Take a photo of a barcode or cover
176 reviews for:
Real Live Boyfriends: Yes. Boyfriends, Plural. If My Life Weren't Complicated, I Wouldn't Be Ruby Oliver
E. Lockhart
3.92 AVERAGE
176 reviews for:
Real Live Boyfriends: Yes. Boyfriends, Plural. If My Life Weren't Complicated, I Wouldn't Be Ruby Oliver
E. Lockhart
3.92 AVERAGE
Honestly, this is my favorite book in the series. I love Noel a lot, as previous reviews have made clear, and having him be a main character and Ruby's "real live boyfriend" is obviously something that makes me interested. However, I love the fact that they're not even dating for most of the book.
Gideon is a a great example of a guy who looks perfect but actually isn't right for you. Sure, it's as Ruby puts it. Usually the other guy ends up being exposed as being an asshole and that makes the heroine's choice a lot easier, but that wasn't the case here. Gideon wasn't an asshole. He was relatively decent. There were maybe some minor flaws, but overall he was decent.
But Noel's story. God. Poor guy. And the fact that he refuses to tell Ruby, refuses to talk about it, refuses to work on his problems and grief...it's so realistic to a teenage boy.
My biggest problem with the book is that Meghan went back to being obsessed with a boy instead of wanting to be a great friend and the fact that I really just can't get over how shady and snake-y Nora really seems half the time. I'm glad they ended up on good terms, but only because Crickette and Kim turned on her too. I don't think she would have chosen Roo otherwise.
Sad.
This is way too long of a review for a YA book from a year ago, that I finished a week ago, but! I'm very much like Roo, when I start talking, it's hard for me to stop.
Gideon is a a great example of a guy who looks perfect but actually isn't right for you. Sure, it's as Ruby puts it. Usually the other guy ends up being exposed as being an asshole and that makes the heroine's choice a lot easier, but that wasn't the case here. Gideon wasn't an asshole. He was relatively decent. There were maybe some minor flaws, but overall he was decent.
But Noel's story. God. Poor guy. And the fact that he refuses to tell Ruby, refuses to talk about it, refuses to work on his problems and grief...it's so realistic to a teenage boy.
My biggest problem with the book is that Meghan went back to being obsessed with a boy instead of wanting to be a great friend and the fact that I really just can't get over how shady and snake-y Nora really seems half the time. I'm glad they ended up on good terms, but only because Crickette and Kim turned on her too. I don't think she would have chosen Roo otherwise.
Sad.
This is way too long of a review for a YA book from a year ago, that I finished a week ago, but! I'm very much like Roo, when I start talking, it's hard for me to stop.
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
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
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
yay i finally finished the series!! i only read the first two years ago and then didn't get through the rest, idk why because i enjoy them immensely, maybe just bc i didn't read so much at the time
things kinda left unresolved: the upside down picture on dr z's desk? what exactly happened with nora vs kim and cricket? it sounded like she was hanging out with ruby and everyone regularly but did nora call them out? did she just stop talking to them?
also things i've wondered while reading the series: is cricket really named cricket because i assumed it was a nickname and then a teacher used the name which hey teachers will generally respect those kinds of preferences but.....really, IS it her name? also i kinda thought hutch likes ruby am i misinterpreting that? i feel like there had to be someone, when she was filming for her documentary, he had some amount of bitterness re: love, so i just wonder what it was about. and cricket??? like okay, kim and ruby were almost on okay terms, and then she went back to being mean to ruby, but cricket seemed especially hostile, even for it being about like friendship loyalty to kim, she didn't have to be like that the ENTIRE series, i just don't get why she was so hateful to ruby, if she'd felt that way even before the jackson/kim debacle
honestly, ruby and noel COULD be sweet, but idk, i was never that invested in them, i just think of all the boys on the list from the first book, there could've been a better option. not necessarily gideon, i mean the way that was written she was v bored with him - and hey, wasn't there a bit in the boy book about telling guys what you want when you're kissing like she COULD have guided him along to make it more enjoyable but whatever - and a few of the guys like jackson were clearly not good options or some weren't options at all but STILL, it was a good list, i think noel was somewhat understanding of ruby, but still she could've found someone better, idk. it was just so frustrating to see, i'm glad she didn't feel fully to blame for how things went between them, because he WOULDN'T talk to her, how was she supposed to know his behavior had to do with anything but her, like of course she assumed he didn't like her anymore. obviously it was a big surprise to find out what horrible thing he witnessed - and i knew when claude was brought in, it had to be connected - but yeah, it was like, noel, you know ruby, you know how she obsesses, you can't just insist everything's fine while it's clearly not and think that'll be enough for her.
my beefs: when she's going out with gideon, there's a couple references to her being younger like it's creepy WHICH for all that we see gross things on tv and in other books with adults pursuing children (i.e. pretty little liars, both adaptations), wasn't gideon only two years older than ruby? i thought she was 17 and he was 19, which sure, anything more than that would probably get into icky territory when one person is 17, but like that one guy called it cradle robbing and then was like "dude, we'd all do it if we could." gross. okay, i liked nora SO much more in this book than previously, especially once she apologized for her behavior to ruby - listen, i get being upset your friend goes after the guy you like, you can be upset about that, but you can't call it STEALING - and i really felt for her with the kim/cricket thing, so i wish that had been more resolved. what they did was just so awful, i mean not that i've never been that person with friends as a teen and talking shit behind their back and not really wanting them around - and i get that it's hard to end friendships when you see each other every day at school, but still, the things they said were needlessly mean (the uniboob? good god). and i just......can't stand ruby's mom. i know all the characters have somewhat exaggerated behavior, but like, okay, ruby shouldn't have said those things in public, but she was right about how her mom just ignores what ruby says and doesn't respect her (i can understand if she thought "okay, you're a vegetarian, you can fend for yourself because i'm gonna cook what i want" but to be like "how dare you not eat the meat i'm cooking" is so???) or the dad that much. and she just goes on her trip and comes back all nice, like i get that she was going through stuff herself - but oh my god, she was so uncaring about her husband's grief, he just lost his mother!! yeah, she was just especially unbearable in this book
ANYWAY i ultimately loved this series, i love a fun quick read and after reading we were liars semi-recently (okay probably over a year ago?) it's like, wow. e lockhart really did both of those things it's impressive (i know a lot of authors and content creators do all sorts of genres, but still, they feel like they're written by two different people). honestly i would not have minded at all if she'd done a few more of these books, i love the format, i love the chapter titles, i don't think it would've dragged on if she'd written a little more the way some series do, but i suppose i'm happy where it is!
things kinda left unresolved: the upside down picture on dr z's desk? what exactly happened with nora vs kim and cricket? it sounded like she was hanging out with ruby and everyone regularly but did nora call them out? did she just stop talking to them?
also things i've wondered while reading the series: is cricket really named cricket because i assumed it was a nickname and then a teacher used the name which hey teachers will generally respect those kinds of preferences but.....really, IS it her name? also i kinda thought hutch likes ruby am i misinterpreting that? i feel like there had to be someone, when she was filming for her documentary, he had some amount of bitterness re: love, so i just wonder what it was about. and cricket??? like okay, kim and ruby were almost on okay terms, and then she went back to being mean to ruby, but cricket seemed especially hostile, even for it being about like friendship loyalty to kim, she didn't have to be like that the ENTIRE series, i just don't get why she was so hateful to ruby, if she'd felt that way even before the jackson/kim debacle
honestly, ruby and noel COULD be sweet, but idk, i was never that invested in them, i just think of all the boys on the list from the first book, there could've been a better option. not necessarily gideon, i mean the way that was written she was v bored with him - and hey, wasn't there a bit in the boy book about telling guys what you want when you're kissing like she COULD have guided him along to make it more enjoyable but whatever - and a few of the guys like jackson were clearly not good options or some weren't options at all but STILL, it was a good list, i think noel was somewhat understanding of ruby, but still she could've found someone better, idk. it was just so frustrating to see, i'm glad she didn't feel fully to blame for how things went between them, because he WOULDN'T talk to her, how was she supposed to know his behavior had to do with anything but her, like of course she assumed he didn't like her anymore. obviously it was a big surprise to find out what horrible thing he witnessed - and i knew when claude was brought in, it had to be connected - but yeah, it was like, noel, you know ruby, you know how she obsesses, you can't just insist everything's fine while it's clearly not and think that'll be enough for her.
my beefs: when she's going out with gideon, there's a couple references to her being younger like it's creepy WHICH for all that we see gross things on tv and in other books with adults pursuing children (i.e. pretty little liars, both adaptations), wasn't gideon only two years older than ruby? i thought she was 17 and he was 19, which sure, anything more than that would probably get into icky territory when one person is 17, but like that one guy called it cradle robbing and then was like "dude, we'd all do it if we could." gross. okay, i liked nora SO much more in this book than previously, especially once she apologized for her behavior to ruby - listen, i get being upset your friend goes after the guy you like, you can be upset about that, but you can't call it STEALING - and i really felt for her with the kim/cricket thing, so i wish that had been more resolved. what they did was just so awful, i mean not that i've never been that person with friends as a teen and talking shit behind their back and not really wanting them around - and i get that it's hard to end friendships when you see each other every day at school, but still, the things they said were needlessly mean (the uniboob? good god). and i just......can't stand ruby's mom. i know all the characters have somewhat exaggerated behavior, but like, okay, ruby shouldn't have said those things in public, but she was right about how her mom just ignores what ruby says and doesn't respect her (i can understand if she thought "okay, you're a vegetarian, you can fend for yourself because i'm gonna cook what i want" but to be like "how dare you not eat the meat i'm cooking" is so???) or the dad that much. and she just goes on her trip and comes back all nice, like i get that she was going through stuff herself - but oh my god, she was so uncaring about her husband's grief, he just lost his mother!! yeah, she was just especially unbearable in this book
ANYWAY i ultimately loved this series, i love a fun quick read and after reading we were liars semi-recently (okay probably over a year ago?) it's like, wow. e lockhart really did both of those things it's impressive (i know a lot of authors and content creators do all sorts of genres, but still, they feel like they're written by two different people). honestly i would not have minded at all if she'd done a few more of these books, i love the format, i love the chapter titles, i don't think it would've dragged on if she'd written a little more the way some series do, but i suppose i'm happy where it is!
so disappointing, especially if this is the end of the road for Ruby Oliver. All three previous books were much stronger.
To me, E. Lockhart’s books are the best of Teen Chick Lit– they are realistic without taking themselves too seriously, they are funny without sacrificing wit and without blithely avoiding the difficult problems that come with learning who you are, who you love, and what’s important to you, as some chick lit does. Over the course of these four novels, Ruby suffers a major falling out with friends, goes to therapy because she starts having panic attacks, gets a job at the zoo, sees lots of films, consumes too much chocolate cake and too many spearmint jelly candies, fights with her truly nutty parents, falls into and out of love, and figures out who her real friends are. She’s smart, she’s funny, and she’s confused, just like any other teen.
I love that these novels (and the rest of Lockhart’s work) tell a good story, but also explore broader themes, like self-empowerment, self-discovery, and social power. They can be read on many levels– for the nutty hijinks and snappy dialogue, and for a nuanced look at complicated people who run up against social confines and have to figure out what to do next.
I love that these novels (and the rest of Lockhart’s work) tell a good story, but also explore broader themes, like self-empowerment, self-discovery, and social power. They can be read on many levels– for the nutty hijinks and snappy dialogue, and for a nuanced look at complicated people who run up against social confines and have to figure out what to do next.
I am sorry this is over. I wish Ruby was my friend. I wish I had these books in high school and college. It was nice feeling like I wasn't alone as I read them.
It was a frigging good series! I like how author depicted the school romances and friendships. It all felt real. Although I didn't have as much boy problems as Ruby, I could still easily relate to some parts.
Definitely would re-read and recommend this books.
Definitely would re-read and recommend this books.