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em16's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
mpp_reads's review
2.0
Love, Decoded is billed as an “Emma” retelling, which wasn’t a problem for me. However, there are several issues with the characters and plot in this book that didn’t work for me. The YA rom-com market is very crowded and I feel that it's easy for authors to underestimate their audience. Love, Decoded, despite being STEM-infused was not as “smart” as I hoped.
The main character Gigi is an extremely wealthy girl who attends a private prep school on the upper east side. She lives in a six-story townhouse with an elevator, a private chef, a personal driver, etc… The overwhelming majority of teen readers will find her utterly unrelatable because literally, she is. Furthermore, she tries to “fix” her disadvantaged friend (side character Etta) by taking her to a boutique and then acts confused when her new friend can’t afford a bus fare let alone a 400-dollar sweater. I found it noisome that the author made her characters remark on “metal mouth” boys with bad skin as undatable and “below them” socially. Everyone was very focused on their looks and the conversational depth exhibited by the entire cast of characters was thin as tissue paper. The excessive use of slang and trends will date this book very rapidly. Honestly, I couldn’t ascertain the target audience for this one. STEM girls will want something way smarter than Gigi and her stick-figure crew. All rom-com audiences will want more romance (it was a tertiary plotline) and comedy (it wasn’t there).
The main character Gigi is an extremely wealthy girl who attends a private prep school on the upper east side. She lives in a six-story townhouse with an elevator, a private chef, a personal driver, etc… The overwhelming majority of teen readers will find her utterly unrelatable because literally, she is. Furthermore, she tries to “fix” her disadvantaged friend (side character Etta) by taking her to a boutique and then acts confused when her new friend can’t afford a bus fare let alone a 400-dollar sweater. I found it noisome that the author made her characters remark on “metal mouth” boys with bad skin as undatable and “below them” socially. Everyone was very focused on their looks and the conversational depth exhibited by the entire cast of characters was thin as tissue paper. The excessive use of slang and trends will date this book very rapidly. Honestly, I couldn’t ascertain the target audience for this one. STEM girls will want something way smarter than Gigi and her stick-figure crew. All rom-com audiences will want more romance (it was a tertiary plotline) and comedy (it wasn’t there).
sabulis's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
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? Yes
4.25
maidmarianlib's review
emotional
funny
lighthearted
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? No
4.0
Playful and fun, feels a lot like Jane Austen's Emma, strong characters and love the main female character is a coder.
mayar_reading_stuff's review
2.0
1.5/5
I did not enjoy this at all.
I appreciate the author's choice to have a flawed protagonist, but that's about it.
The love story wasn't interesting, the characters were not interesting, and the climax was so frustrating.
I did not enjoy this at all.
I appreciate the author's choice to have a flawed protagonist, but that's about it.
The love story wasn't interesting, the characters were not interesting, and the climax was so frustrating.
toriiareads's review
lighthearted
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? No
1.5
aprilbooksandwine's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
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? It's complicated
3.5
phua_jieying's review against another edition
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
xeponine89's review
emotional
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0