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marisajean's review
5.0
This book was PERFECT! I honestly did not want it to end! I love John!!! :) I realllyyy hope there is a sequal!!
bellatora's review against another edition
4.0
Classic fluff - breezy and pleasant read that can be finished in a few hours.
At first I was not a fan of Brooke at all. I mean, she moved to New York City for a guy she barely knew but was convinced was The One. I thought it was stupid for Felicity and I think it’s stupid now. Yes, moving to NYC ended up being exactly what she needed. But her reasoning was INSANE and although part of her knew it was crazy most of the time she didn't really see anything wrong with it – and everyone was like “oh, how romantic!” That is not romantic. That is creepy and stalky.
Brooke seems to be pretty constantly selfish and short-sighted. She left both her best friends during senior year for a boy who barely knew she existed and then managed to lose touch with both of them. She seemed to have just grown apart from April (best friend #1), which I get happens and Brooke did change a lot. But it's still sad and weird that she basically just overrode her old life with her new life in NYC. AND she never made up with Candace (best friend #2), who was angry that Brooke was going after the guy she liked – which is such a high school conflict. On the one hand, I totally get what Candace is driving at. On the other, Scott had already turned her down AND he had moved away. She wasn’t going to succeed. Even though I guess your best friend becoming a crazy stalker moving to another city for the boy you have a crush on would probably piss you off anyway. It just seems weird that Brooke can just so easily lose her two best friends and then pretty much brush it off because she has new best friends now.
I did find it super interesting that Brooke turned out to be a secret genius – like, an actual genius. She downplayed her smarts a lot because she didn’t want to stick out as different. So she just kind of tuned out everyone saying they were disappointed in her and kept her head down. That added a really interesting dimension to Brooke – she was more than just some silly girl following her crush. And I’m GLAD that John and April also called her out on this and how it was so stupid for her to be wasting her potential. Also the origami thing was a nice quirk.
And Brooke became a little less self-centered and angry by the end (even though she still has a lot of growing up to do). I’m not sure how I feel about John – he was a little manic and maybe even a touch manic pixie dream girl (LET’S GO OUTSIDE! AND EXPLORE!! LET US TALK ABOUT WATER TANKS!! All the kid needed was a ukulele). But I think he had his moments and he was a nice contrast to Cool Guy Scott.
P.S. What’s with the author acting like Scott and Brooke are the only two people who ever watch The Office? Don’t know what high school kids watch these days, but it’s not like The Office is some indie show. It was a super popular comedy and this book came out in 2011 – way after The Office peaked (so people should be familiar with it).
At first I was not a fan of Brooke at all. I mean, she moved to New York City for a guy she barely knew but was convinced was The One. I thought it was stupid for Felicity and I think it’s stupid now. Yes, moving to NYC ended up being exactly what she needed. But her reasoning was INSANE and although part of her knew it was crazy most of the time she didn't really see anything wrong with it – and everyone was like “oh, how romantic!” That is not romantic. That is creepy and stalky.
Brooke seems to be pretty constantly selfish and short-sighted. She left both her best friends during senior year for a boy who barely knew she existed and then managed to lose touch with both of them. She seemed to have just grown apart from April (best friend #1), which I get happens and Brooke did change a lot. But it's still sad and weird that she basically just overrode her old life with her new life in NYC. AND she never made up with Candace (best friend #2), who was angry that Brooke was going after the guy she liked – which is such a high school conflict. On the one hand, I totally get what Candace is driving at. On the other, Scott had already turned her down AND he had moved away. She wasn’t going to succeed. Even though I guess your best friend becoming a crazy stalker moving to another city for the boy you have a crush on would probably piss you off anyway. It just seems weird that Brooke can just so easily lose her two best friends and then pretty much brush it off because she has new best friends now.
I did find it super interesting that Brooke turned out to be a secret genius – like, an actual genius. She downplayed her smarts a lot because she didn’t want to stick out as different. So she just kind of tuned out everyone saying they were disappointed in her and kept her head down. That added a really interesting dimension to Brooke – she was more than just some silly girl following her crush. And I’m GLAD that John and April also called her out on this and how it was so stupid for her to be wasting her potential. Also the origami thing was a nice quirk.
And Brooke became a little less self-centered and angry by the end (even though she still has a lot of growing up to do). I’m not sure how I feel about John – he was a little manic and maybe even a touch manic pixie dream girl (LET’S GO OUTSIDE! AND EXPLORE!! LET US TALK ABOUT WATER TANKS!! All the kid needed was a ukulele). But I think he had his moments and he was a nice contrast to Cool Guy Scott.
P.S. What’s with the author acting like Scott and Brooke are the only two people who ever watch The Office? Don’t know what high school kids watch these days, but it’s not like The Office is some indie show. It was a super popular comedy and this book came out in 2011 – way after The Office peaked (so people should be familiar with it).
lindsayjoie's review
5.0
This book means so much to me because Brooke reminds me of everything that I am and everything that I want to be. Her relationship with Scott is so much like my relationship with my ex and I just feel like everything about this book is inspiring. Also, it really is a love letter to New York City, and it has rekindled my intense need to move there. Thank you, Susane, for a wonderful read.
readerjenn's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
bookwormdreamer_94's review
3.0
3.5 stars ***
I enjoyed the book, and I thought that it was a pretty quick read. I enjoyed the pace and thought some of the themes and ideas that ran through the novel were great. I thought that it was well done, but I have read some better stories. I enjoyed the overall feeling of the book though!
I enjoyed the book, and I thought that it was a pretty quick read. I enjoyed the pace and thought some of the themes and ideas that ran through the novel were great. I thought that it was well done, but I have read some better stories. I enjoyed the overall feeling of the book though!
cmw119's review
2.0
When I bought this book I was expecting more, but it was obvious from the first chapter that I wasn't going to get it.
Brooke irritated me with her incredibly juvenile decisions. Yeah, she's in high school, but moving for some guy she's never talked to? Not only is that stupid, it's creepy and stalker-ish. Especially because she's a "genius." That whole little plot point was just dumb, and while it should have been a driving force of the book, it just felt like a trivial afterthought.
I've liked Colasanti's other books but this one just fell sort of flat.
Brooke irritated me with her incredibly juvenile decisions. Yeah, she's in high school, but moving for some guy she's never talked to? Not only is that stupid, it's creepy and stalker-ish. Especially because she's a "genius." That whole little plot point was just dumb, and while it should have been a driving force of the book, it just felt like a trivial afterthought.
I've liked Colasanti's other books but this one just fell sort of flat.
heykellyjensen's review
2.0
I liked how easy this book was to read -- Colasanti's style is believable and her writing feels authentic.
I really found Brooke to be an annoying character though. She gives up her entire life to follow a boy to New York City. Over the course of the story she figures out her own life, but I really loathe the fact it all had to be over a boy. This is a story line that makes me unhappy. Romance is one thing, but giving up all autonomy to follow a boy (IN HIGH SCHOOL) doesn't do it for me. Likewise, there was basically no resistance from the parents and Brooke was all too willing to drop her former friends for the boy. And she wondered why they were mad. I think her friends were right in dropping her.
While that bothered me, I think the thing that didn't work for me in the novel was the relationship between Brooke and her father. She's very willing to up and move in with him in the city, and there's little more said about it. But as the story progresses, we learn he's kind of a terrible person. And she's angry about it. But she never shows those feelings when she tosses everything and moves in with him to be closer to the boy. I needed more of this development, as I felt it could have filled Brooke out a lot more; there were traces of it, but we never got the full impact of her father's infidelity on her. It didn't jive.
I thought the setting and the passion Brooke finds in the city completely believable. Just wish that had been more infused in the story.
I really found Brooke to be an annoying character though. She gives up her entire life to follow a boy to New York City. Over the course of the story she figures out her own life, but I really loathe the fact it all had to be over a boy. This is a story line that makes me unhappy. Romance is one thing, but giving up all autonomy to follow a boy (IN HIGH SCHOOL) doesn't do it for me. Likewise, there was basically no resistance from the parents and Brooke was all too willing to drop her former friends for the boy. And she wondered why they were mad. I think her friends were right in dropping her.
While that bothered me, I think the thing that didn't work for me in the novel was the relationship between Brooke and her father. She's very willing to up and move in with him in the city, and there's little more said about it. But as the story progresses, we learn he's kind of a terrible person. And she's angry about it. But she never shows those feelings when she tosses everything and moves in with him to be closer to the boy. I needed more of this development, as I felt it could have filled Brooke out a lot more; there were traces of it, but we never got the full impact of her father's infidelity on her. It didn't jive.
I thought the setting and the passion Brooke finds in the city completely believable. Just wish that had been more infused in the story.
booksforlosers's review against another edition
4.0
I enjoyed reading this book, but it was incredibly predictable. Like, there’s nooooo way the plot would have been so simple as to have Brooke stay with Scott all 240 pages. So there obviously had to be some sort of “plot twist” but it was really predictable. I like how all of Colasantis books are so different, and all the plots are very diverse and the characters have different personalities, but this book was just a tad obvious, not that it wasn’t entertaining, but I think you get my point here.