Reviews - My Oxford Year | The StoryGraph

3.89k reviews for:

My Oxford Year

Julia Whelan

3.8 AVERAGE

sams_stories's review against another edition

3.75

emotional lighthearted sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

e_danger's review against another edition

3.0

emotional funny lighthearted sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

almightyslo's review against another edition

4.0

I honestly didn't expect it to be that good at first, and minus a few gripes about the believability of some of the events (she's starstruck so easily, but went to Georgetown? Or, her random conversation with Antonia at the end about losing a loved one to a sudden death given very little depth beyond two paragraphs? Let's not get started on the Wattpad-like jealousy she has towards Cecelia, and then they're supposed to be all peaches and roses out of nowhere, or the little development that the honestly overused gay-best-friend trope is given with Charlie), the book was really quite good.

I grew to care very fondly for the main love interest, something which does not happen very often for me, and the couple was really cute! The development of the character over the course of the book, as well as her facing fair consequence for her hurtful remarks, gave Ella complexity that I really appreciated. Whelan also uses her literary references well, which has been an especially nice break after I read "After" for shits and giggles the other night and almost banged my head into a wall with the dogshit interpretation of Pride and Prejudice. You can really tell why she was a Rhodes contender with her writing and understanding of the quotes and allegories she uses.

Normally, with romance novels, you have to forfeit a certain quality of writing to enjoy a presentable, emotional, romantic story; however, Julia Whelan does a fantastic general job of writing a romance novel that can still hold its own, and I really appreciate how good this book was. I recommend it!

bafulal's review against another edition

3.5

emotional sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

juliann_pless83's review against another edition

5.0

emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective sad fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

trine92's review against another edition

3.75

adventurous challenging emotional reflective fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

gioyatw's review against another edition

4.0

emotional lighthearted medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Arg the last 5% of this book wrecked me. I enjoyed the relationship between these two characters and the book felt very Nicholas Sparks-esque. Most of this book was pretty light to get through and there were a couple moments where the FMC, Ella, annoyed me, especially with the way she behaved towards people but I still connected to the characters - they were pretty lovable and my heart broke a couple times near the end. Super excited for the movie.
Some of my favourite quotes:

"love well those who are dying so they may die in love"

"I came to Oxford looking for a Once in a lifetime experience, I chose to experience a lifetime"

"If you love someone, and are loved by someone, you might find forever after, whatever and wherever that is"