Reviews

Blaine for the Win by Robbie Couch

_kayreads_'s review against another edition

funny lighthearted fast-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

I enjoyed the book a lot. I thought it was a great story with finding yourself and learning how to deal with unexpected life events. 

cianistired's review

funny lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

mb918's review

5.0

It’s official: I will read anything Robbie Couch writes because he knows exactly what I want.

As a former student council president myself, reading about the election was suuuuper exciting. And of course, Couch’s excellent portrayals of friendship and unique family dynamics shine through just as much in this novel as they did in his debut. Danny was such a sweetheart, Trish and Camilla were bitches (in the most affectionate, admiring way I can possibly express), and even Zach turned out to be a fun character. Love the exploration of deeper themes interspersed throughout a fun read that had me laughing out loud more times than I expected.

robs123's review

lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

mccarthygirl25's review

lighthearted

4.0

dilayra's review against another edition

informative inspiring lighthearted 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

4.0

esmeevandorst's review against another edition

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

3.25

deanpinnell's review

funny lighthearted slow-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

3.5

ischnola's review

hopeful inspiring lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

Such a light read, I loved it

amelia_cin_10's review

3.0

The first thing I want to say is that this did read young to me. Not younger than YA but definitely within the YA category. And I say this as someone who is older than the target demographic and frequently reads YA. Now, I don’t mean this as a criticism. I don’t think it’d be fair to mark down a book for simply fitting within its target demographic, especially as I feel like a number of YA books aren’t always written with young adults in mind. The reason I say this is for people who, like me, are older readers of YA and might not enjoy this. 

This is also true for the main character as well. He’s definitely messy and makes a lot of mistakes and while I understand and relate to his fear of having to admit bad things out loud, I was also frustrated with him for some of his choices, but I wouldn’t say I hated him nor did it negatively impact my reading experience. However, if you are someone who struggles to connect with a younger narrative voice then this might not be a book you’d enjoy. 

For me, the reason I picked up the book was for a fun retelling of a movie that I enjoy, and in those terms, I feel like it was delivered. The plot is predictable and very easily digestible and follows the main, broad plot points of Legally Blonde. It’s definitely a very light read.

One big thing that made this book fall short for me was the third-act conflict. The conflicts center between Blaine and his friends/love interest and between Blaine and his aunt. For his friends, there were two separate instances that inspired conflict; in the first one, I couldn’t really understand the reaction. Between Blaine snapping at his friend versus going off on his love interest, Danny- while both are bad and deserve an apology- I felt like the latter was a bigger offense. It wasn’t until Blaine’s friend Trish comes around his house later and he continues being grumpy that I could better understand her displeasure. I also couldn’t understand where his strong reaction at the moment came from. It felt very sudden and inserted to start a conflict. Later, when Blaine goes to apologize to Danny, there is yet another conflict, separate from Blaine’s blowup, that felt it was only included to prolong their getting together.

What was also disappointing was that I felt like Blaine was very easily forgiven both by the characters and the narrative. When Blaine’s aunt finds out he didn’t tell her about a job opportunity she really needs, she takes a lot of time to validate his feelings rather than express any anger, sadness, or hurt over his actions that could’ve really negatively impacted her life. The way his aunt readily justifies his reasons for not telling her compared to how little time she spends feeling any justifiable hurt towards Blaine felt like she was also telling the readers to go ahead and forgive him. And did he really grow from this? I don’t think so. When he passes by an incomplete mural of his he makes a mental note to email the shop owner later- the same thing he told himself about the job for his aunt. While he did eventually send the email, what would’ve shown more growth to me is if he replied to her right then. 

Going back to the romance, I felt like we needed a lot more build-up between Blaine and Danny. Danny is a part of the student council and helps Blaine and his friends plan his campaign as he has a lot of insight. Most of the scenes we see of Danny and Blaine are when they are planning and usually with other people. There is only one real conversation where they really connect and talk about something other than student council. Personally, it takes a lot more than someone talking about their dead mother for me to fall in love with them and certainly more for me as a reader to root for and believe in their happily ever after. While I’m aware the romance was intended to be a subplot it almost felt like the main plot took up so much of the focus that the romance fell to the side.

The last big issue I had with this book was the treatment of the POC characters. Trish is black and Danny is Vietnamese. Both of these characters are essential in Blaine’s campaign because they are the ones that come up with all the ideas. Trish is the one who comes up with the poster that gets students interested in Blaine in the first place and figures out the main theme of his campaign. Both she and Danny offer tons of suggestions for his speech and the debate. While there is a little bit of Blaine having to go on his own that was with tons of insight from Danny and tips from Trish and felt incomparable to Blaine- most of the time when he does succeed it’s just luck. Having the only characters of color do the majority of the work and be a big part of Blaine’s success while Blaine gets to reap all of the benefits from it and not them felt very icky to read about for a majority of the book. 

A few smaller things bothered me. Blaine calls an aloe vera plant an aloha plant at least twice completely seriously (I’m pretty sure another was a joke) and I just couldn’t comprehend someone making that mistake. Twice. Also, to show how serious he is now Blaine changes his wardrobe to a more business-professional look and asks his parents to go to a high-end shop for a tie that would cost around 80 bucks. Now, I understand that teens don’t always take into account their parent's finances even when they are aware of them and how an expensive, unnecessary item might not be possible to get, but what made me so confused was why a thrift shop wasn’t mentioned. It already takes way too long in the conversation for his father to suggest a cheaper store but this book takes place in the current day. Thrift stores are a pretty popular place for young people to go nowadays so why was this never mentioned? I assume they have thrift stores in Chicago.

I really enjoyed The Sky Blues by this author so while I did put off this book for a bit I was looking forward to reading it but ended up a little disappointed. For his next book, I think it would depend on what the story is for me to decide whether or not to pick it up.