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selmasbooks's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
seraphinasees's review
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
richardsikenstan's review against another edition
5.0
I LOVE love I LOVE family I LOVE books!!!!!! FIVE FUCKING STARS
allierose's review against another edition
5.0
22/4/2020: catherine barter i am b e g g i n g you to write another book, i will do literally anything
15/4/2020: my godddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd if i could give a book more than 5 stars this would be the one
15/4/2020: my godddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd if i could give a book more than 5 stars this would be the one
merri's review against another edition
4.0
4,5 stars (when the devil is Goodreads gonna add the option for half stars???) I didn’t have any expectations when I picked Troublemakers from the library shelf. The cover (and indeed the spine) are of the painfully generic YA look but, I admit, it was the mention of growing up with a brother and his boyfriend that caught my attention and made be borrow the book.
I do enjoy a good lgbt book but as we all know they too often start or end in tears. It seems like you just can’t have a story where a gay relationship is in a key role and it works out well. This is why I always have bad feeling about a book that starts with an already ongoing gay relationship - it has to end during the book, right?
Which is why I am delighted with this book. Thank you Catherine Barter for writing a story where a gay couple who met in their teens can still be in a loving, somewhat balanced relationship as 30-somethings, also parenting a child. Alena is the protagonist but Danny and Nick are very important and the backbone of her life so it’s nice Barter lets them be, really.
Alena is an interesting, wistful character and despite what she does to make her a troublemaker she seems to be calm and surprisingly at peace with the world. The book only covers a time period less than half a year but as she’s 15 years old she grows as a person in that period too.
Danny is an unsure, worrying soon-to-be alcoholic who can never see the good before goong through all the possible worst case scenarios - like many of us are, but this personality trait is not often mentioned in books I don’t think. I liked how Danny sort of grew too and you understood more why he was so difficult at times.
Nick should have more layers as it’s a given we all love him but I’d like to have known more about him. But I’m also happy with an unproblematic, balanced, lovely character as well.
I liked the language, the plot, all the meaningful characters, the London setting. Troublemakers is a very good book that has depth but for a change is not depressing or doesn’t try to be anything it is not.
I do enjoy a good lgbt book but as we all know they too often start or end in tears. It seems like you just can’t have a story where a gay relationship is in a key role and it works out well. This is why I always have bad feeling about a book that starts with an already ongoing gay relationship - it has to end during the book, right?
Which is why I am delighted with this book. Thank you Catherine Barter for writing a story where a gay couple who met in their teens can still be in a loving, somewhat balanced relationship as 30-somethings, also parenting a child. Alena is the protagonist but Danny and Nick are very important and the backbone of her life so it’s nice Barter lets them be, really.
Alena is an interesting, wistful character and despite what she does to make her a troublemaker she seems to be calm and surprisingly at peace with the world. The book only covers a time period less than half a year but as she’s 15 years old she grows as a person in that period too.
Danny is an unsure, worrying soon-to-be alcoholic who can never see the good before goong through all the possible worst case scenarios - like many of us are, but this personality trait is not often mentioned in books I don’t think. I liked how Danny sort of grew too and you understood more why he was so difficult at times.
Nick should have more layers as it’s a given we all love him but I’d like to have known more about him. But I’m also happy with an unproblematic, balanced, lovely character as well.
I liked the language, the plot, all the meaningful characters, the London setting. Troublemakers is a very good book that has depth but for a change is not depressing or doesn’t try to be anything it is not.
georgiabrooks19's review against another edition
4.0
I did really enjoy this book, I think it took me a while to get into it because it is so different to what I normally read. This was a very realistic, straight forward book (in a weird way). This book didn't contain humour, or really a 'happily ever after', it just ended with stone-cold truth I suppose and Alena realising that however much she wants something like that, she can't ever have it. To me, this is a book that makes you think, and not one to read if you're wanting a happy story. It's not all depressing or shocking really, just very down-to-earth.
lesley_watts's review against another edition
3.0
Good dialogue and characters but little in the way of a proper plot. That doesn't always matter, but there were some interesting characters where their backstory was touched upon but not developed. Very much for the reflective reader and not likely to engage those teenagers who like action or adventure.
majorisbooks's review against another edition
2.0
Real rating: 2.5
I won this review in a Goodreads giveaway, in return for an honest review.
I feel bad giving this book such a low rating. Everyone else seems to have really enjoyed it, but I found it frustrating.
It was not at all what I expected from the blurb, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but it was also severely frustrating. While it was a good coming of age story, but with a non-conventional family and an accurate, teenage MC (read: highly annoying, with no ability to admit she's wrong).
However, the whole book was just frustrating. The characters had holes, and came across as rather flat. The plot left a lot to be desired, and there was little overarching plot other than 'I want to know who my mother is and no one will tell me', paired with 'we all live slightly in fear of whoever is planting the bombs'. Instead, it felt like a series of side plots rolled together to make a story, but with the important absence of a true ending for most of them. Most of the side characters had entire plots that were only touched upon and never complete, despite having a fully built up line of suspense. Perhaps this was all just a metaphor for the fact life isn't wrapped up in tiny little parcels like a plot, but instead is made the whole book seem rather unsatisfying. Yes, okay,the bomber was inevitably going to be someone entirely unconnected, but there was no need for it to be just suddenly mentioned and then brushed over, without really allowing the reader or the characters to take it in .
The ending, at least, seemed to have a little bit of explanation that made the story of Alena's mother finally make sense, but otherwise I just found the whole thing unsatisfying. I can't even explain why, but there is something that it needed, with so many plot holes and flat characters, to make this book more enjoyable.
I won this review in a Goodreads giveaway, in return for an honest review.
I feel bad giving this book such a low rating. Everyone else seems to have really enjoyed it, but I found it frustrating.
It was not at all what I expected from the blurb, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but it was also severely frustrating. While it was a good coming of age story, but with a non-conventional family and an accurate, teenage MC (read: highly annoying, with no ability to admit she's wrong).
However, the whole book was just frustrating. The characters had holes, and came across as rather flat. The plot left a lot to be desired, and there was little overarching plot other than 'I want to know who my mother is and no one will tell me', paired with 'we all live slightly in fear of whoever is planting the bombs'. Instead, it felt like a series of side plots rolled together to make a story, but with the important absence of a true ending for most of them. Most of the side characters had entire plots that were only touched upon and never complete, despite having a fully built up line of suspense. Perhaps this was all just a metaphor for the fact life isn't wrapped up in tiny little parcels like a plot, but instead is made the whole book seem rather unsatisfying. Yes, okay,
The ending, at least, seemed to have a little bit of explanation that made the story of Alena's mother finally make sense, but otherwise I just found the whole thing unsatisfying. I can't even explain why, but there is something that it needed, with so many plot holes and flat characters, to make this book more enjoyable.
stressejesse's review against another edition
5.0
All 371 pages of this creation were an absolute gift.
People tend to say "I couldn't put it down" so much that I think it's been diluted. Just a shorthand way of saying you loved it. But I literally couldn't put this book down. I told myself "just one more chapter", "oh I'll just read til the next part", "the next chapter that has a mini time-skip is where I'll stop". I devoured it in a night.
I don't think there was a chapter (or a page) in this book I didn't cry (read: sob) at, not just because parts of it are sad, but because of how much it got to me. This book is gorgeous to read.
I had to take crying-breaks so I could get the tears out of my vision so I could see the page without it being blurry. This book broke me and I'm only ever going to say thank you. I felt So Much reading this.
Also how am I simultaneously every single character in this book? It's like this book is a direct tether to my soul.
I picked this up knowing nothing about it except that it was on some YA rec list someone had made. I wasn't expecting to like it all that much, and I was initially going to read something else tonight, but I decided at the last minute to turn to this instead. It had been sitting on my bookshelf for a few months, me being completely unaware of how much of a favourite it would become.
Also, I want to write like this. I got 20 pages in and immediately recognised my "yeah, this is the kind of style I like. I want to write like this" feeling of inspiration and reverence of knowing so early on that someone will mean a lot to me.
As a formal apology to every other book I've read in the last almost 22 years, you've been dethroned. Mercilessly.
Holy shit.
People tend to say "I couldn't put it down" so much that I think it's been diluted. Just a shorthand way of saying you loved it. But I literally couldn't put this book down. I told myself "just one more chapter", "oh I'll just read til the next part", "the next chapter that has a mini time-skip is where I'll stop". I devoured it in a night.
I don't think there was a chapter (or a page) in this book I didn't cry (read: sob) at, not just because parts of it are sad, but because of how much it got to me. This book is gorgeous to read.
I had to take crying-breaks so I could get the tears out of my vision so I could see the page without it being blurry. This book broke me and I'm only ever going to say thank you. I felt So Much reading this.
Also how am I simultaneously every single character in this book? It's like this book is a direct tether to my soul.
I picked this up knowing nothing about it except that it was on some YA rec list someone had made. I wasn't expecting to like it all that much, and I was initially going to read something else tonight, but I decided at the last minute to turn to this instead. It had been sitting on my bookshelf for a few months, me being completely unaware of how much of a favourite it would become.
Also, I want to write like this. I got 20 pages in and immediately recognised my "yeah, this is the kind of style I like. I want to write like this" feeling of inspiration and reverence of knowing so early on that someone will mean a lot to me.
As a formal apology to every other book I've read in the last almost 22 years, you've been dethroned. Mercilessly.
Holy shit.
hayjp8's review against another edition
5.0
5/5 stars
I don't give 5 star ratings often but...wow.
Seriously, I read this book in a day and I cannot stop thinking about it. I'm always a fan of character driven stories, and books about families, so I loved this book. I sort of agree with other reviewers who said it would've been interesting if this book was told through Danny's point of view, but I think Alena provided a fascinating perspective. She's naïve and you could see the logic in her thinking, but also the flaws in her plans before she could. This book was so well written and Alena's thoughts and realizations throughout the book broke my heart. I'm not too sure how I feel about the sort of anti-climactic ending, but it didn't affect my 5 star rating. I already feel like I want to reread this book, and I've recommended it to several friends!
I don't give 5 star ratings often but...wow.
Seriously, I read this book in a day and I cannot stop thinking about it. I'm always a fan of character driven stories, and books about families, so I loved this book. I sort of agree with other reviewers who said it would've been interesting if this book was told through Danny's point of view, but I think Alena provided a fascinating perspective. She's naïve and you could see the logic in her thinking, but also the flaws in her plans before she could. This book was so well written and Alena's thoughts and realizations throughout the book broke my heart. I'm not too sure how I feel about the sort of anti-climactic ending, but it didn't affect my 5 star rating. I already feel like I want to reread this book, and I've recommended it to several friends!