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kaikai1618's review against another edition
This book was just amazing. What I loved about this book is that it didn't need to have an extensively intricate plot line to keep it going, or more and more drama. The book had one point of drama and didn't try to overdue anything to try and keep the reader's attention. Everything was just naturally interesting. It wasn't the main plot that was meant to be intriguing, but the characters. I loved these characters. They were all flawed, and all had distinct personalities. Different POVs even sometimes had different formats to show the patterns of the character's thoughts. It was written so well in an easily visual way. I appreciated that this book wasn't bullshiting at all. The book wasn't brutally honest, but it was honest in the way that it never tried to make any of the characters seem perfect, and it never resolved every situation in a happily ever after way. The book has a good mix of closure, and realisticness in how the characters are still flawed and still carry burdens like all people do no matter what, yet the characters do change or learn more about themselves from their experiences. They still have the seven deadly sins within them, but they're okay.
I felt like each character had something going for them. They were all understandable complex characters.
Kat who was angry at her mom for leaving and gave up on so much when it came to school, family, and interacting with people in general.
Olivia who's sense of humor got my attention from chapter one and who instead of being angry about her mom, tried to fill the empty puzzle piece with boys who couldn't help her and never treated her right.
Claire who couldn't help but feel like a constant third wheel to her friends and kept comparing herself to them. She needed to deal with her insecurities and the person that she came to be over the years from her own self loathing.
Juniper who seemed so perfect on the outside but had such an interesting almost manic way of thinking while in the fits of disapproved love that pulled at her every day.
Matt who people see as the slacker junkie, but who is there for the ones her cares about and needed to get out of the numbing and hopeless nothing he accepted for himself. As if he couldn't be more.
Valentine who was always blunt and felt isolated and like an outsider to the rest of the school. He had large reinforced walls all his life that when broken down, held an understanding and truly loyal friend.
Lucas, the guy people seem to like and who isn't out of the closet yet on a sexuality no one probably even heard about. The guy who seems like he's all good with him smiling all the time. But he has his secrets with the greed in him and the fear of people finding out more than he wants them to know about him.
All these characters were all so interesting and the concept of being human was so well put through the story.
What I liked about the end is that though I felt like I wanted just a little bit more, we had pretty good closure on everyone.
Kat and Olivia talked with their dad and sorted out how absent he's felt. The hole their mom left isn't healed but their family is mending itself from the drifting state it was in before. We see that Kat changes and lets go of something in her when she's on stage. She seems to feel like a part of some weight was lifted for her shoulders.
Olivia got closure not only from her family getting better, but also from a relationship with Matt.
Matt helped her through some problems and was there to talk even before their relationship became anything more.
In turn we have Matt who ended up trying more, and seemed to find he liked reading. His parents are still getting divorced, but he's going to be okay even though it's tough. He also stopped smoking, and doesn't really miss it.
Claire made a bad mistake, but in the end she realizes what she did, and it gets to her how much she was beating herself down and comparing herself to her friends all this time. How her jokes became barbed. But she turned herself in for what she did to Lucas. I just feel like I wish I got a little bit more about what happened when Claire told the school, yet she seemed lighter and like she understood herself more. She tried to mend things. I think that Claire was a character that many people wouldn't like from her personality that seems so spiteful and envious. But I think that she was an important character in the sense that the way she thought and compared herself to others was very realistic in the minds of people in general. And there are many people who get caught up in judging themselves cruelly. No one wants to hear those thoughts, but how does that take away from them being there in so many? It was truthful in my opinion.
When it came to Juniper, her entire situation was very complex. In the end there was a clean and even break between David and her, and though she still loves him, she finds herself okay and not broken like she was before. She seems like she's also stronger now for when she heads into the future. I feel like the frantic poetryesc thoughts she has simmered down to a sad reluctance and then acceptance.
What I appreciated for Lucas and Valentine is that Valentine is a good friends and there for Lucas. Lucas shows this tired part of himself from now choosing not to hide and to tell things how they are. Lucas really likes Valentine, but in the end Valentine is still straight. But all the no homo bullshit is out the window. Valentine still wants to be friends and ultimately they are very good for each other. I found this surprising and very different. In most books, Lucas would kiss Valentine and then Valentine would feel the same way and they would be all happy. But this wasn't some love story contemporary. I like how there was actually only one couple in the entire book. Realistically, their school is as Lucas said is "aggressively heterosexual" (that was basically the best line in the entire book) and the first guy Lucas really hangs out with and lets himself like, won't necessarily happen to like guys. And I love how we didn't have Burke who was reading The Gay Science to be with Lucas either. Not all people who happen to have compatible sexualities will end up together. And though it would have been nice if Valentine and Lucas were together, Valentine doesn't make it weird and they're okay. It's different and I like it. I respect it.
All in all I really enjoyed this book. Right after I'm going to read NoteWorthy because that plot sounds so interesting. Honestly this book was so interesting and different on the approach of how to tell a story. I thoroughly enjoyed it and I'll read it again.
Fantastically done.
I felt like each character had something going for them. They were all understandable complex characters.
Kat who was angry at her mom for leaving and gave up on so much when it came to school, family, and interacting with people in general.
Olivia who's sense of humor got my attention from chapter one and who instead of being angry about her mom, tried to fill the empty puzzle piece with boys who couldn't help her and never treated her right.
Claire who couldn't help but feel like a constant third wheel to her friends and kept comparing herself to them. She needed to deal with her insecurities and the person that she came to be over the years from her own self loathing.
Juniper who seemed so perfect on the outside but had such an interesting almost manic way of thinking while in the fits of disapproved love that pulled at her every day.
Matt who people see as the slacker junkie, but who is there for the ones her cares about and needed to get out of the numbing and hopeless nothing he accepted for himself. As if he couldn't be more.
Valentine who was always blunt and felt isolated and like an outsider to the rest of the school. He had large reinforced walls all his life that when broken down, held an understanding and truly loyal friend.
Lucas, the guy people seem to like and who isn't out of the closet yet on a sexuality no one probably even heard about. The guy who seems like he's all good with him smiling all the time. But he has his secrets with the greed in him and the fear of people finding out more than he wants them to know about him.
All these characters were all so interesting and the concept of being human was so well put through the story.
What I liked about the end is that though I felt like I wanted just a little bit more, we had pretty good closure on everyone.
Kat and Olivia talked with their dad and sorted out how absent he's felt. The hole their mom left isn't healed but their family is mending itself from the drifting state it was in before. We see that Kat changes and lets go of something in her when she's on stage. She seems to feel like a part of some weight was lifted for her shoulders.
Olivia got closure not only from her family getting better, but also from a relationship with Matt.
Matt helped her through some problems and was there to talk even before their relationship became anything more.
In turn we have Matt who ended up trying more, and seemed to find he liked reading. His parents are still getting divorced, but he's going to be okay even though it's tough. He also stopped smoking, and doesn't really miss it.
Claire made a bad mistake, but in the end she realizes what she did, and it gets to her how much she was beating herself down and comparing herself to her friends all this time. How her jokes became barbed. But she turned herself in for what she did to Lucas. I just feel like I wish I got a little bit more about what happened when Claire told the school, yet she seemed lighter and like she understood herself more. She tried to mend things. I think that Claire was a character that many people wouldn't like from her personality that seems so spiteful and envious. But I think that she was an important character in the sense that the way she thought and compared herself to others was very realistic in the minds of people in general. And there are many people who get caught up in judging themselves cruelly. No one wants to hear those thoughts, but how does that take away from them being there in so many? It was truthful in my opinion.
When it came to Juniper, her entire situation was very complex. In the end there was a clean and even break between David and her, and though she still loves him, she finds herself okay and not broken like she was before. She seems like she's also stronger now for when she heads into the future. I feel like the frantic poetryesc thoughts she has simmered down to a sad reluctance and then acceptance.
What I appreciated for Lucas and Valentine is that Valentine is a good friends and there for Lucas. Lucas shows this tired part of himself from now choosing not to hide and to tell things how they are. Lucas really likes Valentine, but in the end Valentine is still straight. But all the no homo bullshit is out the window. Valentine still wants to be friends and ultimately they are very good for each other. I found this surprising and very different. In most books, Lucas would kiss Valentine and then Valentine would feel the same way and they would be all happy. But this wasn't some love story contemporary. I like how there was actually only one couple in the entire book. Realistically, their school is as Lucas said is "aggressively heterosexual" (that was basically the best line in the entire book) and the first guy Lucas really hangs out with and lets himself like, won't necessarily happen to like guys. And I love how we didn't have Burke who was reading The Gay Science to be with Lucas either. Not all people who happen to have compatible sexualities will end up together. And though it would have been nice if Valentine and Lucas were together, Valentine doesn't make it weird and they're okay. It's different and I like it. I respect it.
All in all I really enjoyed this book. Right after I'm going to read NoteWorthy because that plot sounds so interesting. Honestly this book was so interesting and different on the approach of how to tell a story. I thoroughly enjoyed it and I'll read it again.
Fantastically done.
freadomlibrary's review against another edition
3.0
This review was originally posted at https://freadomlibrary.wordpress.com/
Critically
Plot – 3 out of 5 stars
The first half of this book was painfully slow, it took me so long to get interested in it. I didn’t really want to pick it up but as I continued, the second half improved and was much more entertaining. Some things were kind of boring and it wasn’t as engaging as I was hoping it would be. It’s a coming of age story with important themes throughout but it just didn’t capture my attention.
Writing Style – 3 out of 5 stars
It was really confusing and complicated, it was really hard for me to understand what was happening. I understand what the author was trying to do but there were way too many POVs. However, they were each distinct to each character which was good, I just couldn’t keep up with them, even though the writing style was very simple and easy to read.
Characters – 3.5 out of 5 stars
Usually this is the section where I talk about the main characters and a little bit in general about side characters, but this book in particular has seven main characters so I’m just gonna share my thoughts in general. First off, seven is way too many main characters for me. I thought the concept was a really interesting one, each character is meant to represent a deadly sin (you can hypothesize who is who which was great discussion in my book club). However, because there were so many, I didn’t connect with the majority of them. I enjoyed some of their points of views, I hate others, but in general, I just had a meh feeling towards them, specially added with the fact that the first part of the book was slow. Olivia is spunky, Matt is kind and quiet, Valentine is pretty peculiar, Juniper was okay, I hated Claire with a passion and I felt like Kat wasn’t really needed. I just realized that I didn’t mention Julian in my notes at all. I liked him but that just further proves that I was overwhelmed with the amount of characters.
Emotionally
The plot was boring. We follow the lives of the seven protagonists as they react and deal with the news of a teacher and student relationship at their school. I don’t really know what kinds of things I was expecting from this book, but one of those things was definitely to be entertained and I wasn’t. The first half was really slow and boring. The premise (the relationship) was introduced in the first chapter of the book, but it took such a long time to introduce and differentiate between all the characters that I started to lose interest. You have to build their lives at school, their lives at home, their friends, their personal struggles, their distinct voice and point of view. All of that basically took the entire first half of the book and I just wanted things to get going. I liked the premise and I wanted to know more about this conflict so having to drag through the points of views of so many different characters was annoying and boring and not really what I wanted to be reading about at that time. The second half of the plot was much, much better. Things started being revealed to different people and the characters started to interact with each other more. However, I kept waiting for a big climax that never actually happened. I feel like teacher/student relationships shouldn’t be something to be encouraged, and while I don’t think this book did that per se, I feel like it was taken too lightly by a lot of different characters. I was expecting a much more outraged reaction, specially by the younger character’s parents considering the consequences that come from this particular relationship. There’s a lot of underage drinking and weed smoking in this book and while it doesn’t bother me much in general, I felt like this book lacked what most YA contemporary books lack and that’s a strong parental presence. There were too many shenanigans and not enough supervision! haha I sound like an old lady, I know, but it’s honestly something that bothers me a lot in YA books. The ending was also kind of meh. I expected more from it as well and I got kind of annoyed because a character I hated was placed back into the fold seamlessly and I’m bitter. Honestly, I was just generally disappointed because I feel like this book had a lot of potential to be mind blowing and it didn’t quite reach the mark for me.
I feel like the author took on more than she could chew when it comes to the characters. Some were done well and developed in an organic way and then I felt like there were some that weren’t even needed for the plot at all. Out of the seven protagonists, my favorites were definitely Olivia and Matt. She was really spunky and had a feminist attitude about sex and her own body that I really loved and resonated with. Matt is biracial (Mexican and white/Mexican American) and I wish that was something that would’ve been explored more with him. He was really laid back, almost in a very lazy way, but he was also very kind and sweet and I kind of like his shyness. I hated Claire with a passion, everything she did just rubbed me the wrong way. I don’t really think her character development was enough for the resolution she had at the end of the book but I get why the author would decide to do that. Both Kat and Juniper were kind of meh for me. I think Kat could’ve easily been placed as a side character and nothing of the book would’ve changed except for one less POV. Though I did enjoy the dynamic and development between her particular family unit. Again, I missed two characters in my notes now that I’m looking through them. Valentine was a very peculiar character, he had a very analytical and logical way of thinking. For some reason, I thought he was a girl when I first started reading, maybe because of the name, but nothing really concrete. Also I want to say that I think he could be asexual, aromantic or even both, though the author doesn’t mention any of those words. I’m neither so I can’t really say but I think it might be something to look into if you’ve been looking for rep for those identities. Lastly, there’s Julian, he’s pansexual which was really interesting to read about. I liked the way he described his identity toward the different people in the book. He was really positive and just had a sunshiny personality. I quite liked him even though it doesn’t seem like it since I forgot him twice while writing my thoughts of this book.
Overall, this book really disappointed me. The plot and the premise had a lot of freaking potential but everything fell a little bit short of what I wanted. There were too many characters so it took too long for the plot to get going and I felt like the ending was too simple.
Critically
Plot – 3 out of 5 stars
The first half of this book was painfully slow, it took me so long to get interested in it. I didn’t really want to pick it up but as I continued, the second half improved and was much more entertaining. Some things were kind of boring and it wasn’t as engaging as I was hoping it would be. It’s a coming of age story with important themes throughout but it just didn’t capture my attention.
Writing Style – 3 out of 5 stars
It was really confusing and complicated, it was really hard for me to understand what was happening. I understand what the author was trying to do but there were way too many POVs. However, they were each distinct to each character which was good, I just couldn’t keep up with them, even though the writing style was very simple and easy to read.
Characters – 3.5 out of 5 stars
Usually this is the section where I talk about the main characters and a little bit in general about side characters, but this book in particular has seven main characters so I’m just gonna share my thoughts in general. First off, seven is way too many main characters for me. I thought the concept was a really interesting one, each character is meant to represent a deadly sin (you can hypothesize who is who which was great discussion in my book club). However, because there were so many, I didn’t connect with the majority of them. I enjoyed some of their points of views, I hate others, but in general, I just had a meh feeling towards them, specially added with the fact that the first part of the book was slow. Olivia is spunky, Matt is kind and quiet, Valentine is pretty peculiar, Juniper was okay, I hated Claire with a passion and I felt like Kat wasn’t really needed. I just realized that I didn’t mention Julian in my notes at all. I liked him but that just further proves that I was overwhelmed with the amount of characters.
Emotionally
Spoiler
I was really looking forward to reading this book since I’d heard a lot of great things but I was really disappointed by it in the end.The plot was boring. We follow the lives of the seven protagonists as they react and deal with the news of a teacher and student relationship at their school. I don’t really know what kinds of things I was expecting from this book, but one of those things was definitely to be entertained and I wasn’t. The first half was really slow and boring. The premise (the relationship) was introduced in the first chapter of the book, but it took such a long time to introduce and differentiate between all the characters that I started to lose interest. You have to build their lives at school, their lives at home, their friends, their personal struggles, their distinct voice and point of view. All of that basically took the entire first half of the book and I just wanted things to get going. I liked the premise and I wanted to know more about this conflict so having to drag through the points of views of so many different characters was annoying and boring and not really what I wanted to be reading about at that time. The second half of the plot was much, much better. Things started being revealed to different people and the characters started to interact with each other more. However, I kept waiting for a big climax that never actually happened. I feel like teacher/student relationships shouldn’t be something to be encouraged, and while I don’t think this book did that per se, I feel like it was taken too lightly by a lot of different characters. I was expecting a much more outraged reaction, specially by the younger character’s parents considering the consequences that come from this particular relationship. There’s a lot of underage drinking and weed smoking in this book and while it doesn’t bother me much in general, I felt like this book lacked what most YA contemporary books lack and that’s a strong parental presence. There were too many shenanigans and not enough supervision! haha I sound like an old lady, I know, but it’s honestly something that bothers me a lot in YA books. The ending was also kind of meh. I expected more from it as well and I got kind of annoyed because a character I hated was placed back into the fold seamlessly and I’m bitter. Honestly, I was just generally disappointed because I feel like this book had a lot of potential to be mind blowing and it didn’t quite reach the mark for me.
I feel like the author took on more than she could chew when it comes to the characters. Some were done well and developed in an organic way and then I felt like there were some that weren’t even needed for the plot at all. Out of the seven protagonists, my favorites were definitely Olivia and Matt. She was really spunky and had a feminist attitude about sex and her own body that I really loved and resonated with. Matt is biracial (Mexican and white/Mexican American) and I wish that was something that would’ve been explored more with him. He was really laid back, almost in a very lazy way, but he was also very kind and sweet and I kind of like his shyness. I hated Claire with a passion, everything she did just rubbed me the wrong way. I don’t really think her character development was enough for the resolution she had at the end of the book but I get why the author would decide to do that. Both Kat and Juniper were kind of meh for me. I think Kat could’ve easily been placed as a side character and nothing of the book would’ve changed except for one less POV. Though I did enjoy the dynamic and development between her particular family unit. Again, I missed two characters in my notes now that I’m looking through them. Valentine was a very peculiar character, he had a very analytical and logical way of thinking. For some reason, I thought he was a girl when I first started reading, maybe because of the name, but nothing really concrete. Also I want to say that I think he could be asexual, aromantic or even both, though the author doesn’t mention any of those words. I’m neither so I can’t really say but I think it might be something to look into if you’ve been looking for rep for those identities. Lastly, there’s Julian, he’s pansexual which was really interesting to read about. I liked the way he described his identity toward the different people in the book. He was really positive and just had a sunshiny personality. I quite liked him even though it doesn’t seem like it since I forgot him twice while writing my thoughts of this book.
Overall, this book really disappointed me. The plot and the premise had a lot of freaking potential but everything fell a little bit short of what I wanted. There were too many characters so it took too long for the plot to get going and I felt like the ending was too simple.
joana_stormblessed's review against another edition
2.0
2.5
this book was ok. it was nothing special and the ending was just way too convenient and i guess it was just not the book for me. i mean i didn't hate it, but it was nothing special
this book was ok. it was nothing special and the ending was just way too convenient and i guess it was just not the book for me. i mean i didn't hate it, but it was nothing special
babs_reviews's review
3.0
I was surprised how well the author pulled off so many point of views and kept it straight and functional. There was a lot of character drama for each pov but each character held some depth that helped deal with the drama. Hard to do when you aren't devoting the entire novel to one character.
I liked the storyline and was intrigued by how it was going to all play out. It covered an issue we see too often in the media and had a 'real' edge to it. Overall, the way the story progresses was good and they all reached a level of understanding their issues at the same time. The ending was wrapped up in a nice bow...maybe too nice.
Overall, I enjoyed it.
I liked the storyline and was intrigued by how it was going to all play out. It covered an issue we see too often in the media and had a 'real' edge to it. Overall, the way the story progresses was good and they all reached a level of understanding their issues at the same time. The ending was wrapped up in a nice bow...maybe too nice.
Overall, I enjoyed it.
abbyreads2's review
5.0
At first, I read this book purely out of curiosity. I wanted, needed to find out what was going on. Once I started reading it, I became obsessed. I couldn't put the book down and if I was forced to, I couldn't wait to pick it up again. I think I fell in love?!! 😱😱😱😂😂😂
After a while, I noticed how the author uses words I don't see writers use much anymore and I started taking notes. I think what did it for me was when I saw the word cretin, one of my favorite words in the moment. I've never yet to see this word in anything really. I was beyond shocked. This has officially become one of my favorite books! Thank you so much for writing this book!
After a while, I noticed how the author uses words I don't see writers use much anymore and I started taking notes. I think what did it for me was when I saw the word cretin, one of my favorite words in the moment. I've never yet to see this word in anything really. I was beyond shocked. This has officially become one of my favorite books! Thank you so much for writing this book!
lookatjimmy's review against another edition
4.0
The literal only time I have even remotely and somewhat understood and reluctantly accepted a student/teacher relationship. Will see if I still feel the same if and when I re-read it when I’m older. =P
Okay also this would be such an easy book to turn into a limited series SOMEONE MAKE IT HAPPEN.
Okay also this would be such an easy book to turn into a limited series SOMEONE MAKE IT HAPPEN.
rylanthereader's review against another edition
challenging
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? Yes
3.0
icaruscurse's review
4.0
All in all it's a pretty good read. I liked Olivia's arc best, Luke's was a close second. The pansexuality was handled well.
My biggest problem was with Claire (?), she ignores her friends, outs her ex-boyfriend and fakes a career-ending rumor that drags an innocent professor. I feel like she should have done more before she got forgiveness? I don't think she actually owned up to the rumor and apologized to Luke.
Anyway, Valentine was a surprise favorite. I had a love-hate reaction to his and Luke's ending because they did have chemistry and it was nice reading along to Luke's POV and seeing Valentine the way he does.
My biggest problem was with Claire (?), she ignores her friends, outs her ex-boyfriend and fakes a career-ending rumor that drags an innocent professor. I feel like she should have done more before she got forgiveness? I don't think she actually owned up to the rumor and apologized to Luke.
Anyway, Valentine was a surprise favorite. I had a love-hate reaction to his and Luke's ending because they did have chemistry and it was nice reading along to Luke's POV and seeing Valentine the way he does.
thebookishunicorn's review
3.0
This wasn't a bad book per se, it just wasn't my cup of tea. I normally don't read much contemporary and am very picky when I do. I have read a couple contemporary novels lately that have changed my mind about the genre, but this one sadly didn't live up to my expectations. I was able to finish this in two sittings, so it was a quick and easy read.
The thing that brought my rating down was the characters, I didn't really feel connected to any of them enough to care what happened. And I also guessed who was involved in the scandal really quickly. I also had trouble telling some of them apart since the voices were so similar.
Since I am a not-so-young-adult, I have different expectations for this book than people who are actually in the young adult age range. I would recommend this book for someone who loves high school drama driven narratives, and is looking for a fast read!
The thing that brought my rating down was the characters, I didn't really feel connected to any of them enough to care what happened. And I also guessed who was involved in the scandal really quickly. I also had trouble telling some of them apart since the voices were so similar.
Since I am a not-so-young-adult, I have different expectations for this book than people who are actually in the young adult age range. I would recommend this book for someone who loves high school drama driven narratives, and is looking for a fast read!