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2.86 AVERAGE
2.86 AVERAGE
quite cliche and cringy in parts but sort of a guilty pleasure, I did enjoy
2.5 stars.
50% enjoyed it
50% annoyed by it
Audrey is annoying.
50% enjoyed it
50% annoyed by it
Audrey is annoying.
What I liked
The book gripped me from the very start and made it an exciting read that I quickly finished.
I liked Lang's style of writing, as expected, and perspective. I liked the imagery. Lang's writing phrased some beautiful quotes once again that I had to point out in the book itself.
Now, anxiety is conveyed rather effectively in the description, which I appreciate. I appreciated how panic attacks were described and I think it's great for people who have only heard of it and never really knew what it was to understand.
I loved the romance. I loved Lucy and Freddy and I loved how Audrey and Rad felt for each other. I loved that the complexity of love and conflicts with oneself are portrayed, showing that just because something has the potential to work out, it doesn't have to work out, and sometimes the most beautiful things just can't happen. And that is life.
What I didn't like
As it is heavy on the dialogue, it is light on everything else, making the characters a bit shallow and never really deeply carved, in my opinion. It is more telling, than showing. And I thought that was a pity. Because of that, I thought the characters were rather one-dimensional I didn't feel like any character showed any development in the book.
I think the plot was lacking, mostly because I was expecting to find out what Audrey's real motive was to spread such a lie. Now I've spread stupid lies before, but no matter how stupid I was, I always had some kind of motive, even if the motive was rather dumb. You just don't go and spread such a huge lie without thinking anything about it. I just kept asking why but I never got a satisfying answer. To me, the "I don't know why I did it but I would take it back" just wasn't enough.
When reading books, I get really into it when I can kind of relate to the character or feel things for the character. I don't have to agree with her, but I like to sympathize so I can really grasp a character but that wasn't the case with Audrey at all. I didn't feel bad for her. I mean, I just kept thinking, who lies about that? I don't care how old or reckless or ignorant you are. But maybe this was intentional.
Also, I found myself dragging the read because I was bored throughout the whole part where Audrey went to find herself. It just didn't feel necessary to be added into the plot. Even when reading about it, I expected it to do something about her growth but instead, she only got into another relationship, that I once again couldn't get into.
To conclude,
... I would recommend this to people who enjoy films that are for entertainment. It's not "beautiful and lyrical throughout" even though it was written by a poet. Not saying that it has to be if a poet writes a novel, but it's something many people would probably expect.
I would not recommend it, however, to anyone who doesn't normally read YA. I felt like the book was begging to be made into a movie as it read more like a movie script opposed to a good Young Adult book.
The book gripped me from the very start and made it an exciting read that I quickly finished.
I liked Lang's style of writing, as expected, and perspective. I liked the imagery. Lang's writing phrased some beautiful quotes once again that I had to point out in the book itself.
Now, anxiety is conveyed rather effectively in the description, which I appreciate. I appreciated how panic attacks were described and I think it's great for people who have only heard of it and never really knew what it was to understand.
I loved the romance. I loved Lucy and Freddy and I loved how Audrey and Rad felt for each other. I loved that the complexity of love and conflicts with oneself are portrayed, showing that just because something has the potential to work out, it doesn't have to work out, and sometimes the most beautiful things just can't happen. And that is life.
What I didn't like
As it is heavy on the dialogue, it is light on everything else, making the characters a bit shallow and never really deeply carved, in my opinion. It is more telling, than showing. And I thought that was a pity. Because of that, I thought the characters were rather one-dimensional I didn't feel like any character showed any development in the book.
I think the plot was lacking, mostly because I was expecting to find out what Audrey's real motive was to spread such a lie. Now I've spread stupid lies before, but no matter how stupid I was, I always had some kind of motive, even if the motive was rather dumb. You just don't go and spread such a huge lie without thinking anything about it. I just kept asking why but I never got a satisfying answer. To me, the "I don't know why I did it but I would take it back" just wasn't enough.
When reading books, I get really into it when I can kind of relate to the character or feel things for the character. I don't have to agree with her, but I like to sympathize so I can really grasp a character but that wasn't the case with Audrey at all. I didn't feel bad for her. I mean, I just kept thinking, who lies about that? I don't care how old or reckless or ignorant you are. But maybe this was intentional.
Also, I found myself dragging the read because I was bored throughout the whole part where Audrey went to find herself. It just didn't feel necessary to be added into the plot. Even when reading about it, I expected it to do something about her growth but instead, she only got into another relationship, that I once again couldn't get into.
To conclude,
... I would recommend this to people who enjoy films that are for entertainment. It's not "beautiful and lyrical throughout" even though it was written by a poet. Not saying that it has to be if a poet writes a novel, but it's something many people would probably expect.
I would not recommend it, however, to anyone who doesn't normally read YA. I felt like the book was begging to be made into a movie as it read more like a movie script opposed to a good Young Adult book.
I really liked but i think that the end was not that good,it could have been better.Apart from that i enjoyed reading it and I have to admit that i’m in love with Rad
Nope, I won't finish this one, even though I only have about 50 pages left. That's something I rarely do, but reading this book annoys me so much.
The characters are flat. None of them has a real personality, I don't care or feel for them and none of them is even remotely likeable (what the hell is wrong with Audrey's mom?! She's the worst!)
The storyline is boring and unrealistic, or is it normal that people in Australia get housesitting offers for fancy houses and paid internships all the time without even asking?
The thing that really made me hate this book that it is about mental illness and the author deadass used "OCD" as an adjective, instead of just saying "serious" or whatever.
OCD is not bEiNg a TiDy AnD aN oRgAnIzEd PeRsOn. It's a horrible disorder, not a cute buzzword, ffs.
I gave this book my patience and time but I got nothing but disappointment in return.
The characters are flat. None of them has a real personality, I don't care or feel for them and none of them is even remotely likeable (what the hell is wrong with Audrey's mom?! She's the worst!)
The storyline is boring and unrealistic, or is it normal that people in Australia get housesitting offers for fancy houses and paid internships all the time without even asking?
The thing that really made me hate this book that it is about mental illness and the author deadass used "OCD" as an adjective, instead of just saying "serious" or whatever.
OCD is not bEiNg a TiDy AnD aN oRgAnIzEd PeRsOn. It's a horrible disorder, not a cute buzzword, ffs.
I gave this book my patience and time but I got nothing but disappointment in return.
I had been looking forward to reading this book, and my expectations were pretty much met. The character development of Rad and Audrey was phenomenal, with an in-depth into their feelings and clear outline of their relationship with other characters. However, it seemed like at times, the other characters were forgotten. Candela for example. What was her relationship with Ana, since she was in that picture. It is never explained how deep their connection went, and Candela later went from a drug addict to being sick, back to a drug addict and then the perfect child without missing a beat on why her life would be so unbalanced.
One other negative that I found very disappointing was the ending. The first part sucked me in, but the second part, the ending, was rushed. It went from 1-100 back to 1 in just 3 pages. More development, more thoughts, would've really improved the ending because lets be honest, I loved the book, but the ending spoiled it for me.
One other negative that I found very disappointing was the ending. The first part sucked me in, but the second part, the ending, was rushed. It went from 1-100 back to 1 in just 3 pages. More development, more thoughts, would've really improved the ending because lets be honest, I loved the book, but the ending spoiled it for me.
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I read this book in middle school, and it was the first sad book I've read. I don't know why it affected me so much. Maybe I related to the main character. The only reason I'm not giving it a 5 is bc I didn't like the ending. It felt as if she took a step back after growing.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Grief
3.5 stars.
The entire mood of the book is somehow somber, maybe considering the title and the theme of the book. Actually, I generally enjoy reading this book, the pacing is okay for me, and it talks about things that are easy to relate like the idea of being an author. I may not like the overly romanticising some part, and I don't relate to the characters, but it's still bearable and I understand why they behave in that way.
The entire mood of the book is somehow somber, maybe considering the title and the theme of the book. Actually, I generally enjoy reading this book, the pacing is okay for me, and it talks about things that are easy to relate like the idea of being an author. I may not like the overly romanticising some part, and I don't relate to the characters, but it's still bearable and I understand why they behave in that way.