words was amazing, and I definitely recommend picking it up!