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3.77 AVERAGE
3.77 AVERAGE
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Thank you to both Goodreads and Simon & Schuster for hosting the giveaway that allowed me to receive a finished copy of this book!
It's a 4.5. Maybe even higher than that. But it doesn't feel right to give it a five star. I'm pretty particular about those.
Lee is a flawed protagonist. A "messy bisexual." As a bisexual, I freaking hate that term. It can be hard to like a protagonist who gives your entire sexuality a bad rap. I get that that's the point. I respect Lee's polyamory. When I noticed that this book had been tagged polyamorous, I was so excited. And I liked that part. If you have any polyamorous book recs (especially if they're YA) please send them my way. I've just had some bad experiences with literally to my face being told I'll probably cheat on any partners I have because I'm bi. So I struggle with Lee. Also, I'm not really into the pretentious artist thing, but it really wasn't so bad here, especially after the first chapter when I thought that would be half the book.
I really like all the family dynamics in this book. Lee's family, both her parents and also their friends, seems so loving and realistically flawed. It was one of my favorite aspects of the book, as it often is.
Max and Risa were my favorite characters. Max was obviously so cool and Risa could have been super interesting if just a little more focus had been put on her.
Lastly, podcasts in books are apparently a thing I love. Obviously, I LOVE Radio Silence by Alice Oseman and I read the first chunk of Sadie by Courtney Summers. (I'll probably finish it one day.) The podcast sections were my favorite parts of the book. If you know any books with podcasts in them (ideally not thriller) please recommend so to me as well. Thank you! :)
It's a 4.5. Maybe even higher than that. But it doesn't feel right to give it a five star. I'm pretty particular about those.
Lee is a flawed protagonist. A "messy bisexual." As a bisexual, I freaking hate that term.
I really like all the family dynamics in this book. Lee's family, both her parents and also their friends, seems so loving and realistically flawed. It was one of my favorite aspects of the book, as it often is.
Max and Risa were my favorite characters. Max was obviously so cool and Risa could have been super interesting if just a little more focus had been put on her.
Lastly, podcasts in books are apparently a thing I love. Obviously, I LOVE Radio Silence by Alice Oseman and I read the first chunk of Sadie by Courtney Summers. (I'll probably finish it one day.) The podcast sections were my favorite parts of the book. If you know any books with podcasts in them (ideally not thriller) please recommend so to me as well. Thank you! :)
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I'm not going to lie, I really struggled with how to rate this book. There was a lot about it that I really liked: I liked the podcast element, I thought some of the conversations were really powerful, and I think some of the representation was great, specifically the enby rep (which I can own-voices review). However I really don't know how to feel about the main character, and how she explored her bisexuality and polyamory. Mild spoilers, but she did so through cheating, and whilst the book certainly made that out to be a bad thing, there weren't as many consequences for that as it should have been, and I honestly don't think we need books that have this story line. It's harmful to portray cheating as simply a result of being polyamorous and not knowing it. Speaking of the main character, I didn't really like her. I didn't hate her, but I had absolutely no connection to her. She did feel very realistic in the sense that she didn't always make the right decisions and felt very messy, but I just didn't connect to her for some reason. I did like Max, but he was basically the only character I cared about. I also wasn't the biggest fan of the writing style, but that's not at all a fault of the book, just personal preference. There was only really one mood throughout the book, this sort of strange melancholy, and if that was the goal it was well done, but it also just meant I didn't really have a good time reading it. However, even though I'm criticising it a lot, there was just something about the book that made me like it. I think maybe because it felt so truthful? I would believe that this was a snippet of a real person's life, and that made it very realistic (but also not especially interesting). I seriously don't know how I felt about this.
Content Warnings
Minor: Homophobia, Religious bigotry
Cheating
challenging
emotional
hopeful
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:
Yes
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was such a messy book because of how messy the main character is, but I really liked it. I thought it was a pretty unique concept and I enjoyed the podcast parts and the format. I really really love that this book had poly rep because that is so hard to find! This character is definitely not an ideal representation of what it means to be poly but I also think those parts were pointed out well. Even though this character cheats and that is a huge stereotype for bisexual and polyamorous people, but that stereotype is pointed out and it's clear from the characters that this isn't supposed to be a positive representation of that group. I also really loved Max and thought he was a great character to stabilize what was going on with Lee!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity
Minor: Homophobia, Racism
I felt like I was struggling to get through the book. I don’t know if it was the main character or the way the book was written but something about it wasn’t vibing with me. Maybe I’ll pick it up again one day but for now I just wasn’t feeling it.