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3.68 AVERAGE
3.68 AVERAGE
Highly recommend this memoir! Appropriate for high school students as well as adults. This is an honest look at relationships that we can all relate to. Sundquist's voice is humorous and self-deprecating without an ounce of self-pity. Need to get this one into the right kid's hands!
4.5 stars
see my full review
This book is such a fun time. Josh is hilarious, and makes his embarrassing love stories extremely relatable. I grew up in very similar circumstances to Josh, so it's funny (while simultaneously being very cringe-worthy) to look at how my life reflects his. While this is nonfiction and it is hard to disclose personal information about your life when you already put so much out there via YouTube, I do wish there was more closure with Josh. Even if he didn't share much more of his relationship with Ashley, I would have liked more of the personal revelation.
However, this was a fun, quick, and fantastic read. Highly recommend Josh's book!
see my full review
This book is such a fun time. Josh is hilarious, and makes his embarrassing love stories extremely relatable. I grew up in very similar circumstances to Josh, so it's funny (while simultaneously being very cringe-worthy) to look at how my life reflects his. While this is nonfiction and it is hard to disclose personal information about your life when you already put so much out there via YouTube, I do wish there was more closure with Josh. Even if he didn't share much more of his relationship with Ashley, I would have liked more of the personal revelation.
However, this was a fun, quick, and fantastic read. Highly recommend Josh's book!
Memoir: This memoir is very entertaining. In his mid-twenties, Josh (who is also a cancer survivor and amputee) approaches the fact that he hasn’t really ever had a girlfriend using a scientific approach. He gives background on each missed/failed potential girlfriend and then a hypothesis and investigation where he meets/talks with each girl to find out what when wrong. The book also includes charts and tables. The setup is very unique.
Read this review and others on my blog: The Library Princess
**This review is based on an ARC from Netgalley, it releases on 12/23.
Okay, I’ll admit I am not much of a nonfiction reader. I usually find them tedious and repetitive to make my way through. However, I did not feel that was the case with this book. It reads very much like a fiction book, which was the first benefit to me; but, it is also funny so that is another plus. Josh is trying to figure out why he has never had a “real” girlfriend so he goes back and examines each pseudo-relationship he has had from Junior High and up. For each girl he talks about, he gives an in-depth background of how he met her, what their “relationship” was like, and where it went wrong. He then gives a short hypothesis and what he thinks happened and does an investigation by meeting with them in present-day and talking about their past. With some of them, he can easily find out what happened and with others he is still baffled as to what happened between them. Josh is eventually able to discover what it is that is keeping him from finding the right girl and having an actual relationship with her and the book ends with his present situation (not saying anything else!). Again, I am admittedly not a nonfiction reader, but I can see myself recommending this title to my high school students, boys and girls, easily and being able to talk about it in a way that will interest them. It is also a quick read, which is always a benefit for many of my students.
My rating: 4/5
**This review is based on an ARC from Netgalley, it releases on 12/23.
Okay, I’ll admit I am not much of a nonfiction reader. I usually find them tedious and repetitive to make my way through. However, I did not feel that was the case with this book. It reads very much like a fiction book, which was the first benefit to me; but, it is also funny so that is another plus. Josh is trying to figure out why he has never had a “real” girlfriend so he goes back and examines each pseudo-relationship he has had from Junior High and up. For each girl he talks about, he gives an in-depth background of how he met her, what their “relationship” was like, and where it went wrong. He then gives a short hypothesis and what he thinks happened and does an investigation by meeting with them in present-day and talking about their past. With some of them, he can easily find out what happened and with others he is still baffled as to what happened between them. Josh is eventually able to discover what it is that is keeping him from finding the right girl and having an actual relationship with her and the book ends with his present situation (not saying anything else!). Again, I am admittedly not a nonfiction reader, but I can see myself recommending this title to my high school students, boys and girls, easily and being able to talk about it in a way that will interest them. It is also a quick read, which is always a benefit for many of my students.
My rating: 4/5
More like a 2.5 star book. It wasn't bad and it was a fast and easy read, but I found some of the things that were written to be annoying and even vaguely offensive. I just didn't take a whole lot away from this book and it didn't have much of an impact. Meh.
[If I could I would give this a 3.5]
There were times I loved this book and times I hated it. I found myself identifying with the author and also loathing him, mainly because his poor romantic decisions mirrored so many of my own. There is nothing groundbreaking or particularly memorable in this book, but it was interesting nonetheless.
Sundquist goes through the ladies in his past, from middle school - mid 20s, sharing the background of how they met, what went wrong, and then what happened when he contacted them to see why nothing worked out between them. This is the book version of when a friend tells you about their significant romantic moments in life. Hijinks, miscommunication, embarrassment - it's all here. The author is appropriately self-deprecating, and most of the girls he writes about end up looking better than he does [though "Stella the Stalker" certainly probably did not appreciate her depiction]. The book is peppered with amusing infographics and is a quick read - I finished it in a few hours.
In the end, the target audience for this book [teenagers] probably would enjoy reading it. As a teacher, my students are rarely more engaged then when I'm telling them stories much like these, full of romantic potential and failure - peppered with jokes and commentary. I only wish that the author, as a motivational speaker, had done more to connect his story with his audience. Although he learned a lot from these experiences, the lessons seemed to be specific to him, his life circumstances [his leg was amputated at age 9 from cancer], and his story. As a former homeschooler I related to him, but I'm not sure most teenagers would feel the same. Ultimately I think this is a quick, fast, enjoyable but forgettable read.
Thank you to NetGalley and Little, Brown Books for Young Readers for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
There were times I loved this book and times I hated it. I found myself identifying with the author and also loathing him, mainly because his poor romantic decisions mirrored so many of my own. There is nothing groundbreaking or particularly memorable in this book, but it was interesting nonetheless.
Sundquist goes through the ladies in his past, from middle school - mid 20s, sharing the background of how they met, what went wrong, and then what happened when he contacted them to see why nothing worked out between them. This is the book version of when a friend tells you about their significant romantic moments in life. Hijinks, miscommunication, embarrassment - it's all here. The author is appropriately self-deprecating, and most of the girls he writes about end up looking better than he does [though "Stella the Stalker" certainly probably did not appreciate her depiction]. The book is peppered with amusing infographics and is a quick read - I finished it in a few hours.
In the end, the target audience for this book [teenagers] probably would enjoy reading it. As a teacher, my students are rarely more engaged then when I'm telling them stories much like these, full of romantic potential and failure - peppered with jokes and commentary. I only wish that the author, as a motivational speaker, had done more to connect his story with his audience. Although he learned a lot from these experiences, the lessons seemed to be specific to him, his life circumstances [his leg was amputated at age 9 from cancer], and his story. As a former homeschooler I related to him, but I'm not sure most teenagers would feel the same. Ultimately I think this is a quick, fast, enjoyable but forgettable read.
Thank you to NetGalley and Little, Brown Books for Young Readers for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
This was honestly so great. After reading this I am definitely going to be subscribing to Josh's YouTube channel bc I NEED MORE
I didn't know this book was a memoir until I started reading it! If I would have know that i probably wouldn't have thought it! But I'm so glad that I did! This was a great book about a man coming to the conclusion that he was insecure and not that girls didn't like him. Throughout the book there was a lot of awkwardness and cuteness and I couldnt help but feel bad for Josh because he was helpless. From what I read his parents didn't really help him with anything relationship related. But that's okay he figured it out himself. This was a super fast and easy read and I reccomend it to anyone who like romance with lots of blunders, a story from a man's perspective and humor.
I give it a 95%. As with most books, the end just didn't satisfy me.
Good balance of humor and reflection. I definitely related to a lot of Josh's experiences.