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3.62 AVERAGE
3.62 AVERAGE
challenging
emotional
hopeful
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Thank you to the publisher, Scholastic for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I really liked You Should See Me in a Crown and I was super excited to receive a copy of Leah’s newest book from the publisher! In this book we follow Olivia and Toni, two best friends who are heading to a music festival. They have an agreement to have a crush free, drama free weekend at Farmland music festival, but things are never that easy, are they?
I really enjoyed this and I feel like it captured the essence of a music festival so well. Olivia’s love for music really shone through and gave me the vibes I was looking for. I love how many subplots we had throughout that were also intertwined in the music festival idea itself, and it made for a very fast paced read!
Somewhere in the light-years of space between the spiritual and the scientific,
I read this book in less than a day, starting it one evening and finishing it late the next morning. Although this book isn’t particularly short, I found it so easy to read and didn’t want to put it down. I just wanted to know which way the plot was going to go and I had no idea exactly what the end of this book looked like. The chapters being from both characters also made this a really quick and easy read – although I don’t remember much of Toni’s story, I’ll admit!
I did like the characters but Olivia’s character did knock half a star off my rating because I just found her very annoying. Although I did appreciate how real her actions and mistakes were, I just found the way she acted throughout highly impulsive, immature and grated on me. I overlooked this for the most part and did manage to largely ignore it, but it did ever so slightly impact my thoughts and feelings.
between the known and the ineffable, there’s live music.
I loved how this book discussed friendship, grief, relationships and being true to yourself. I also loved the importance of music that shone through and I felt like the friendship group had a found family feeling, which I enjoyed a lot.
★★★★★
4.5 out of 5 stars
-Beth
May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽
I really liked You Should See Me in a Crown and I was super excited to receive a copy of Leah’s newest book from the publisher! In this book we follow Olivia and Toni, two best friends who are heading to a music festival. They have an agreement to have a crush free, drama free weekend at Farmland music festival, but things are never that easy, are they?
I really enjoyed this and I feel like it captured the essence of a music festival so well. Olivia’s love for music really shone through and gave me the vibes I was looking for. I love how many subplots we had throughout that were also intertwined in the music festival idea itself, and it made for a very fast paced read!
Somewhere in the light-years of space between the spiritual and the scientific,
I read this book in less than a day, starting it one evening and finishing it late the next morning. Although this book isn’t particularly short, I found it so easy to read and didn’t want to put it down. I just wanted to know which way the plot was going to go and I had no idea exactly what the end of this book looked like. The chapters being from both characters also made this a really quick and easy read – although I don’t remember much of Toni’s story, I’ll admit!
I did like the characters but Olivia’s character did knock half a star off my rating because I just found her very annoying. Although I did appreciate how real her actions and mistakes were, I just found the way she acted throughout highly impulsive, immature and grated on me. I overlooked this for the most part and did manage to largely ignore it, but it did ever so slightly impact my thoughts and feelings.
between the known and the ineffable, there’s live music.
I loved how this book discussed friendship, grief, relationships and being true to yourself. I also loved the importance of music that shone through and I felt like the friendship group had a found family feeling, which I enjoyed a lot.
★★★★★
4.5 out of 5 stars
-Beth
May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽
First off this is an excellent audiobook, I could not stop listening and finished it in less than a day. Leah's writing is so lyrical and it flows so well. I do wish the romance didn't become so deep so fast, I really think it could have gradually developed and not have been as serious by the end and the heart and all the feelings you had for the characters would have still been just as deep. Loved the music festival setting.
After having loved You Should See Me in a Crown, I was super excited for this one. This was such a fun setting, and I liked them teaming up to search for the apple. As much as I love a love story though, I felt really bad for Amani after all she put up with. Olivia put a lot of feelings of her to fix, and then she was asked for one friends’ weekend where she didn’t fall in love and she goes and does it anyway. Obviously she can’t control that, but she could’ve made more of an effort to stick with Amani instead of trying to feel better about herself by claiming she was helping her friend to find love too.
This was a delightful read. Leah Johnson is an automatic buy for me. As cute as this story was, I think I like “You Should See Me in a Crown” better. It was a little repetitive at times but all the characters were just so lovable and endearing. I wish we got to see more of Olivia dealing with the fallout from what happened to her. Even her family’s reactions to it were interesting. She could definitely benefit from some therapy. I also love how she wears her heart on her sleeve but finally realizes she doesn’t need the attention or affection of others to feel validated.
I’d love to see Leah Johnson’s books adapted to screen.
I’d love to see Leah Johnson’s books adapted to screen.
Ok I probably would’ve given this two stars except for the fact that I really did love the setting and the atmosphere. I didn’t like the fact that at the beginning Olivia’s friend was like “promise no hookups or crushes this weekend!!” And that’s literally what the whole book was about.
Also the fact that her friend declared her love and then we just ignored that??? Idk to me Olivia was just pretty unlikeable and if she was my friend I’d be in Imani’s shoes and be super pissed
Also the fact that her friend declared her love and then we just ignored that??? Idk to me Olivia was just pretty unlikeable and if she was my friend I’d be in Imani’s shoes and be super pissed
I really loved Leah Johnson's novel "You Should See Me In A Crown" last year, but I've got a bit more mixed feelings about this one. I still enjoyed it though!
First of all, I was very happy about the content warnings that were given before the first chapter. Just like it should be done in every book!
We've got two different perspectives: Toni and Olivia who meet at a music festival. They're messy characters, they have to deal with their own individual struggles while getting to know each other: grief and heartbreak and their futures after graduating high school are part of those.
I liked that the chapters were short, it was fast paced just like how I would expect and want a short contemporary read to be!
There's bisexual representation and a few discussions about the biphobia and stereotypes bi people have to face, that was amazing.
I didn't particularly fancy the insta love part of this book though. I'm always a bit hesitant about rushed romances like that. Sometimes it's just a bit too much if characters have such DEEP feelings for each other after two days of knowing each other..
Even though there's a content warning for gun violence, I wasn't prepared for how big of a role it was going to play. That is MY fault. For me it was really difficult to read because I am very scared of shootings during concerts/festivals and this definitely hit the spot for me, so I just wanted to share that with you, in case that's a trigger for you as well.
I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to read a sapphic contemporary romance story that doesn't shy away from heavy topics, but still highlights the joy of music, romance and friendship!
content warnings: parental loss, panic attacks, gun violence, shooting, nonconsensual image sharing, asthma attacks, bullying
First of all, I was very happy about the content warnings that were given before the first chapter. Just like it should be done in every book!
We've got two different perspectives: Toni and Olivia who meet at a music festival. They're messy characters, they have to deal with their own individual struggles while getting to know each other: grief and heartbreak and their futures after graduating high school are part of those.
I liked that the chapters were short, it was fast paced just like how I would expect and want a short contemporary read to be!
There's bisexual representation and a few discussions about the biphobia and stereotypes bi people have to face, that was amazing.
I didn't particularly fancy the insta love part of this book though. I'm always a bit hesitant about rushed romances like that. Sometimes it's just a bit too much if characters have such DEEP feelings for each other after two days of knowing each other..
Even though there's a content warning for gun violence, I wasn't prepared for how big of a role it was going to play. That is MY fault. For me it was really difficult to read because I am very scared of shootings during concerts/festivals and this definitely hit the spot for me, so I just wanted to share that with you, in case that's a trigger for you as well.
I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to read a sapphic contemporary romance story that doesn't shy away from heavy topics, but still highlights the joy of music, romance and friendship!
content warnings: parental loss, panic attacks, gun violence, shooting, nonconsensual image sharing, asthma attacks, bullying
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
fast-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