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4.0 AVERAGE
4.0 AVERAGE
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
ann zhao, you are a legend. thank you for this book!!! it took me awhile to finish after getting distracted for months with working, but i’ve been questioning my potential aroace identity and this book helped me feel so seen <3
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
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:
No
I feel like there’s a solid 4+ star book in here somewhere, but it needs revision.
Tiny issues with characters or plot aside… I must say that I now know more about the characters’ / author’s alma mater than I ever did my own. Remember how people always said that NYC was the fifth character on Sex and the City? Well, in this book Wellesley College is the star. [insert screaming gif from A24’s Pearl] A search for the name of the school within the text yielded 244 results.
I’m happy that YA books like this exist and I truly hope it finds the right audience and speaks to their experience in a fun, meaningful way. It just didn’t live up to my expectations post blurb and cover reveal.
Tiny issues with characters or plot aside… I must say that I now know more about the characters’ / author’s alma mater than I ever did my own. Remember how people always said that NYC was the fifth character on Sex and the City? Well, in this book Wellesley College is the star. [insert screaming gif from A24’s Pearl] A search for the name of the school within the text yielded 244 results.
I’m happy that YA books like this exist and I truly hope it finds the right audience and speaks to their experience in a fun, meaningful way. It just didn’t live up to my expectations post blurb and cover reveal.
funny
hopeful
informative
lighthearted
reflective
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
this glorified wellesley fanfic was mildly entertaining (as someone who also went to a massachusetts historically women's college, but a generation ago, while we were still having the same conversations about gender and sexuality but a little before they were called "historically" women's colleges) but not anything mind-blowing. i was honestly ready to give up about a third of the way through because sophie and jo's juvenile (literally; felt like i was witnessing junior high schoolers, not college first-years) online feud was so exhausting to read, and it felt like it went on forever. i also listened a little bit to the audiobook and i think that didn't help my impression of sophie being mad annoying/holier-than-thou. eventually her friends tell her to get over herself and she somewhat improves, though, so thank you side characters, even if your personalities all kind of melded into one amorphous sounding board.
as for the aroace stuff: it was sometimes hard to tell what was like, a character's fear of abandonment or personal insecurity or past hangup versus part of a particular identity-related struggle, if that makes sense. not that they have to be particularly distinct from one another, but i also don't know if i was left with a particularly strong impression of aromanticism, or even why/how our protagonists liked each other intensely enough for things to fall somewhere beyond friendship. they were completely unnecessarily petty and obsessively mean online, but upon the inevitable reveal, the focus just narrowed down to "you didn't tell me your secret identity and that's why i'm mad"? huh??
ps. it doesn't exactly spoil anything, but ann zhao really went ahead and casually described the final scene in alice wu's last movie just like that, lol.
pps. i've been removed from it for quite a while now but reading this book just reminded me (not in a good way) how insular small liberal arts college subculture (and hyperlocalized queer communities) can be. i worked in a higher ed setting for a while after uni. it's just the same old stuff!
as for the aroace stuff: it was sometimes hard to tell what was like, a character's fear of abandonment or personal insecurity or past hangup versus part of a particular identity-related struggle, if that makes sense. not that they have to be particularly distinct from one another, but i also don't know if i was left with a particularly strong impression of aromanticism, or even why/how our protagonists liked each other intensely enough for things to fall somewhere beyond friendship. they were completely unnecessarily petty and obsessively mean online, but upon the inevitable reveal, the focus just narrowed down to "you didn't tell me your secret identity and that's why i'm mad"? huh??
ps. it doesn't exactly spoil anything, but ann zhao really went ahead and casually described the final scene in alice wu's last movie just like that, lol.
pps. i've been removed from it for quite a while now but reading this book just reminded me (not in a good way) how insular small liberal arts college subculture (and hyperlocalized queer communities) can be. i worked in a higher ed setting for a while after uni. it's just the same old stuff!
lighthearted
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
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
funny
informative
lighthearted
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