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hkbarnes14's review
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
fast-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
5.0
tropic_anaaa's review against another edition
4.0
First off, I'll start by saying that I tried to be as objective as I could with this novel, because I do love Carrie and I want to love everything she does. Regardless of my feelingns about her, I found this book absolutely wonderful. It was whimsical and heartbreaking and beautiful. It had such fantastical elements, yet maintained such a real story about love and loss. I liked that it was unbelievable and still held such truth at its center. It was fun and hopeful, and it was the kind of book that broke my heart and helped piece it back together. I'm thoroughly impressed.
gingerbread_void's review against another edition
5.0
I had a really hard time reviewing this book. My heart was screaming at me give it a full five stars while my cynical side was telling me to give it closer to 3 stars. In most cases I go with my head rather than my heart but in this situation I had to go with my heart.
I do plan on saying the problems I had with this book but first I want to say why I gave this book five stars. There is a trend I have noticed over the past few months when it comes to book reviews and that trend is excessive cynicism. I know that as someone who does book reviews we are supposed to be honest but I feel like in our quest for honesty we sometimes forget to just feel a book. Now like I said this book was not perfect but it mad me feel something. This book made me feel warm and fuzzy. I stopped multiple times while reading this book and I had to just think about what Carrie was saying. This book was so full of love. It is clear that Carrie poured her heart and soul into this book. The book also had such a beautiful melody; it was almost like song. I knew ahead of time that the book was written in a way that is similar to that of a musical so that didn’t bother me. It enhanced the experience for me.This book also had a very nice set of LGBTQ characters. The book did a good job of touching on a characters sexuality without making it that characters’ only discernible trait. Along with well written LGBTQ characters this book also holds the most beautiful description of pansexuality I have ever read. I could probably spend thousands of words trying to explain why I love this book and why it made me feel so full but I don’t want this to be unbalanced so I need to move on.
Like I said earlier this book has issues and it is only fair that I talk about them. I will be the first to admit that the writing felt a bit awkward and a bit fiddly in places. There where places where the grammar seemed to go unchecked. Over all the book did feel like it could have used one more read through by an editor but none of that really through me off the story. The only glaring thing that made me feel a bit out of place while reading the story was the bits of random magical realism. They seemed a bit out of place. Their overall effect gave the story this childlike sense of wonder but I did feel like they were glossed over. While I knew the book was meant to be one of magical realism I still felt a bit through off. I am a person who likes things to be fulling explained to me before I can even begin to except them and the magic in this book just seemed to happen. There was no indication that magic existed out side of Evie’s family and at times it felt like things were meant to be metaphorical. I know other people had more issues with this book but that was all I found that really bothered me.
I said before that with this book I chose to go with my heart instead of my head and I think that perfectly sums up what this book is about.
I do plan on saying the problems I had with this book but first I want to say why I gave this book five stars. There is a trend I have noticed over the past few months when it comes to book reviews and that trend is excessive cynicism. I know that as someone who does book reviews we are supposed to be honest but I feel like in our quest for honesty we sometimes forget to just feel a book. Now like I said this book was not perfect but it mad me feel something. This book made me feel warm and fuzzy. I stopped multiple times while reading this book and I had to just think about what Carrie was saying. This book was so full of love. It is clear that Carrie poured her heart and soul into this book. The book also had such a beautiful melody; it was almost like song. I knew ahead of time that the book was written in a way that is similar to that of a musical so that didn’t bother me. It enhanced the experience for me.This book also had a very nice set of LGBTQ characters. The book did a good job of touching on a characters sexuality without making it that characters’ only discernible trait. Along with well written LGBTQ characters this book also holds the most beautiful description of pansexuality I have ever read. I could probably spend thousands of words trying to explain why I love this book and why it made me feel so full but I don’t want this to be unbalanced so I need to move on.
Like I said earlier this book has issues and it is only fair that I talk about them. I will be the first to admit that the writing felt a bit awkward and a bit fiddly in places. There where places where the grammar seemed to go unchecked. Over all the book did feel like it could have used one more read through by an editor but none of that really through me off the story. The only glaring thing that made me feel a bit out of place while reading the story was the bits of random magical realism. They seemed a bit out of place. Their overall effect gave the story this childlike sense of wonder but I did feel like they were glossed over. While I knew the book was meant to be one of magical realism I still felt a bit through off. I am a person who likes things to be fulling explained to me before I can even begin to except them and the magic in this book just seemed to happen. There was no indication that magic existed out side of Evie’s family and at times it felt like things were meant to be metaphorical. I know other people had more issues with this book but that was all I found that really bothered me.
I said before that with this book I chose to go with my heart instead of my head and I think that perfectly sums up what this book is about.
maiaiaia's review
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
lauraxbakker's review against another edition
3.0
This was a cute, average contemporary book. I had higher hopes of this and felt like there was a lot that could have been erased and made this a more enjoyable and compact read but oh well!
a_crazy_girl's review
4.0
This book is another reason for why I need more stars. I don’t want to put it on the same level as some books I’ve given three stars because it’s better than that. However, I don’t really want to give it four stars either because it wasn’t as good as some other books I’ve given four stars.
This is a solid 3,5 stars.
This is a solid 3,5 stars.
mholleronsilk's review
1.0
Ok. Here we go. Brace yourselves. This book...was awful. I had an afternoon off and considering I'd been recommended this book and been told that it was quite a quick and light hearted read, I thought I'd enjoy it with a glass of lemonade outside. How wrong I was. This book dragged on and on but that wasn't what made me hate this book. Yes, hate. I can safely say that I haven't been more glad to give a book back to a charity shop in a long time.
So firstly the writing. The author, a Miss Carrie Hope Fletcher, is well known in the online community for her YouTube videos on; books, life, music etc. and this book is her first novel but the follow up text to her "Self help/guide to life" she wrote the first time around. I have not read this but after 'On the Other Side' I'm sad to say I probably never will. I think she probably should have stuck to acting and YouTube videos because the writing in this was below average, I'm pretty sure I have read Year 6 stories that are better than this. For one, this is not advertised as a middle-grade book but from the style of the writing you would think it was written by someone that age. The plot lack integrity and did not grip or enthral me as a reader. It was simple and basic, with characters called Evie Snow and Vincent Winters or Sonny Shine. Urghh, how boring.
I am rather disappointed as I had been told so many wonderful things about this book and was intrigued by how she would explore the idea of an 'other side'. But really this was a basic book that had not been developed or explored enough for a novel. The 'stories' that explained each one of Evie's secrets felt like filler rather than the key parts of the novel I believe they were meant to play. I found the writing slightly nauseating if I am honest and the sickly sweet tone of it just was not for me. Maybe it's just me and this genre is simply not my cup of tea. But I think simply the style of writing is enough to put anyone off and to be honest I am sad that publishers are now investing in anyone who has more than 100,000 subscribers on YouTube when there are so many talented writers not getting the recognition that they deserve! Honestly, I could rant about this for hours but I will keep it short and stop here. I will leave you on 5 words that I believe perfectly summarise this book:
What a pile of shit.
So firstly the writing. The author, a Miss Carrie Hope Fletcher, is well known in the online community for her YouTube videos on; books, life, music etc. and this book is her first novel but the follow up text to her "Self help/guide to life" she wrote the first time around. I have not read this but after 'On the Other Side' I'm sad to say I probably never will. I think she probably should have stuck to acting and YouTube videos because the writing in this was below average, I'm pretty sure I have read Year 6 stories that are better than this. For one, this is not advertised as a middle-grade book but from the style of the writing you would think it was written by someone that age. The plot lack integrity and did not grip or enthral me as a reader. It was simple and basic, with characters called Evie Snow and Vincent Winters or Sonny Shine. Urghh, how boring.
I am rather disappointed as I had been told so many wonderful things about this book and was intrigued by how she would explore the idea of an 'other side'. But really this was a basic book that had not been developed or explored enough for a novel. The 'stories' that explained each one of Evie's secrets felt like filler rather than the key parts of the novel I believe they were meant to play. I found the writing slightly nauseating if I am honest and the sickly sweet tone of it just was not for me. Maybe it's just me and this genre is simply not my cup of tea. But I think simply the style of writing is enough to put anyone off and to be honest I am sad that publishers are now investing in anyone who has more than 100,000 subscribers on YouTube when there are so many talented writers not getting the recognition that they deserve! Honestly, I could rant about this for hours but I will keep it short and stop here. I will leave you on 5 words that I believe perfectly summarise this book:
What a pile of shit.
peachteayay's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
emmanovella's review against another edition
5.0
I'm pretty much legally not allowed to discuss anything within the book so all I will say is that this book reminded me why I love reading.
This is the first book in a long, loooong time where I've been sucked into it - to the point that, although I've been exhausted and wanting to go to bed, I've said "one more chapter" and then realised it's an hour and a half later and I've finished the book.
It's also one of the few books to make me feel strong emotions all the way through - so much so that I spent the last 40 pages or so sobbing and when I closed the book I hugged it because it was just so beautiful.
Book of 2016 (and to be honest, the rest of my life) you have a LOT to live up to
This is the first book in a long, loooong time where I've been sucked into it - to the point that, although I've been exhausted and wanting to go to bed, I've said "one more chapter" and then realised it's an hour and a half later and I've finished the book.
It's also one of the few books to make me feel strong emotions all the way through - so much so that I spent the last 40 pages or so sobbing and when I closed the book I hugged it because it was just so beautiful.
Book of 2016 (and to be honest, the rest of my life) you have a LOT to live up to
homeofthefangirl's review against another edition
5.0
I bought this book when it was first released but I only read the first couple of chapters. Today I finally read it properly after all this time. I loved it. I stopped reading properly at least 6-7 years ago which I used to read constantly. I didn’t flinch buying this book years later when Carrie announced it’s release but I never got round to reading it properly until today when I had the sudden urge, almost like something woke up inside me. What are the odds the first book I’ve read in years made me so emotional reading it and how the story was so perfect for my mood.