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4.23 AVERAGE
4.23 AVERAGE
I loved this book and Gideon is my dream boy *flails*
3.5/5 stars
Shock, scandal- an Emma Mills book with less than 4 stars???!!
I read Foolish Hearts in one sitting at approximately 11pm, which was not a great decision on my part as I only finished it at 3am. Regardless, it was probably the most fun I've had in a while so maybe my fucked up sleeping schedule just has to be sacrificed.
Foolish Hearts follows Claudia trying to find herself in her senior year of high school whilst trying to keep under wraps the fact that she witnessed the most popular couple in school break up. Yikes. As with all of Emma Mills novels, the characters in this story were absolutely adorable and I love them all. The family dynamic between Claudia and her siblings as well as her best friend Zoe felt so real and it really grounded the novel, making the story even more heartfelt. Claudia herself was so well written- she was absolutely hilarious, flawed and realistic but held her ground in the end. I felt what she felt and she was so refreshing from the other bland protagonists that I've read in YA contemporary; her feeling like she wasn't part of any clique and couldn't make friends was so relatable to me. I also really liked how she could understand Shakespeare like wow what a cool party trick. Despite that, my two favourite characters were definitely Iris and Gideon. I connected with Iris on a personal and spiritual level almost immediately- the way she reacted to situations is very similar to the way I would've reacted and the way she holds herself, presents herself and eventually opens up about her insecurities really striked home for me. Her character arc was so touching and not overly shoved in your face; the scene with Lena and other girls ganging up and belittling her made me so angry and the respectful yet assertive way that Claudia handled the situation made me love her so much oh my. I also love the fact that she's Chinese and queer so let's go representation. In contrast, Gideon was a character I did not really like or trust when we first met him. His description of being Mr Popular With the Ladies rang alarm bells in my head. But the more we got to know him, the more his character really flourished. His inherent kindness and positivity (especially towards Noah) was so heartwarming and infectious and his slightly quirky traits added personality and individuality. The banter and chemistry between Gideon and Claudia was to die for, it felt so realistic yet cute and I think it really shows that you don't need grand gestures to have a successful romance. With these two characters together, the book was incredibly funny, with several laugh out loud moments.
Foolish Hearts also seemed like the better structured of Emma Mills novels. Of course, there were many fascinating elements like a role play online game (let's go females can be gamers), the play of A Midsummer's Night Dream (which I actually studied before so let's go education), boyband fandom (lowkey kinda relate so let's go one direction) and volunteering at a hospital-esque environment (can't relate but let's go helping humanity), but I felt like there was a good balance of them all to get enough development within each aspect and not seem so shallow. I also enjoyed this theme about being rich and family- how many children don't get to see their parents because they're working but they live in savvy places. Interesting aspect that added dimension to the story.
However, despite how enjoyable and sweet this novel and its characters are, I have three main problems:
1) The Beginning.
I felt like the beginning was not that well set up- a lot of scenes happened that I feel like nothing happened except explicitly setting up the world and characters. Thought that's not inherently wrong, I do feel like Mills could've made the beginning a little bit more exciting. I also felt like some of the behaviour of the characters were quite juvenile like the entire pink party thing. But that's just me. The somewhat not great writing leads me on to my second point.
2) Description of characters
After reading this book, I can't tell you one thing about how the characters look. It's actually infuriating and frustrating because it left me kinda detached from the novel since I DIDNT KNOW WHAT THE HELL ANYONE LOOKED LIKE. Honestly, I just need height and hair colour. That's it. Maybe eye colour and build but that's the bare minimum. The lack of description of characters got on my nerves so much- I understand that when you see your friend, you don't instantly describe their hair colour or how they look but that's not always the case. Heck, I didn't even know she wore glasses until she said that she took her glasses off to wipe her tears and I'm just a little bit pissed off about this and I'm just jdskosodcc.
3) Miscommunication
The scene when Gideon asks Claudia out and Claudia has this huge dilemma about how to reply and then ULTIMATELT LIES AND SAYS SHE DOESNT SHARE THE FEELINGS LIERALLY MADE ME PIT THE BOOK DOWN AND I WANTED TO SMACK A BOTCH. To be fair, the way Mills wrote her internal conflict about whether she can be more than ordinary/ she will be taken seriously and she doesn't want to get her heart broken again was very well written and understandable. But tHAT DOESNT MAKE ME FEEL ANY BETTER ABOUT THE WHOLE PUSHING OTHER PEOPLE AWAY. JUST EXPRESS YOUR EMOTIONS AND WHAT YOURE THINKING AND DISCUSS THINGS LIKE ADULTS NOT CHILDREN. I'm also interested in why Gideon took such an interest in her- why all of a sudden, this year is the year he finally noticed her and then wanted to get to know her? After seeing each other once? I'm sure they saw each other many other times. I wished we could read this novel from Gideon's point of view because I feel like it will actually build the story and the relationship more and allow the reader to understand why everything is going on.
Overall, Foolish Hearts was a cute read that touched home for me several times but I wish that certain aspects were developed or better handled.
Shock, scandal- an Emma Mills book with less than 4 stars???!!
I read Foolish Hearts in one sitting at approximately 11pm, which was not a great decision on my part as I only finished it at 3am. Regardless, it was probably the most fun I've had in a while so maybe my fucked up sleeping schedule just has to be sacrificed.
Foolish Hearts follows Claudia trying to find herself in her senior year of high school whilst trying to keep under wraps the fact that she witnessed the most popular couple in school break up. Yikes. As with all of Emma Mills novels, the characters in this story were absolutely adorable and I love them all. The family dynamic between Claudia and her siblings as well as her best friend Zoe felt so real and it really grounded the novel, making the story even more heartfelt. Claudia herself was so well written- she was absolutely hilarious, flawed and realistic but held her ground in the end. I felt what she felt and she was so refreshing from the other bland protagonists that I've read in YA contemporary; her feeling like she wasn't part of any clique and couldn't make friends was so relatable to me. I also really liked how she could understand Shakespeare like wow what a cool party trick. Despite that, my two favourite characters were definitely Iris and Gideon. I connected with Iris on a personal and spiritual level almost immediately- the way she reacted to situations is very similar to the way I would've reacted and the way she holds herself, presents herself and eventually opens up about her insecurities really striked home for me. Her character arc was so touching and not overly shoved in your face; the scene with Lena and other girls ganging up and belittling her made me so angry and the respectful yet assertive way that Claudia handled the situation made me love her so much oh my. I also love the fact that she's Chinese and queer so let's go representation. In contrast, Gideon was a character I did not really like or trust when we first met him. His description of being Mr Popular With the Ladies rang alarm bells in my head. But the more we got to know him, the more his character really flourished. His inherent kindness and positivity (especially towards Noah) was so heartwarming and infectious and his slightly quirky traits added personality and individuality. The banter and chemistry between Gideon and Claudia was to die for, it felt so realistic yet cute and I think it really shows that you don't need grand gestures to have a successful romance. With these two characters together, the book was incredibly funny, with several laugh out loud moments.
Foolish Hearts also seemed like the better structured of Emma Mills novels. Of course, there were many fascinating elements like a role play online game (let's go females can be gamers), the play of A Midsummer's Night Dream (which I actually studied before so let's go education), boyband fandom (lowkey kinda relate so let's go one direction) and volunteering at a hospital-esque environment (can't relate but let's go helping humanity), but I felt like there was a good balance of them all to get enough development within each aspect and not seem so shallow. I also enjoyed this theme about being rich and family- how many children don't get to see their parents because they're working but they live in savvy places. Interesting aspect that added dimension to the story.
However, despite how enjoyable and sweet this novel and its characters are, I have three main problems:
1) The Beginning.
I felt like the beginning was not that well set up- a lot of scenes happened that I feel like nothing happened except explicitly setting up the world and characters. Thought that's not inherently wrong, I do feel like Mills could've made the beginning a little bit more exciting. I also felt like some of the behaviour of the characters were quite juvenile like the entire pink party thing. But that's just me. The somewhat not great writing leads me on to my second point.
2) Description of characters
After reading this book, I can't tell you one thing about how the characters look. It's actually infuriating and frustrating because it left me kinda detached from the novel since I DIDNT KNOW WHAT THE HELL ANYONE LOOKED LIKE. Honestly, I just need height and hair colour. That's it. Maybe eye colour and build but that's the bare minimum. The lack of description of characters got on my nerves so much- I understand that when you see your friend, you don't instantly describe their hair colour or how they look but that's not always the case. Heck, I didn't even know she wore glasses until she said that she took her glasses off to wipe her tears and I'm just a little bit pissed off about this and I'm just jdskosodcc.
3) Miscommunication
The scene when Gideon asks Claudia out and Claudia has this huge dilemma about how to reply and then ULTIMATELT LIES AND SAYS SHE DOESNT SHARE THE FEELINGS LIERALLY MADE ME PIT THE BOOK DOWN AND I WANTED TO SMACK A BOTCH. To be fair, the way Mills wrote her internal conflict about whether she can be more than ordinary/ she will be taken seriously and she doesn't want to get her heart broken again was very well written and understandable. But tHAT DOESNT MAKE ME FEEL ANY BETTER ABOUT THE WHOLE PUSHING OTHER PEOPLE AWAY. JUST EXPRESS YOUR EMOTIONS AND WHAT YOURE THINKING AND DISCUSS THINGS LIKE ADULTS NOT CHILDREN. I'm also interested in why Gideon took such an interest in her- why all of a sudden, this year is the year he finally noticed her and then wanted to get to know her? After seeing each other once? I'm sure they saw each other many other times. I wished we could read this novel from Gideon's point of view because I feel like it will actually build the story and the relationship more and allow the reader to understand why everything is going on.
Overall, Foolish Hearts was a cute read that touched home for me several times but I wish that certain aspects were developed or better handled.
**mild spoilers**
I already loved this book, but what made it even better was the epilepsy representation. As a highschooler with epilepsy, I can relate so much to Noah's struggles (not being able to get a license, medications, etc). Seeing Gideon care so much about keeping Noah safe made me tear up, because it's exactly what I'd want a friend to do for me. Thank you for discussing epilepsy in this book, and doing it right!!!
I already loved this book, but what made it even better was the epilepsy representation. As a highschooler with epilepsy, I can relate so much to Noah's struggles (not being able to get a license, medications, etc). Seeing Gideon care so much about keeping Noah safe made me tear up, because it's exactly what I'd want a friend to do for me. Thank you for discussing epilepsy in this book, and doing it right!!!
I really enjoyed this one. I laughed out loud quite a bit. I probably looked ridiculous barking out a laugh while on the elliptical at the gym but what can ya do?
It was a sweet story. I liked all the characters.
It was a sweet story. I liked all the characters.
emotional
funny
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
I did enjoy this book. That being said I did not like this as much as other people seem to. I finished this book in a matter of days so the writing was easy to read and I think Emma Mills really captures what it is like to be a teen. I will likely read this author's other works.
I do appreciate that this book covers a friendship as a main plot point. I have rarely seen, and hardly well done, but I think it was really well done here. I also enjoyed the fact the it couple at school was a female-female relationship
The romances were super cute and fluffy and it was a good light-hearted read. I also adored the family dynamic shown, The reason this book falls flat for me is that I think I’ve grown out of high school romance at this point in my life but it is a book I would recommend.
I gave this book 3.5 out of 5 stars
I do appreciate that this book covers a friendship as a main plot point. I have rarely seen, and hardly well done, but I think it was really well done here. I also enjoyed the fact the it couple at school was a female-female relationship
The romances were super cute and fluffy and it was a good light-hearted read. I also adored the family dynamic shown, The reason this book falls flat for me is that I think I’ve grown out of high school romance at this point in my life but it is a book I would recommend.
I gave this book 3.5 out of 5 stars
I read this book in one sitting, it was a good YA/teen book. I don’t know if there is anything to complain about, it captivated me and I stayed up until 2 am to finish it so that should give you an idea.
DNFed
Did try, but the high school stories without any magic, shapeshifting, fairies and what not just isn't that interesting to read. This book got really boring and didn't pickup or give anything to pick interest to keep reading. The ordeal put together to get the main character to audition for a play also felt like a stretch, and the author trying to force the event to occur.
Might be a good book for those who love the general YA contemporary stories that is geared on the day-to-day life of high school. Just wasn't my cup of tea.
Did try, but the high school stories without any magic, shapeshifting, fairies and what not just isn't that interesting to read. This book got really boring and didn't pickup or give anything to pick interest to keep reading. The ordeal put together to get the main character to audition for a play also felt like a stretch, and the author trying to force the event to occur.
Might be a good book for those who love the general YA contemporary stories that is geared on the day-to-day life of high school. Just wasn't my cup of tea.
BRILLIANT. I had to physically stop myself from reading through this too fast and to just slow down and fully appreciate it. SO GOOD.