Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.09 AVERAGE
3.09 AVERAGE
I enjoyed this book. I liked the idea behind it and how there are goods and bads for important people and they get to make the choice of who they end up with. There were a few plot holes and little things that I guessed pretty early on, but I was not mad it. The characters were good and I liked the relationships.
Overall I’d say it gets a 3.75
Overall I’d say it gets a 3.75
Audiobook.
Listen. I'm down for a strange, vague dystopian universe that has things happen that never really explains its self. It's fun. Was I happy reading this? Usually. It served its purpose. It's a decent book. But it could have been an excellent book.
The following:
1. It really could have used an alternating POV. Because then maybe the anguish and the pining would have actually felt urgent. Instead I just ended up annoyed at the whining. We get it. You lose, you die.
2. A few random nit-picky things kept annoying me. I fully own these being my issues. But like...Dill?? Really? And also, no restaurant in the universe would have vanilla candles. I made a whole list, but I won't go on.
3. If we're going to do semi-illicit gay romance, we need to like... Address it. Or. Something. I love a gay romcom as much as the next queer, but let's just be more comfortable with the subject if we're gonna write it.
All in all, solid concept. Would not read again.
Listen. I'm down for a strange, vague dystopian universe that has things happen that never really explains its self. It's fun. Was I happy reading this? Usually. It served its purpose. It's a decent book. But it could have been an excellent book.
The following:
1. It really could have used an alternating POV. Because then maybe the anguish and the pining would have actually felt urgent. Instead I just ended up annoyed at the whining. We get it. You lose, you die.
2. A few random nit-picky things kept annoying me. I fully own these being my issues. But like...Dill?? Really? And also, no restaurant in the universe would have vanilla candles. I made a whole list, but I won't go on.
3. If we're going to do semi-illicit gay romance, we need to like... Address it. Or. Something. I love a gay romcom as much as the next queer, but let's just be more comfortable with the subject if we're gonna write it.
All in all, solid concept. Would not read again.
DNF. Honestly the premise was just too over the top for me to get into: teenage spies who inserts themselves as partners into the lives of other teens who are predicted to be influential someday along with some tech that is even more overpowered than what you see in a James Bond movie. I personally couldn't suspend my disbelief, but I can see other people enjoying this.
Disclaimer: received an ARC from Macmillan
Disclaimer: received an ARC from Macmillan
I was disappointed. What a cool storyline, that was not explored to the fullest. It could have been so good, with a super dramatic ending or a second book, but it just felt rushed. I was lacking resolution, there was no tidying up. I wanted to know what happened to the so-called genius of Juliet, and all the kids who were freed from slavery. How the hell did Dylan get an internship in a hospital as an 18-year old??? and classes? Did Caden graduate from high school? It is pretty unrealistic that they should have a peaceful life after what they achieved. What was the deal with their relationship??? He is suddenly straight and then he isn't? "do it for us" was vague as hell, by that point I wasn't even rooting for them to be together anymore. Caden deserved better even though he pretty much didn't develop, other than finding out he was actually "Nice." But despite all this I did enjoy it. It was easy and fun and the ending was kinda like a bad sci-fi movie with guns.
I think I liked the idea of this book more than the book itself, but it was still enjoyable. :)
Honestly I wanted to love this book. From the minute I read the description I knew it was the perfect prompt for me as I also knew the premise wasn't going to be played straight. (lol)
The first half was extremely promising. The idea of love interests, while not complex, was intriguing and a good setup for the whole bad boy/good boy dynamic. (which im especially privy to anyway....) I really liked Caden as he was first introduced, a sort of not-so-nice nice boy and Dylan was extremely cute (bad boy who's actually not bad is my weakness)
Most of the book was plain fun like the subversion and parody of YA tropes. It was so meta that I had to laugh! I loved the slow burn between the two boys when they first met and tbh I really thought I was gonna completely love this book.
Unfortunately there are some things that hold it back.
The writing is pretty amateurish (even though it had a significant amount of modern flair) and I just didn't feel like the characters were developed as much as they could have been. Some of the interactions fell flat at times and the internal and external dialogue could get a bit unbelievable. The second half of the book reached high levels of unreality and the romance kind of petered off and went everywhere at the same time.
I really want to give the author the benefit of the doubt though, because this is his debut novel and he started with a topic I find innovative and fun! I hope as he improves he continues with topics like this. There needs to be more fun LGBT+ books that aren't completely about romance and "the gay struggle".
BIG EDIT: lmk y tf i thought the author of this was a woman.....smh sorry for that fuck up
The first half was extremely promising. The idea of love interests, while not complex, was intriguing and a good setup for the whole bad boy/good boy dynamic. (which im especially privy to anyway....) I really liked Caden as he was first introduced, a sort of not-so-nice nice boy and Dylan was extremely cute (bad boy who's actually not bad is my weakness)
Most of the book was plain fun like the subversion and parody of YA tropes. It was so meta that I had to laugh! I loved the slow burn between the two boys when they first met and tbh I really thought I was gonna completely love this book.
Unfortunately there are some things that hold it back.
The writing is pretty amateurish (even though it had a significant amount of modern flair) and I just didn't feel like the characters were developed as much as they could have been. Some of the interactions fell flat at times and the internal and external dialogue could get a bit unbelievable. The second half of the book reached high levels of unreality and the romance kind of petered off and went everywhere at the same time.
Spoiler
what the heck was with Dylan's random NO HOMO moment?? it wasn't explored enough to be legit internalized homophobia and just felt out of place/shock valueI really want to give the author the benefit of the doubt though, because this is his debut novel and he started with a topic I find innovative and fun! I hope as he improves he continues with topics like this. There needs to be more fun LGBT+ books that aren't completely about romance and "the gay struggle".
BIG EDIT: lmk y tf i thought the author of this was a woman.....smh sorry for that fuck up
reading the lowest rated books on my goodreads tbr:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFwFv8Emm8U&t=60s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFwFv8Emm8U&t=60s
I'm not even sure how to review this book, so I'll just list some reasons I liked it:
1. The concept of the book itself is what drew me to it, and made me stay
2.Juliet and Natalie are total female badasses
3.I was super glad that we could see how different Caden was from being a 'Nice', and Dyl was from being a 'Bad'
4. That after seeing some other reviews, that this book is basically a satire making fun of the tropes of 'nice guy' and 'bad boy' and how they are not very realistic.
I think the only person I found super annoying was Kaylee. She was just 'ugh'. At least Craike was a villain and owned his shittiness as a person. Kaylee was 'just doing her job', and was just a horrible person in general.
1. The concept of the book itself is what drew me to it, and made me stay
2.Juliet and Natalie are total female badasses
3.I was super glad that we could see how different Caden was from being a 'Nice', and Dyl was from being a 'Bad'
4. That after seeing some other reviews, that this book is basically a satire making fun of the tropes of 'nice guy' and 'bad boy' and how they are not very realistic.
I think the only person I found super annoying was Kaylee. She was just 'ugh'. At least Craike was a villain and owned his shittiness as a person. Kaylee was 'just doing her job', and was just a horrible person in general.
The Love Interest by Cale Dietrich
I wanted to like this book so bad, I mean, it sounded amazing and cute and interesting and corny and all that good stuff, but it was so bad, so damn bad, the plot holes are huge, the character development is not existing, the love relationship it's a joke, and that ending? I'm surprised this book got published in the first place.
I wanted to like this book so bad, I mean, it sounded amazing and cute and interesting and corny and all that good stuff, but it was so bad, so damn bad, the plot holes are huge, the character development is not existing, the love relationship it's a joke, and that ending? I'm surprised this book got published in the first place.