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anniekatherine's review against another edition
3.0
I wasn’t the biggest fan of this book- but the friendships were really great and sweet.
serendipitysbooks's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Most Likely opens with a woman and her husband in the moments before her inauguration as President of the United States. It then travels back to the senior year of high school for four best friends, one of whom will go on to be that President. As a reader part of the fun is trying to guess whether it is Martha or Ava or CJ or Jordan. This is a story of strong female friendship, of four young women who have each other’s backs. It is not a heavy book although it does include some heavy topics including adoption, disability, mental health, money issues, race, gentrification and more. The final year of high school, at least in America, is filled with a lot of stress and high stake events like SAT tests and college applications. By looking at four different young women, one of whom becomes President, this book raises the issue of whether future success and achievement, or even direction more generally, can be predicted by a person’s achievements or interests during their high school years. I’m not sure how I feel about the way the story ended. In some ways the book may have been stronger had the President’s identity not been revealed. The ending also contained an unexpected plot twist, which felt a little unnecessary since it didn’t add anything substantial to the story. I was disappointed by how interchangeable the girls came across on the page. None of them had distinctive voices and I often struggled to keep them straight. Overall though this was a quick, enjoyable read.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Ableism
elizabethhollar97's review against another edition
4.0
4.5
This book was so surprisingly good!!
I picked up an ARC of this at Yallfest 2019 without knowing what it was really about. Someone handed it to me and I was like "oh thanks," but I knew nothing of the synopsis. I don't usually take ARCs that I know nothing about, but I'm so happy that I took this one.
Most Likely is about four girls-CJ, Jordan, Ava, and Martha-in their senior year of high-school. The novel shows the ups and down that come with being a senior in high school, whether that be regarding what college they'll go to and how they'll get the money, or how they will succeed with their desired career.
The thing that I loved the most about the book was the friendship. I loved these friendship that these girls shared because I never had that in high school, so I enjoyed reading about it. I found each girl's voice very distinct and I was never confused as to who I was reading from. These girls were so tangible because they were facing real problems, some of them that I even faced in high school.
I feel like I can't give the book a full 5 stars because there was one thing that happened in the middle of the book that frustrated me to no end. I loved that book had a romance for each girl, but the plot wasn't solely focused on each girl *needing* a romance.
Overall, I was definitely recommend this book if you were looking for a fun book revolving around friendship and how far friends will go to help each other.
This book was so surprisingly good!!
I picked up an ARC of this at Yallfest 2019 without knowing what it was really about. Someone handed it to me and I was like "oh thanks," but I knew nothing of the synopsis. I don't usually take ARCs that I know nothing about, but I'm so happy that I took this one.
Most Likely is about four girls-CJ, Jordan, Ava, and Martha-in their senior year of high-school. The novel shows the ups and down that come with being a senior in high school, whether that be regarding what college they'll go to and how they'll get the money, or how they will succeed with their desired career.
The thing that I loved the most about the book was the friendship. I loved these friendship that these girls shared because I never had that in high school, so I enjoyed reading about it. I found each girl's voice very distinct and I was never confused as to who I was reading from. These girls were so tangible because they were facing real problems, some of them that I even faced in high school.
I feel like I can't give the book a full 5 stars because there was one thing that happened in the middle of the book that frustrated me to no end. I loved that book had a romance for each girl, but the plot wasn't solely focused on each girl *needing* a romance.
Overall, I was definitely recommend this book if you were looking for a fun book revolving around friendship and how far friends will go to help each other.
stenaros's review against another edition
4.0
A great hook: It's 2049 and a woman is about to be sworn in as president. We learn that she and her husband met in high school.
We then travel back to present day and follow four friends as they navigate through their senior year. Which of them is the future president? Sara Watson makes it hard to tell (because we only know the future First Husband's last name), but it's fun to speculate.
We then travel back to present day and follow four friends as they navigate through their senior year. Which of them is the future president? Sara Watson makes it hard to tell (because we only know the future First Husband's last name), but it's fun to speculate.
kalethedevil's review against another edition
3.0
i didn't much like the characters nor the writing nor the plot, really. i just don't care. sorry. premise made me think mystery but ig not.
lesleymay's review against another edition
1.0
This book absolutely did not live up to its very intriguing premise.
First, the book is framed horribly. The first 4 pages are the first female president talking to her husband, who has a unique last name. Then the next 98% of the book is standard senior year of high school YA, but the future husband with the interesting last name is also a main character. So the book essentially becomes "who gets the guy?" There is a small twist at the end that changes that up, literally in the last 5 or so pages, and it doesn't matter anymore, because the book is, ya know, over.
All the characters are hard to keep track of (I could follow their storylines, but not which character was which. Was Ava the artist/orphan or the poor movie theater worker?) I wished there was more actual lead up to the becoming of president - it could be literally any of the girls, again, until the last 5-10 pages. And then when you figure it out (because of last names), it jumps back ahead to when she is president, getting sworn in, for a couple pages.
ALSO, is nobody going to talk about how creepy the journalist storyline is? It is completely glazed over in the book. 17 year old Jordan is a high school newspaper journalist, and pretends to be a college graduate-aged journalist so a city council employee will "take her seriously." He's a college graduate, so it's safe to assume 22-25 years old. They go out once that is essentially a date, and again that is a full-fledged date. She likes him because he's an adult and makes her feel like an adult. When she finally admits to him that she will be 18 in a few hours, he ditches (good for him), but then that's it. That's the end of that storyline. Nothing to be like "hey that was gross and she was wrong for thinking that dating older men made her interesting/mature/adult/whatever. Here's why it was gross." Just nothing. Ugh.
First, the book is framed horribly. The first 4 pages are the first female president talking to her husband, who has a unique last name. Then the next 98% of the book is standard senior year of high school YA, but the future husband with the interesting last name is also a main character. So the book essentially becomes "who gets the guy?" There is a small twist at the end that changes that up, literally in the last 5 or so pages, and it doesn't matter anymore, because the book is, ya know, over.
All the characters are hard to keep track of (I could follow their storylines, but not which character was which. Was Ava the artist/orphan or the poor movie theater worker?) I wished there was more actual lead up to the becoming of president - it could be literally any of the girls, again, until the last 5-10 pages. And then when you figure it out (because of last names), it jumps back ahead to when she is president, getting sworn in, for a couple pages.
ALSO, is nobody going to talk about how creepy the journalist storyline is? It is completely glazed over in the book. 17 year old Jordan is a high school newspaper journalist, and pretends to be a college graduate-aged journalist so a city council employee will "take her seriously." He's a college graduate, so it's safe to assume 22-25 years old. They go out once that is essentially a date, and again that is a full-fledged date. She likes him because he's an adult and makes her feel like an adult. When she finally admits to him that she will be 18 in a few hours, he ditches (good for him), but then that's it. That's the end of that storyline. Nothing to be like "hey that was gross and she was wrong for thinking that dating older men made her interesting/mature/adult/whatever. Here's why it was gross." Just nothing. Ugh.
bookmarkedbylauren's review against another edition
emotional
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? Yes
4.0
amandabethslibrary's review against another edition
3.0
A fellow bookstagrammer recently highlighted problematic elements of this storyline, and upon reflection I completely agree. I feel guilty for not speaking out about these issues in my original review, but that’s part of the learning process! A white woman writing Black and brown main characters is wrong, and this also caused other issues such as a lack of focus on the trauma of trans-racial adoption. I love politics so much that I think I got caught up in that part of the storyline and didn’t use my critical eye while reading.
ORIGINAL REVIEW: I love politics, so the subtle political themes throughout this book kept me hooked. I enjoyed learning about each of the four friends and seeing them grow throughout the novel, especially as they wrestled with important questions about their identity, family and future. It was also interesting to know before starting it that one of the girls would be President one day (it says it on the back cover AND there’s an intro about it)—it was a good reminder that our country’s highest-level leaders are just regular people too! There were also several twists, which made me enjoy it even more. I’m only giving three stars though because this book felt a littleeee elementary at some points, as if it was written for a much younger audience (granted it is a YA novel, and the main characters are in high school, but still). Additionally, the book was hard to follow for a while at first. While it doesn’t switch perspectives since it’s in third person, its descriptions of each of the four characters were hard to keep straight until 100 pages in or so. *Not to mention the recent issues brought to light by another bookstagrammer mentioned above.*
ORIGINAL REVIEW: I love politics, so the subtle political themes throughout this book kept me hooked. I enjoyed learning about each of the four friends and seeing them grow throughout the novel, especially as they wrestled with important questions about their identity, family and future. It was also interesting to know before starting it that one of the girls would be President one day (it says it on the back cover AND there’s an intro about it)—it was a good reminder that our country’s highest-level leaders are just regular people too! There were also several twists, which made me enjoy it even more. I’m only giving three stars though because this book felt a littleeee elementary at some points, as if it was written for a much younger audience (granted it is a YA novel, and the main characters are in high school, but still). Additionally, the book was hard to follow for a while at first. While it doesn’t switch perspectives since it’s in third person, its descriptions of each of the four characters were hard to keep straight until 100 pages in or so. *Not to mention the recent issues brought to light by another bookstagrammer mentioned above.*