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3.71 AVERAGE
3.71 AVERAGE
2.5 stars rounded up to 3!
To be honest, I had a hard time rating this one. I loved the enemies to lovers trope and Eliza and Len's chemistry. I thought that worked really well. I loved Serena's character, and I thought her growth because of Eliza's stand was fun to watch. However, there were some plot choices I didn't really find believable. It's entirely possible that Len would post the manifesto, but I didn't believe the amount of people who saw it prior to it quicky being taken down. I also thought it was strange how quickly people bought into the feminism movement with little to no qualms from the males. I would've liked to see more of a division, even staff members voice concerns.
I did love Len's character, his love for baseball, his identity crisis, and his Japanese family's history with the internment camps in the United States during WWII. All of the cultural pieces both Eliza and Len bring forth into this story is super important for young readers, and I loved how that was executed.
Some of the writing was a bit too wordy and came off a touch pretentious for a young adult read. I found myself having to reread sentences and paragraphs because of the lengthy descriptions. This made the read not as enjoyable as it could've been.
"Something about the way he reveals this, as he plucks a jagged leaf from the rosebush by his shoulder, makes me want him to kiss me. I want to feel it dissolve everything, like all the other times, and then I want to hear him describe it, so that I can have his words, too, the memory spun into poetry that I can tuck away into a little corner of my heart."
To be honest, I had a hard time rating this one. I loved the enemies to lovers trope and Eliza and Len's chemistry. I thought that worked really well. I loved Serena's character, and I thought her growth because of Eliza's stand was fun to watch. However, there were some plot choices I didn't really find believable. It's entirely possible that Len would post the manifesto, but I didn't believe the amount of people who saw it prior to it quicky being taken down. I also thought it was strange how quickly people bought into the feminism movement with little to no qualms from the males. I would've liked to see more of a division, even staff members voice concerns.
I did love Len's character, his love for baseball, his identity crisis, and his Japanese family's history with the internment camps in the United States during WWII. All of the cultural pieces both Eliza and Len bring forth into this story is super important for young readers, and I loved how that was executed.
Some of the writing was a bit too wordy and came off a touch pretentious for a young adult read. I found myself having to reread sentences and paragraphs because of the lengthy descriptions. This made the read not as enjoyable as it could've been.
"Something about the way he reveals this, as he plucks a jagged leaf from the rosebush by his shoulder, makes me want him to kiss me. I want to feel it dissolve everything, like all the other times, and then I want to hear him describe it, so that I can have his words, too, the memory spun into poetry that I can tuck away into a little corner of my heart."
The way that this book handles pretty much every subject honestly felt straight out of the Buzzfeed late 2010s “not like other girls” era, so imagine my surprise when I found out this was published in 2021. Seriously, I think every single woman in this book who wore any type of makeup or did anything with her hair was ridiculed. I kept waiting for this to be addressed and it was just barely brushed over in the end. The two main girls in this book, Eliza and Winona, honestly talked more shit about women than any of the male characters did and it’s just never acknowledged by the characters or the narrative. It was really hard to like pretty much any of the characters. I feel like the fact that the protagonist refers to herself as a “girlboss” without a lick of irony really sums everything up.
lighthearted
relaxing
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
Lighthearted read really enjoyed Eliza and Len’s growing relationship.
It was okay, but I thought (except the feminism topic) the romance between Eliza and Len would be better and bigger idk
Felt like we could have gone more in depth on the solution of the school rumours problem. It felt like it was over really quickly. Liked the tension between the characters, couldn't be asked to remember all of the side characters names tho, there were a lot. All in all really liked the book
adventurous
challenging
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
The first books I've rated na less than 4 stars huhuhu :( I think overall the ending kinda makes up for everything naman kasi everyone got their happy ending. However, reading this is so hard—it feels like studying for a subject you really don't find interesting. I was around 100 page na and wala pa ring tension??? or parang something interesting happening between the two main characters. LIKE yk a book eventually gets interesting after reading a few chapters PERO like chapter 20 na ako pero it's still not givinggg. I love the topic though and everything, medyo nakakainis lang si MMC kasi he did that. Not to mention na when she was getting bullied for it, hindi niya siya tinulungan or gumawa man lang ng way to solve the problem. I REALLY TRIED TO LIKE IT peroooo hindi talaga T_____T like talagang hirap na hirap siyang magbasa kahit na less than 10 pages na lang per chapter. Inexpect ko rin na it will be a good read kasi academic rivals yung trope and maganda yung reviews sa tiktok pero huhuhu.
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
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
i really wanted to like this one because the blurb made it sound so interesting. the beginning was promising but as i kept reading, the story got boring and i found myself skimming through pages because it felt like every other ya book. maybe i need to take a break from reading ya books
A thoughtful look at feminism, cleverly disguised as a standard rom com. Will be recommending to my high school girls.
I think this book is a really great enemies to lovers book with a great point about feminism and a realistic representation about sexism, female struggles and high school in general.
