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samchase112's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
I've done it. I've read all of Alice Oseman's published works. I put this one off until last because I didn't recognize as much of myself in it — when compared to her others — and that remains true. (Well, I don't see much of myself in Heartstopper, either, but I also can't resist a romance that adorable.) Reading this I Was Born for This made me really sad, but by the end, really hopeful, as well. It was a downer of a book, but in a raw, emotional, well-written way. All these characters need a big hug and a whole lot of therapy, and I hope they get it. As soon as possible.
It's quite impressive how real Alice Oseman made these characters, this band, their world, in just a couple hundred pages. That's really the magic of her writing, beyond even the wonderful way she writes teenagers: her ability to make everything feel so completely real. That's why we all love her characters so much, and why I keep coming back to her work, again and again. Another win, one that makes me want to go back and reread the rest of her novels (yes, novels) as soon as I get the chance. In the spirit of Angel's imagined words to her boys, I hope Alice Oseman keeps making books forever and ever. I know I'll keep reading them as long as she does!
It's quite impressive how real Alice Oseman made these characters, this band, their world, in just a couple hundred pages. That's really the magic of her writing, beyond even the wonderful way she writes teenagers: her ability to make everything feel so completely real. That's why we all love her characters so much, and why I keep coming back to her work, again and again. Another win, one that makes me want to go back and reread the rest of her novels (yes, novels) as soon as I get the chance. In the spirit of Angel's imagined words to her boys, I hope Alice Oseman keeps making books forever and ever. I know I'll keep reading them as long as she does!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Panic attacks/disorders, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Sexual harassment, and Alcoholism
Minor: Transphobia, Racism, and Homophobia
emmitt's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Sexual harassment, and Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Ableism, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Medical content, Alcoholism, and Stalking
Minor: Pedophilia, Classism, Grief, Drug use, Death, Adult/minor relationship, Transphobia, and Islamophobia
acesiever's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Pedophilia
therewillbenewsuns's review against another edition
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Mental illness, and Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail and Sexual harassment
Minor: Toxic friendship
dalek_caan's review against another edition
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I found this book to be enjoyable and a pretty quick read. I found Angel to be a really annoying pov character at first but she grew on me as the story went on. I definitely felt like there was a lot of nuance with the characters overall, which I definitely appreciated. It was also kind of interesting to follow two sides to the same story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Panic attacks/disorders, Stalking, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Biphobia, Homophobia, Outing, Transphobia, Body shaming, Eating disorder, Racism, Sexual harassment, Emotional abuse, and Sexual assault
kits_den's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Alcoholism, Self harm, Violence, Alcohol, Panic attacks/disorders, and Addiction
Minor: Islamophobia, Racism, Toxic relationship, and Sexual harassment
icarusandthesun's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
oh lord oh mighty, i was absolutely not born for this.
i guess i kind of understand why everyone seems to like alice oseman so much. her books have this easy writing style, these pop-culture references and conventionally relatable characters, especially when you're the target audience, which, for this book, means boy band obsessed fangirls (and with fangirls i mean it as a vibe, not necessarily that all of them are girls).
but something about her characters just always strikes me as deeply disconcerting.
wasn't any different with this one - i disliked all of them (except maybe lister).
angel was very self-absorbed in my opinion and just a bad friend to juliet in general. i didn't agree with her most of the time, and her whole talk about how "the fandom is actually such a comforting, supporting, respectful place and most people don't want to be with the band members", i didn't really buy it. also, i just hate her for shipping rowan and jimmy. shipping "real life" people is such a disgusting thing to do, and such a breach of personal privacy.
i didn't like her attitude either; the way she seemed to feel superior to everyone just pissed me off a bit. and the self-pitying phrases like "it's all my fault", "i'm the problem" - peak melodramatic teenage behavior.
juliet was honestly just bland, like her character could've not existed and nothing would've changed. and i don't quite understand what her problem was. she seemed to like mac and just because he "lied" about liking something (something he does like btw, just not as much as they do), she acts like that's the end of the world. that she stopped liking him for being a douchebag, yk that's something i can get behind. but the whole lying thing was written to be so prominent so that it seems like that's what put her over the edge to finally abandon mac. idk, it was weird.
mac was mac. definitely a douchebag, but he wasn't as bad as everyone acted like he was in my opinion. oseman just completely villainized him for no real reason.
now, jimmy. god, how i hated jimmy. he's such a child, literally. his whole crying and running off and not communicating and weird, illogical behavior... i cannot. i don't even want to dwell on him because man, what an absolute fleabag.
rowan was as bland as juliet, and bliss was written to be cool but i just disliked her and her whole personality anyway lol.
and i know most of these characters were written to be flawed so that the inevitable character development hits the reader like a damned truck, but it's not helping when all of the character development happens in the last 50 pages and the remaining 330 pages, the characters are absolute ass and wholly unlikable.
we don't even have to talk about the plot and how unrealistic it was. like all of it. and it made me not enjoy the book at all, because everything was so convenient and highly unlikely and frustrating.
and can we please, please talk about the god-motive in this book? because it seems like no one talks about it. the amount of religion and religious messages and stuff were so out of place.
it's cool that these characters believe in some sort of religion, i really don't care. but the joan of arc quotes about death and sin felt so out of place, because it's a fanfic-y young adult book!!!
and the woman in the tube suddenly preaching about god and god's plan...
that sort of felt a little bit like propaganda, ngl.
i also didn't buy the whole mental illness spiel that some of these characters've got going on. whenever something inconvenient happens, they all go "i hate my life", "i don't want to live", "i'm worthless". which i get because that's what teenagers do, being stupid and irrational about their own emotions. but still, it was annoying. like mental illnesses are a joke, can be dismissed as soon as someone is doing fine again.
idk. it's safe to say that the book wasn't for me. i'm starting to think it's just an author-reader mismatch and that's completely fine. i think alice oseman is a good person, and i'm glad there are people who enjoy her books.
just ... not me.
i guess i kind of understand why everyone seems to like alice oseman so much. her books have this easy writing style, these pop-culture references and conventionally relatable characters, especially when you're the target audience, which, for this book, means boy band obsessed fangirls (and with fangirls i mean it as a vibe, not necessarily that all of them are girls).
but something about her characters just always strikes me as deeply disconcerting.
wasn't any different with this one - i disliked all of them (except maybe lister).
angel was very self-absorbed in my opinion and just a bad friend to juliet in general. i didn't agree with her most of the time, and her whole talk about how "the fandom is actually such a comforting, supporting, respectful place and most people don't want to be with the band members", i didn't really buy it. also, i just hate her for shipping rowan and jimmy. shipping "real life" people is such a disgusting thing to do, and such a breach of personal privacy.
i didn't like her attitude either; the way she seemed to feel superior to everyone just pissed me off a bit. and the self-pitying phrases like "it's all my fault", "i'm the problem" - peak melodramatic teenage behavior.
juliet was honestly just bland, like her character could've not existed and nothing would've changed. and i don't quite understand what her problem was. she seemed to like mac and just because he "lied" about liking something (something he does like btw, just not as much as they do), she acts like that's the end of the world. that she stopped liking him for being a douchebag, yk that's something i can get behind. but the whole lying thing was written to be so prominent so that it seems like that's what put her over the edge to finally abandon mac. idk, it was weird.
mac was mac. definitely a douchebag, but he wasn't as bad as everyone acted like he was in my opinion. oseman just completely villainized him for no real reason.
now, jimmy. god, how i hated jimmy. he's such a child, literally. his whole crying and running off and not communicating and weird, illogical behavior... i cannot. i don't even want to dwell on him because man, what an absolute fleabag.
rowan was as bland as juliet, and bliss was written to be cool but i just disliked her and her whole personality anyway lol.
and i know most of these characters were written to be flawed so that the inevitable character development hits the reader like a damned truck, but it's not helping when all of the character development happens in the last 50 pages and the remaining 330 pages, the characters are absolute ass and wholly unlikable.
we don't even have to talk about the plot and how unrealistic it was. like all of it. and it made me not enjoy the book at all, because everything was so convenient and highly unlikely and frustrating.
and can we please, please talk about the god-motive in this book? because it seems like no one talks about it. the amount of religion and religious messages and stuff were so out of place.
it's cool that these characters believe in some sort of religion, i really don't care. but the joan of arc quotes about death and sin felt so out of place, because it's a fanfic-y young adult book!!!
and the woman in the tube suddenly preaching about god and god's plan...
that sort of felt a little bit like propaganda, ngl.
i also didn't buy the whole mental illness spiel that some of these characters've got going on. whenever something inconvenient happens, they all go "i hate my life", "i don't want to live", "i'm worthless". which i get because that's what teenagers do, being stupid and irrational about their own emotions. but still, it was annoying. like mental illnesses are a joke, can be dismissed as soon as someone is doing fine again.
idk. it's safe to say that the book wasn't for me. i'm starting to think it's just an author-reader mismatch and that's completely fine. i think alice oseman is a good person, and i'm glad there are people who enjoy her books.
just ... not me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Addiction, and Alcoholism
Moderate: Mental illness
Minor: Medical content, Outing, Violence, Biphobia, Abandonment, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual harassment
lizziaha's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
As someone who has participated in multiple different fandom spaces, some of the things in this book immediately put me on the defensive. But I think it was good for me to flex those muscles and really examine how I and other people were interacting within fandoms. I also think that these main characters did a lot of things that I might not do or want them to do, but I think that made me engage with the text more as well. Definitely an interesting read!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, and Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Alcohol, Blood, Sexual harassment, and Alcoholism
Minor: Confinement, Transphobia, Biphobia, and Racism
babsi_222's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
I was actually so surprised that I liked this book as much as I did. I did not expected to be this way. I think it portrays being in the fandom of something really well and just super interesting to see the two perspectives of a firm and an idol and struggles on both sides that are pretty real. It was actually a bit emotional because it was so relatable and so real in some parts, I really liked it, I thought it was just going to be annoying but it was so good. I love the dynamic between Jimmy and Lister I think it was good that there wasn’t really any “happy end” with them together. It was normal that Jimmy didn’t have feelings for Lister suddenly and healthy that they’re not a thing in the end. It would’ve been too obvious and ‘Wattpad-like’ btw i knew that lister has a crush on Jimmy right from were he ‘saved’ Jimmy at the house party. And then when he talked to him in jimmy’s room
I like Angel’s character development so much!
The “I’m Bliss” was sooooo fucking cool and surprising.
I like Angel’s character development so much!
The “I’m Bliss” was sooooo fucking cool and surprising.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Stalking, Outing, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual harassment, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Alcohol, Blood, Eating disorder, Addiction, Physical abuse, and Violence
jesse_5's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
slow-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
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Addiction, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, and Alcoholism
Moderate: Sexual harassment and Stalking
Minor: Outing, Vomit, and Death of parent
Multiple times where one of the main characters vomit, mentioned that a main character was forced to come out after being outed, A main character has an anxiety disorder and panic attacks are described in detail