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emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cancer, Death, Sexual content
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Death, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Classism
emotional
funny
inspiring
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I didn't know a ton about this book before going into it but it had been on my TBR for a VERY long time. I thought it was a book about a young girl getting a year abroad and living her best life - and to an extent, that's what this book was about, and yet so much more!
This book reminded me a lot of Me Before You. Ella and Jamie are charming, their banter is off the charts, and it's your classic casual to serious relationship - but with a few more twists and turns. Filled with literary magic taking place on the campus of Oxford I found this book charming and the ending to be quite lovely.
A good reminder to live your life as it happens instead of planning because you can never plan what will happen.
This book reminded me a lot of Me Before You. Ella and Jamie are charming, their banter is off the charts, and it's your classic casual to serious relationship - but with a few more twists and turns. Filled with literary magic taking place on the campus of Oxford I found this book charming and the ending to be quite lovely.
A good reminder to live your life as it happens instead of planning because you can never plan what will happen.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cancer, Death
Minor: Death of parent
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This was a good book, but I did a *lot* more crying in this book than I expected to going into what looked like a fun British romcom.
What I loved:
All the poetry references and literature academia vibes were great — I liked that aspect of the book a lot.
What I feel conflicted about :
- a family dealing with their son slowly but surely dying of cancer is absolutely a central theme of this book. This character is the male romantic lead so that’s also a central part of the romantic relationship. Not a fun, light romp. I didn’t know this going in.
- I actually don’t feel like I ever got terribly invested in their relationship.
What was done really well:
The pacing of how to fast-forward through big sections of time and tell the story of what went on during that time was done really well.
- I appreciated how the book ended. For all that Jamie’s still dying, it still felt like a happy, hopeful ending, which is impressive.
- this book genuinely made me think a lot about the different emotional ways to experience and work through dying and losing loved ones. Hence all the crying, but it was a more thought-inspiring book than I expected.
What I loved:
All the poetry references and literature academia vibes were great — I liked that aspect of the book a lot.
What I feel conflicted about :
- a family dealing with their son slowly but surely dying of cancer is absolutely a central theme of this book. This character is the male romantic lead so that’s also a central part of the romantic relationship. Not a fun, light romp. I didn’t know this going in.
- I actually don’t feel like I ever got terribly invested in their relationship.
What was done really well:
The pacing of how to fast-forward through big sections of time and tell the story of what went on during that time was done really well.
- I appreciated how the book ended. For all that Jamie’s still dying, it still felt like a happy, hopeful ending, which is impressive.
- this book genuinely made me think a lot about the different emotional ways to experience and work through dying and losing loved ones. Hence all the crying, but it was a more thought-inspiring book than I expected.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Child death, Death
Moderate: Death of parent
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
I laughed out loud and I cried like a baby. This was way more emotional than what I expected, but it turned out to be a very well-executed and beautiful account of love and growth. A lot of great literary references and dialogues between the characters, which was lovely and also came in as a way to reinforce the book's message in several occasions.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Terminal illness
Moderate: Death, Car accident
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
That. Hurt.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Death, Terminal illness, Grief
Moderate: Car accident
Minor: Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy
challenging
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
medium-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
Absolutely love the narraration of Julia Whelan, what a gift to listen to an audiobook written and narrarated by her.
This novel was a delectable treat of funny, heartbreaking and clichéd. The last hour of the novel packing a punch.
Loved the poetry scattered throughout, as well as the relationship James' parents shared.
This novel was a delectable treat of funny, heartbreaking and clichéd. The last hour of the novel packing a punch.
Loved the poetry scattered throughout, as well as the relationship James' parents shared.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Terminal illness, Death of parent
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I’m so, so sad to say that this book bummed me out!
After reading (and adoring) Thank You for Listening, I picked this up with excitement, wanting to delve into the author's work even more. However, where TYFL brought immense amounts of joy and hope, My Oxford Year was really quite sad and frustrating.
The beginning was really enjoyable! I loved Ella's somewhat chaotic introduction to Oxford and the lifestyle there. Her rag-tag group of friends was fantastic and even the start of her "relationship" with Jamie was filled with humor, awkward moments, and sweetness. Around the halfway point, however, everything took a depressing nosedive.
Jamie’s illness was so miserable, but also felt forced, uncomfortable, and handled somewhat terribly. While I would've anticipated for Ella to be angry about him not telling her sooner, the initial reaction was awful and from there on out, I felt a heaviness to the entire story. There were all of the issues with his father, the really icky feeling of never knowing if he would live or not, and then finally, a very open ending. I’m sure this was meant to provide hope for the reader so they can make the assumption that there was a HEA, but I would’ve just preferred an on-paper HEA rather than one I had to make up for myself.
It all left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth. What could have been a really creative and cute romcom turned into something melancholy and heavy. I walked away from it feeling drained rather than refreshed, which is not what I prefer after reading this kind of book. Definitely not my ideal style, unfortunately.
After reading (and adoring) Thank You for Listening, I picked this up with excitement, wanting to delve into the author's work even more. However, where TYFL brought immense amounts of joy and hope, My Oxford Year was really quite sad and frustrating.
The beginning was really enjoyable! I loved Ella's somewhat chaotic introduction to Oxford and the lifestyle there. Her rag-tag group of friends was fantastic and even the start of her "relationship" with Jamie was filled with humor, awkward moments, and sweetness. Around the halfway point, however, everything took a depressing nosedive.
It all left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth. What could have been a really creative and cute romcom turned into something melancholy and heavy. I walked away from it feeling drained rather than refreshed, which is not what I prefer after reading this kind of book. Definitely not my ideal style, unfortunately.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Terminal illness, Grief, Death of parent
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Classism
Minor: Sexual content, Car accident
adventurous
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
good shit, GOOD SHIT
This was one of the main books I wanted to read for my romance novel arc, I'm really glad I was able to make time for it
A little disclaimer though:
I think one of the main reasons I enjoyed this book a lot more than the average StoryGraph user is because I hold some of the themes & settings to a personal level. I'm literally in love with a man who graduated from Oxford, and uses all the cute British lingo like "cheers" (god, I love that). Academia is a huge part of my life, and is a big reason as to why I liked this book (same goes for The Love Hypothesis -- would totally recommend that book too).
Ella and Jamie are absolutely great characters. I loved their dynamic, they had an adorable relationship. However, midway through the book, I did find that their feelings were hard to understand. It seemed to me that Ella claimed to feel one way, but then she acted and talked like she felt the opposite way. I don't know if it's because the writing was hard to keep up with, or if I just didn't fully understand Ella's character. I'm just going to assume the latter.
Confusion aside, the rest of this book was glorious. Can I also say, hello? Oxford? Perfect setting for studious people. I absolutely LOVED hearing about Ella's experiences at Oxford and her time in the UK. I'm jealous.
The ending surprised me.
With all the buildup, I kind of expected that Jamie would die in the hospital, after getting pneumonia. I was completely wrong. I was in a big crying mood while I read this book, so as sick and twisted as this sounds, I was a little disappointed that Jamie didn't die. Though part of me is super relieved that Ella and JD are living out their perfect little lives. God, I love them.
This was one of the main books I wanted to read for my romance novel arc, I'm really glad I was able to make time for it
A little disclaimer though:
I think one of the main reasons I enjoyed this book a lot more than the average StoryGraph user is because I hold some of the themes & settings to a personal level. I'm literally in love with a man who graduated from Oxford, and uses all the cute British lingo like "cheers" (god, I love that). Academia is a huge part of my life, and is a big reason as to why I liked this book (same goes for The Love Hypothesis -- would totally recommend that book too).
Ella and Jamie are absolutely great characters. I loved their dynamic, they had an adorable relationship. However, midway through the book, I did find that their feelings were hard to understand. It seemed to me that Ella claimed to feel one way, but then she acted and talked like she felt the opposite way. I don't know if it's because the writing was hard to keep up with, or if I just didn't fully understand Ella's character. I'm just going to assume the latter.
Confusion aside, the rest of this book was glorious. Can I also say, hello? Oxford? Perfect setting for studious people. I absolutely LOVED hearing about Ella's experiences at Oxford and her time in the UK. I'm jealous.
The ending surprised me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Terminal illness
Moderate: Death, Sexual content, Death of parent