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clara_blick's review
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
mi2504's review
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
3.0
melissaverasreads's review
4.0
A very realistic story about friendship, a lot of this problems were problems I had when I was that age.
kiaraliketiara's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
sarahlmcgirk's review
lighthearted
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
papertraildiary's review
2.0
In We Used to be Friends by Amy Spalding, teen girls James and Kat experience the heartbreak of the best friend breakup. I think I would have liked the book more if it was told in a linear fashion - instead it is a dual-voice of James's story working backwards starting from when she leaves for college, and Kat's story moving forwards. I found it increasingly confusing, especially reading it as an ebook rather than print (in which I could at least flip back and forth through when I got mixed up). I think the heartbreak would've hit a lot harder if they were in tandem, as well. While James is more of a stoic character who doesn't want to tell her best friend about the tough stuff going on in her life, Kat is the one who can't stop talking about her own life and doesn't often stop to hear anyone else anyway. I've known girls like both James and Kat so I found their portrayals to be achingly real, I just still think the gut punch would've been harder if we experienced their slow break-up at the same time as them. They really go through years of inching through their falling-apart friendship as Kat meets a girlfriend who James feels replaces her, and James pulls farther and farther away. I think the forwards/backwards concept was interesting and an attempt at making a conventional writing style different, but it didn't land for me.
optimisticbooknerd's review
3.0
It was a fine story, I just didn't love it as much as I hoped, I didn't hate it but it has great bisexual rep that was very important and I loved the texting aspect throughout the story.
corgimuffins's review
3.0
3.5/5
this book slowly broke my heart. almost everything about it was good.
“It was easy to believe that romance was the only heartache out there.”
this book starts out with james about to move to college, talking about how she misses kat. james’ pov goes backwards throughout senior year while kat’s moves forward. and how their friendship ended.
something i really appreciated about this book was the dual povs. from james’ pov, kat was selfish, self centered, dramatic, and annoying. from kat’s pov, james was distant, closed off, tight lipped, and short with her. it really hurt to see how they slowly grew apart and came to only see the worst in each other. though, they both weren’t completely wrong. by the end, james is learning to be more open and kat is learning to make more room for everyone in her life besides quinn, her girlfriend.
the timing and pacing of the book annoyed me at first, but i think it worked well at the end because the parallels between the first and last chapters are a punch to the heart.
the only thing that annoyed me about this book was how kat talked sometimes. i know that’s the point and that’s kat’s personality but the constant “duhs” “omgs” and “like” got on my nerves. especially the “omg” i never want to see that more than once in a book again. other than that, this book was well written and broke my heart a bit.
this book slowly broke my heart. almost everything about it was good.
“It was easy to believe that romance was the only heartache out there.”
this book starts out with james about to move to college, talking about how she misses kat. james’ pov goes backwards throughout senior year while kat’s moves forward. and how their friendship ended.
something i really appreciated about this book was the dual povs. from james’ pov, kat was selfish, self centered, dramatic, and annoying. from kat’s pov, james was distant, closed off, tight lipped, and short with her. it really hurt to see how they slowly grew apart and came to only see the worst in each other. though, they both weren’t completely wrong. by the end, james is learning to be more open and kat is learning to make more room for everyone in her life besides quinn, her girlfriend.
the timing and pacing of the book annoyed me at first, but i think it worked well at the end because the parallels between the first and last chapters are a punch to the heart.
the only thing that annoyed me about this book was how kat talked sometimes. i know that’s the point and that’s kat’s personality but the constant “duhs” “omgs” and “like” got on my nerves. especially the “omg” i never want to see that more than once in a book again. other than that, this book was well written and broke my heart a bit.
polkadotgirl's review
2.0
2/5 stars:
I think 2020 should be the year I realize YA contemporary is just not for me. There are VERY few contemporaries I end up loving and this definitely wasn't one of them. In fact, it is one of contemporaries I've enjoyed the least in recent times.
Both in writing and plot I don't think this book does anything special or remarkable.
The story moves between the two main characters' POVs -Kat and James- and although their personalities and likes/dislikes are pretty different their tones and perspectives weren't that different. I do commend the fact that the characters were at least distinguishable in their aspirations and personalities. However, throughout the book both characters feel very inconsistent and their actions sometimes don't make a lot of sense and they just come out of nowhere. I understand that they're teenagers but it didn't feel like that was what the author had been trying to do. It was more like the characters weren't explored properly and we didn't really get to see a lot of inner exploration from them.
I think the book doesn't benefit from the back and forth of the timeline. We move inconsistently between the beginning of the girls' senior year, the middle part of it and also the summer after. It makes the pace feel weird and I felt like it was more difficult to connect with the events this way.
The ending of this book was... really not good, y'all. I am never opposed to incomplete endings but this was so abrupt and unsatisfying. It wasn't even emotional or poignant in any way. I felt by the end of this book like reading it had been for absolutely nothing *shrug*
I guess the reason I'm giving this book a 2-star rating and not a 1 -star comes down to the fact that we have some decent bisexual representation (with an main f/f couple) and also the fact that this book focuses on the friendship between two girls (even if it's more about its fallout) and I love me some female/female friendships always.
I think 2020 should be the year I realize YA contemporary is just not for me. There are VERY few contemporaries I end up loving and this definitely wasn't one of them. In fact, it is one of contemporaries I've enjoyed the least in recent times.
Both in writing and plot I don't think this book does anything special or remarkable.
The story moves between the two main characters' POVs -Kat and James- and although their personalities and likes/dislikes are pretty different their tones and perspectives weren't that different. I do commend the fact that the characters were at least distinguishable in their aspirations and personalities. However, throughout the book both characters feel very inconsistent and their actions sometimes don't make a lot of sense and they just come out of nowhere. I understand that they're teenagers but it didn't feel like that was what the author had been trying to do. It was more like the characters weren't explored properly and we didn't really get to see a lot of inner exploration from them.
I think the book doesn't benefit from the back and forth of the timeline. We move inconsistently between the beginning of the girls' senior year, the middle part of it and also the summer after. It makes the pace feel weird and I felt like it was more difficult to connect with the events this way.
The ending of this book was... really not good, y'all. I am never opposed to incomplete endings but this was so abrupt and unsatisfying. It wasn't even emotional or poignant in any way. I felt by the end of this book like reading it had been for absolutely nothing *shrug*
I guess the reason I'm giving this book a 2-star rating and not a 1 -star comes down to the fact that we have some decent bisexual representation (with an main f/f couple) and also the fact that this book focuses on the friendship between two girls (even if it's more about its fallout) and I love me some female/female friendships always.
shadowtiff7's review against another edition
lighthearted
relaxing
slow-paced
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
2.5