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ancasandulescu_'s review
4.0
A sweet queer romance, kind of a slow burn trope. I really enjoyed it. I liked that the book approached the mother-daughter relationship as well, and it was relevant till the end of the book.
kaylareadsbooks's review
1.0
I didn’t Iike phoebe and mean she could be throughout the book. I also really didn’t like the comments that were made once the MC finds out that her father (who passed before she was born) was Jewish. Comments like “because im a bad Jew” and “the Jew in me” made me very uncomfortable. I really didn’t like how the MC only wanted kosher food because a coworker was being difficult about her dietary needs so she decided to say Kosher too to make it even more difficult.
thefriscobay's review
4.0
About the book:
Phoebe is a 15 year old living in London who knows one thing for certain: love is for losers. Her best friend's gone crazy with it and her godmother is obsessed with finding it, but she knows it's not for her. When Phoebe's Mom decides to go on a 6 month Doctors without Borders trip, she loses it. Everything seems like it's falling apart at the same time: friends, family. Even GCSEs are coming up! When she's forced to take up work in a charity shop she meets a group of people who, much to her incredible dismay, are actually pretty cool. And is she, maybe, falling in love too?
TL;DR:
- Content warnings: death by cancer mention, side character death by stroke, side character with severe anxiety, death of a parent
- 3.75 stars
- Diary style story of girl trying to get through a semester at school without her mom, her best friend, and without falling in love. Worth reading if you're looking for a painfully accurate experience of the emotions when you're a young adult, good and bad.
Loved:
- I loved the diary style. Princess Diaries really set the subgenre up, and this does not disappoint. I think the structure helped provide a much needed timeline to Phoebe's story.
- Super sex-positive. I know some reviewers have said it felt like too much, but frankly, I wish I knew half this information when I was 15. Every teen is going to do what they're going to do regardless of how much info they have about sex, so why not give them the facts, so they're more educated!?
- Absolutely loved how casual Phoebe and everyone in her life were about her realization that she was lesbian. I appreciate YA that includes meaningful coming out stories, but I'm a really big sucker for casual ones. I hope I don't have to explain why that makes my heart warm.
- Very sweet, slow romance.
Less into:
- In many ways Phoebe's voice was not unlike Mia's (Princess Diaries) in that they're both rather immature and need to undergo a significant amount of growth. The thing is, Phoebe never really had her growth - she just kind of, became less frustrating? And everyone in her life was like "we love you anyway! but you suck sometimes!" which, like alright, didn't we all, at 15. But there was no inflection point where she realized she was being consistently rude and grew from it. Again - this is VERY realistic. It's not bad, just the truth.
- Related: it didn't feel like there were explicit resolutions between Phoebe and her mom, or Phoebe and her best friend, the two people she spent a lot of time complaining about. Would have been nice to see some more there. Maybe a sequel?!!
Overall it was such a quick read, a page-turner, and I would 100% read a follow up. Just saying.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
Phoebe is a 15 year old living in London who knows one thing for certain: love is for losers. Her best friend's gone crazy with it and her godmother is obsessed with finding it, but she knows it's not for her. When Phoebe's Mom decides to go on a 6 month Doctors without Borders trip, she loses it. Everything seems like it's falling apart at the same time: friends, family. Even GCSEs are coming up! When she's forced to take up work in a charity shop she meets a group of people who, much to her incredible dismay, are actually pretty cool. And is she, maybe, falling in love too?
TL;DR:
- Content warnings: death by cancer mention, side character death by stroke, side character with severe anxiety, death of a parent
- 3.75 stars
- Diary style story of girl trying to get through a semester at school without her mom, her best friend, and without falling in love. Worth reading if you're looking for a painfully accurate experience of the emotions when you're a young adult, good and bad.
Loved:
- I loved the diary style. Princess Diaries really set the subgenre up, and this does not disappoint. I think the structure helped provide a much needed timeline to Phoebe's story.
- Super sex-positive. I know some reviewers have said it felt like too much, but frankly, I wish I knew half this information when I was 15. Every teen is going to do what they're going to do regardless of how much info they have about sex, so why not give them the facts, so they're more educated!?
- Absolutely loved how casual Phoebe and everyone in her life were about her realization that she was lesbian. I appreciate YA that includes meaningful coming out stories, but I'm a really big sucker for casual ones. I hope I don't have to explain why that makes my heart warm.
- Very sweet, slow romance.
Less into:
- In many ways Phoebe's voice was not unlike Mia's (Princess Diaries) in that they're both rather immature and need to undergo a significant amount of growth. The thing is, Phoebe never really had her growth - she just kind of, became less frustrating? And everyone in her life was like "we love you anyway! but you suck sometimes!" which, like alright, didn't we all, at 15. But there was no inflection point where she realized she was being consistently rude and grew from it. Again - this is VERY realistic. It's not bad, just the truth.
- Related: it didn't feel like there were explicit resolutions between Phoebe and her mom, or Phoebe and her best friend, the two people she spent a lot of time complaining about. Would have been nice to see some more there. Maybe a sequel?!!
Overall it was such a quick read, a page-turner, and I would 100% read a follow up. Just saying.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
sannareads's review against another edition
3.0
3.5/5 stars! ⭐️
This was a cute but at the same time honest, beautiful and heartbreaking read.
I really liked the main character Phoebe as she was very unique and not the typical “outgoing” heroine.
To me this felt more like a read for a teenager than for a young adult/adult like myself but I still really really enjoyed it!
Also really enjoyed the fact that it was a light and quick read even though the book looked quite big and intimidating.
Would really like to read more of the author in the future!
This was a cute but at the same time honest, beautiful and heartbreaking read.
I really liked the main character Phoebe as she was very unique and not the typical “outgoing” heroine.
To me this felt more like a read for a teenager than for a young adult/adult like myself but I still really really enjoyed it!
Also really enjoyed the fact that it was a light and quick read even though the book looked quite big and intimidating.
Would really like to read more of the author in the future!
thindbooks's review
1.0
*this earc was given to me by the publisher to give an honest review in return*
This book was lot to my liking. It’s about Phoebe who is 15 years old that tries not to love people because she doesn’t want her heart to be broken. I was really looking forward to this book but was disappointed. In the beginning I was interested in the story and I thought the dialogue writing was amazing. Throughout the story I didn’t enjoy the dialogue writing as much because it just didn’t give you that experience of what the person really feels. I also felt that this book didn’t really have a plot to it and the only settings mentioned in this book was Phoebe’s house, Kate’s store and briefly the school. It would be been better to travel all throughout Phoebe’s town to get that feeling of home. Then there were the characters....
I didn’t really enjoy the main character and thought she was just boring and rude. The only character I was liked was Emma because she was sweet and cared so much for the people in the thrift store. There is also a character with Down syndrome in this book and I felt that the way the author approached the topic wasn’t good in my opinion. There are more stories in this book that I felt wasn’t rightly approached and could have been better. There is also romance in this book but I have to say why is there so much sex talk about 15 year olds?! Like Phoebe’s best friend is having sex and isn’t really enjoying it at such a young age!
I felt that this book didn’t have the right approach and a good story plot. I was hopping that towards the end the story would be good but the ending wasn’t really good and ended flat. I don’t recommend reading this book.
This book was lot to my liking. It’s about Phoebe who is 15 years old that tries not to love people because she doesn’t want her heart to be broken. I was really looking forward to this book but was disappointed. In the beginning I was interested in the story and I thought the dialogue writing was amazing. Throughout the story I didn’t enjoy the dialogue writing as much because it just didn’t give you that experience of what the person really feels. I also felt that this book didn’t really have a plot to it and the only settings mentioned in this book was Phoebe’s house, Kate’s store and briefly the school. It would be been better to travel all throughout Phoebe’s town to get that feeling of home. Then there were the characters....
I didn’t really enjoy the main character and thought she was just boring and rude. The only character I was liked was Emma because she was sweet and cared so much for the people in the thrift store. There is also a character with Down syndrome in this book and I felt that the way the author approached the topic wasn’t good in my opinion. There are more stories in this book that I felt wasn’t rightly approached and could have been better. There is also romance in this book but I have to say why is there so much sex talk about 15 year olds?! Like Phoebe’s best friend is having sex and isn’t really enjoying it at such a young age!
I felt that this book didn’t have the right approach and a good story plot. I was hopping that towards the end the story would be good but the ending wasn’t really good and ended flat. I don’t recommend reading this book.
kitsunediary's review against another edition
Had to return to the library but I'm coming back for you.
zinzee's review
5.0
I almost gave this book 2.4 stars because of the part where the main character was being rude to Alex because of his habits as a down syndrome individual.
However the mc decided to learn and grow for Alex and I was glad that happened.
The main character is a really funny individual. I was laughing with each journal entry she made. Her mom being away or as she said chosing to be away from her really affected her even if she said she didn't care.
This was a really funny and cool book to read.
This book has down syndrome representation in it. The character Alex has down syndrome. He works in a thrift shop and he loves cooking. He is also studying to become a professional chief.
There was a link to learning more information about down syndrome in the book which I thought was really nice to include.
However the mc decided to learn and grow for Alex and I was glad that happened.
The main character is a really funny individual. I was laughing with each journal entry she made. Her mom being away or as she said chosing to be away from her really affected her even if she said she didn't care.
This was a really funny and cool book to read.
This book has down syndrome representation in it. The character Alex has down syndrome. He works in a thrift shop and he loves cooking. He is also studying to become a professional chief.
There was a link to learning more information about down syndrome in the book which I thought was really nice to include.
booksandlemonsquash's review
3.0
The diary style format of this book, combined with Phoebe’s sarcastic humour, worked well for me, and I found myself enjoying it more than I thought I would.
I really liked Kate (and the cats!) and her presence in Phoebe’s life, that was lovely. Much like Phoebe though, I did sort of want to yell at her mum.
Phoebe isn’t always a likeable main character - the way she keeps people at a distance translated through the pages for me. But that said, I loved her friendship with Alex (from sort of bumbling, awkward and a little rude to proper friends) and the way she really was just unsure of everything.
I found her crush on Emma sort of obvious, but still sort of adorable. Plus the ending made me having feelings (ugh!!) because it was all cute.
I also loved all the little side plots around the charity shop - especially find of the week, that sounded so fun
I really liked Kate (and the cats!) and her presence in Phoebe’s life, that was lovely. Much like Phoebe though, I did sort of want to yell at her mum.
Phoebe isn’t always a likeable main character - the way she keeps people at a distance translated through the pages for me. But that said, I loved her friendship with Alex (from sort of bumbling, awkward and a little rude to proper friends) and the way she really was just unsure of everything.
I found her crush on Emma sort of obvious, but still sort of adorable. Plus the ending made me having feelings (ugh!!) because it was all cute.
I also loved all the little side plots around the charity shop - especially find of the week, that sounded so fun