194 reviews for:

Freshmen

Tom Ellen, Lucy Ivison

3.43 AVERAGE

emotional slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I didn’t love this book and i didn’t hate this book.

Freshmen or “Freshers” as it comes up on here sometimes, is a quick and easy read. While there’s nothing wrong with the story as a whole, the book itself is....odd. It’s separated into unnecessary parts. Seriously, the fact that they divided up this story into them makes NO SENSE whatsoever. Part four literally cleaves a plot point. Why they did this is beyond me.

Their story is quiet cute, aside from the one point that’s rather gross and if you ask me is shunted off to the side and not solved with any real satisfaction. Phoebe and her friends are great and reminded me so much of my own group of college friends. Luke Taylor is a typical male lead let’s be real.

Spoiler after here.



I wish she and josh got together in the end. I loved that dork the most.

Cute, cute, and cute. I need to start reading adult books considering that my freshmen year of college was 7 years ago.... Just casually forever living in the YA/new adult genre.

3.5⭐️

My fave Tom Ellen/ Lucy Ivison book so far. Based on the ending and all the different characters, I would love to see a sequel.
funny lighthearted medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
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matchababesandbooks's review

3.25
emotional funny hopeful medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

fun !

Okay, this book was like....way better than I thought it would be! Two things though: 1) Where were the POC and LGBT characters? 2) Where is my sequel? I sense a LOT of unresolved storylines and I NEED to know if Phoebe and Josh end up together!

Freshmen is the fun summer read I've been looking for. The story of two college freshmen trying to figure out life at school is is hilarious and also manages to tackle a serious issue.

Phoebe and Luke went to the same high school, where he barely knew her name and she nursed a major crush on him, despite never having exchanged more than a few words with him. Now they're at the same college, and they run into each other on their first night at school and end up sharing a crazy evening. After that, they end up very much in other's orbit.

Freshmen is the story of Phoebe and Luke's first semester at college, and their trials and tribulations. Will they make friends? Will they hook up? Will they be permanently hungover? I enjoy books about the first year of college, as there can be so much change and it gives characters a chance to grow.

I've read a few books about female characters struggling in their first year of college (Fangirl and Emergency Contact come to mind), so it was refreshing to read about a male character struggling a bit. Phoebe settles into life at school pretty well, making a good group of friends, while Luke, who was a high school star, has a much harder time finding his way.

The book also tackles the topic of slut shaming. There's a so-called "Wall of Shame" where the soccer team has an ongoing group chat in which they show pictures of sleeping women they've hooked up with, and the rest of the team comments on the women in less than flattering terems. It's horrible, and although there are members of the team who don't participate, they still know it's going on and they do nothing to stop it. The book handles the whole situation really well, and makes the point that knowing about this kind of things and staying silent is a huge problem. I give the authors major points for tackling this issue and still managing to write a seriously funny book.

I received an ARC from Amazon Vine.

Tom Ellen and Lucy vision are a writing duo to be reckoned with, their books never fail to draw me in and also make me laugh. So when I heard about Freshers I knew it was a book I had to read.
Leaving school at 16, I went straight to college for two years, and then six months later into full time work, so I never really experienced the uni life, of staying away from home and rooming with strangers-soon-to-be-friends, so I'm living vicariously through Phoebe and Luke.

We are introduced to this duo in a freshers party, which involves lots of alcohol, and switching of clothes at certain a points throughout the night when the klaxon sounds, leaving people in ponchos, yoga ears, and t-shirts with princess Diana's face on. I loved this introduction to the characters, and the craziness of the dressing and accessories is a great way of having someone firmly fixed in your head.

Freshers is told in a dual point of view, with Phoebe and Luke alternating within each chapter. We get to see both sides of the story, or the beginning and the end as it carries over to the next person. I loved the eccentric mix of characters and personalities within the pages of the book, and definitly laughed at some of rumours which led to some interesting checks.

Over the past five days, me, Negin and Frankie had started to feel like a little team. We messaged each other when we woke up and went shopping together and checked we were all not dead before we went to bed.

Freshers was a funny read, but there is a lot more to the book than I initially expected. We have the expected first days, meeting new people and making new friends, and first loves. But there is also the issue of wanting to fit in, of bending to peer pressure and going along with something you know is wrong, of girls being rated by boys and then exploited in a way that was so wrong, but seeing how proactive this issue is tackled by all involved.

Phoebe is someone who I instantly liked, she wants to be a new person and tries so hard to be different from herself, and if I was in that same situation I would probably do the same. I loved the idea of the different clubs, especially Quidditch. Luke took a while for me to like, I wasn't sure on what I thought of him, and my thoughts definitly swayed throughout the book depending on what he does. There were times I wanted to hake him for being a follower or in denial, but I do like how he tries to right his wrongs.
I liked the progression of the book, and how the story plays out. The characters stick with you once you have finished the book, and I would love to see another instalment for this book, either with Luke or Phoebe, or some of the secondary characters.

Final Verdict
Freshers is a must read book and I enjoyed every single page of this book. Once again I can't wait to see what this writing duo have in store for us.