Scan barcode
beccaand's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
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
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, and Alcohol
Moderate: Cursing, Sexism, and Infidelity
Minor: Biphobia, Drug use, and Fatphobia
emily_mh's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
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? Yes
3.5
Two standout things about this book is its breaking-the-fourth-wall narration, which is so refreshing and captivating, and its fun college vibes, which definitely made me nostalgic for my first year at uni. But unfortunately there were three major issues that I couldn't get past and which inevitably dropped my rating to 3.5 stars.
The first is the romance. I just couldn't get behind it, because an RA/fresher romance is just weird to me. There's a power dynamic there that I don't like, and having been in halls myself it's kind of gross to think of someone who is supposed to be your mentor/older sibling figure (and is also being paid to do the job) being in a relationship with a resident.
My second issue was with Elliot herself. I started off absolutely loving her but then she started really annoying me and some of her words and phrases were cringey to me, like tender chicken (it made me feel sick).
My third issue was that for a book that calls itself sex-positive, there were some decidedly not sex-positive things in there. For example, it doesn't dismantle the social concept of virginity when there is opportunity to do so, it doesn't use anatomical names for genitals, it calls people who don't have sex boring, and it uses the term "prostitution."
I really wish I had gotten on with this book more! Its new adult + sapphic which is RIGHT up my alley, but sadly we weren't a match.
The first is the romance. I just couldn't get behind it, because an RA/fresher romance is just weird to me. There's a power dynamic there that I don't like, and having been in halls myself it's kind of gross to think of someone who is supposed to be your mentor/older sibling figure (and is also being paid to do the job) being in a relationship with a resident.
My second issue was with Elliot herself. I started off absolutely loving her but then she started really annoying me and some of her words and phrases were cringey to me, like tender chicken (it made me feel sick).
My third issue was that for a book that calls itself sex-positive, there were some decidedly not sex-positive things in there. For example, it doesn't dismantle the social concept of virginity when there is opportunity to do so, it doesn't use anatomical names for genitals, it calls people who don't have sex boring, and it uses the term "prostitution."
I really wish I had gotten on with this book more! Its new adult + sapphic which is RIGHT up my alley, but sadly we weren't a match.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault
Moderate: Cursing, Sexual content, Alcohol, and Infidelity
Minor: Drug abuse, Body shaming, Cancer, Bullying, Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, Transphobia, Violence, Vomit, Excrement, Fatphobia, Ableism, Drug use, War, Death, Biphobia, Homophobia, Rape, and Sexism
Loss of a loved one, hazing, divorce, abandonment, menstruationtraeumenvonbuechern's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
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
4.75
Edit 20.10.2021:
I sent Margot Wood, the author of the book, an email about this and she apologized and promised to edit or cut the line in future printings.
She said her intention wasn't to invalidate self-diagnosed people, but to call out the people who use mental illnesses like they're adjectives (e.g. "I'm a little OCD" or "She's so bipolar"). However, she recognized that this didn't come across clearly and apologized.
She also explained this here.
Now I finally feel comfortable giving "Fresh" a five star rating, because aside from that, I really loved it! It's a super funny, diverse and emotional new adult Emma retelling, and I highly recommend it!
Orginal review:
CN: vomit, sex, ableism, anti-self-diagnosis, sexual assault, alcohol, bimisia, slut-shaming, fatmisia
I loved this book. I really did. It was funny, it was diverse, it was the perfect new adult book. It made me laugh and it even made me cry. So why don't I give 5 stars?
Because of this:
"I have ADHD, and not in the casual, problematic way people like to self-diagnose."
No. Just no. Self-diagnosis is valid, and for a lot of (especially marginalized) people it's the only way to get a diagnosis at all.
To quote @livedexperiencecounsellor on Instagram:
"Self-diagnosis is not seeing something on the internet and diagnosing yourself because you can relate. Self-diagnosis is knowing you’re different and spending countless months and years researching, learning and doubting before even making a decision. If you are against self-diagnosing then it means you believe neurodiverse people need permission from neurotypical people to talk about their own lived experience and identity. That’s called ableism."
Shaming people for not being able to get a professional diagnosis is not okay. This comment was just hurtful and unnecessary, and it's the reason I don't recommend this book even though I loved almost everything else about it.
I sent Margot Wood, the author of the book, an email about this and she apologized and promised to edit or cut the line in future printings.
She said her intention wasn't to invalidate self-diagnosed people, but to call out the people who use mental illnesses like they're adjectives (e.g. "I'm a little OCD" or "She's so bipolar"). However, she recognized that this didn't come across clearly and apologized.
She also explained this here.
Now I finally feel comfortable giving "Fresh" a five star rating, because aside from that, I really loved it! It's a super funny, diverse and emotional new adult Emma retelling, and I highly recommend it!
Orginal review:
CN: vomit, sex, ableism, anti-self-diagnosis, sexual assault, alcohol, bimisia, slut-shaming, fatmisia
I loved this book. I really did. It was funny, it was diverse, it was the perfect new adult book. It made me laugh and it even made me cry. So why don't I give 5 stars?
Because of this:
"I have ADHD, and not in the casual, problematic way people like to self-diagnose."
No. Just no. Self-diagnosis is valid, and for a lot of (especially marginalized) people it's the only way to get a diagnosis at all.
To quote @livedexperiencecounsellor on Instagram:
"Self-diagnosis is not seeing something on the internet and diagnosing yourself because you can relate. Self-diagnosis is knowing you’re different and spending countless months and years researching, learning and doubting before even making a decision. If you are against self-diagnosing then it means you believe neurodiverse people need permission from neurotypical people to talk about their own lived experience and identity. That’s called ableism."
Shaming people for not being able to get a professional diagnosis is not okay. This comment was just hurtful and unnecessary, and it's the reason I don't recommend this book even though I loved almost everything else about it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol and Vomit
Moderate: Ableism and Sexual harassment
Minor: Biphobia and Fatphobia
beforeviolets's review against another edition
dark
funny
hopeful
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
This is one of those cases when I'm rating a book in the 3-star range because I had a decent amount of negative thoughts but they mostly felt like personal opinions and not generalized critiques on the story.
I will start off by saying that I am a tough sell on YA contemporaries so I know I'm not the target audience for this one.
Overall, I loved the messy college vibe. The way Elliot (our MC) was forced into a reckoning of self-reflection and required an immense change of perspective about what being a responsible and independent human being looks like was an incredibly accurate depiction of a by-product of going off on our own that most of us face. Though the specifics of the drama with her friends was all-too-predictable, I did appreciate the way it was used as a tool for Elliot to learn what good friendship and bad friendship looks like and how to know when it's something worth fighting for versus when its not. This is something I am still learning about to this day, and I thought this was well portrayed in the book throughout.
I also loved the way that Margot Wood took risks with her writing style. I thought the "choose your own adventure" and screenplay inserts and such were incredibly creative and helped keep the pace and the excitement of the story up even through the more conceptually monotonous events. It was incredibly fun and I honestly feel like more books for younger audiences should start implementing these tactics.
This book is quirky, cheesy, and sex positive in a way that is refreshing for YA. However, I fear that it falls into the issue I find with a lot of media aimed towards younger audiences, which essentially creates a stigma and judgment around people who are late bloomers and who don't have any romantic or sexual experiences in high school and college. I found this mostly during the beginning of the book, when Elliot immediately shamed her roommate for never having had a boyfriend and essentially telling her that she needs to get laid ASAP. There just didn't seem to be a lot of nuance in approaching the experience levels of different characters. This wasn't a huge issue, just one that I wish was offered a bit more care.
I think my biggest issue with the book was the narrative tone. The author's attempt to be relatable was far too visible, which, in my opinion, created distance between the reader and the character. It ended up just coming across as so performative that I didn't feel able to really drop into Elliot's feelings or her story as deeply as I wanted to. This might have partially come from the choice to have Elliot cognizantly narrate the story instead of just allowing us to live through her thoughts and actions, as well as the consequence of having an unreliable narrator that struggles with emotional intimacy and likes to laugh her way through situations and therefore might've been keeping even the readers at arm's length. But especially since she was our guide through this world and this story, it was just frustrating to feel as though I wasn't able to fully access her feelings and experiences.
This story also dealt with some DEEP topics and this lack of emotional intimacy between the narrator and the reader felt like it kept this book from being able to explore those topics in full. I would have loved to see some more time spent in those moments to allow both the characters and the audience to cope with the difficulties they were facing. Especially as a YA book, it's important to show impressionable audiences the reality of those situations and how they can affect your world. It felt so focused on the larger plot that I felt that those moments were really missed.
I would recommend this book to anyone who's starting off in college and is afraid of their own mistakes. I think this would be so comforting to so many people during a time when everyone feels pretty alone and confusing and caught up in a whirlwind of new experiences.
I will start off by saying that I am a tough sell on YA contemporaries so I know I'm not the target audience for this one.
Overall, I loved the messy college vibe. The way Elliot (our MC) was forced into a reckoning of self-reflection and required an immense change of perspective about what being a responsible and independent human being looks like was an incredibly accurate depiction of a by-product of going off on our own that most of us face. Though the specifics of the drama with her friends was all-too-predictable, I did appreciate the way it was used as a tool for Elliot to learn what good friendship and bad friendship looks like and how to know when it's something worth fighting for versus when its not. This is something I am still learning about to this day, and I thought this was well portrayed in the book throughout.
I also loved the way that Margot Wood took risks with her writing style. I thought the "choose your own adventure" and screenplay inserts and such were incredibly creative and helped keep the pace and the excitement of the story up even through the more conceptually monotonous events. It was incredibly fun and I honestly feel like more books for younger audiences should start implementing these tactics.
This book is quirky, cheesy, and sex positive in a way that is refreshing for YA. However, I fear that it falls into the issue I find with a lot of media aimed towards younger audiences, which essentially creates a stigma and judgment around people who are late bloomers and who don't have any romantic or sexual experiences in high school and college. I found this mostly during the beginning of the book, when Elliot immediately shamed her roommate for never having had a boyfriend and essentially telling her that she needs to get laid ASAP. There just didn't seem to be a lot of nuance in approaching the experience levels of different characters. This wasn't a huge issue, just one that I wish was offered a bit more care.
I think my biggest issue with the book was the narrative tone. The author's attempt to be relatable was far too visible, which, in my opinion, created distance between the reader and the character. It ended up just coming across as so performative that I didn't feel able to really drop into Elliot's feelings or her story as deeply as I wanted to. This might have partially come from the choice to have Elliot cognizantly narrate the story instead of just allowing us to live through her thoughts and actions, as well as the consequence of having an unreliable narrator that struggles with emotional intimacy and likes to laugh her way through situations and therefore might've been keeping even the readers at arm's length. But especially since she was our guide through this world and this story, it was just frustrating to feel as though I wasn't able to fully access her feelings and experiences.
This story also dealt with some DEEP topics and this lack of emotional intimacy between the narrator and the reader felt like it kept this book from being able to explore those topics in full. I would have loved to see some more time spent in those moments to allow both the characters and the audience to cope with the difficulties they were facing. Especially as a YA book, it's important to show impressionable audiences the reality of those situations and how they can affect your world. It felt so focused on the larger plot that I felt that those moments were really missed.
I would recommend this book to anyone who's starting off in college and is afraid of their own mistakes. I think this would be so comforting to so many people during a time when everyone feels pretty alone and confusing and caught up in a whirlwind of new experiences.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Alcohol, and Sexual content
Moderate: Drug use
Minor: Fatphobia and Rape
More...