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3.81 AVERAGE
3.81 AVERAGE
emotional
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
3.5 stars. This was really cute! I didn’t love this as much as I expected/wanted to, but it was still pretty good. Wasn’t the biggest fan of some of the writing & nothing really blew me away, but it’s cute & makes some really good points.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Transphobia
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-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
can't lie I was a little disappointed.. :( the second part was definitely better but maybe I need to stop trying to understand the way the high schoolers act
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Love is never not scary. It’s a matter of whether you’re enjoying that fear.
I actually had a nice time listening to this. There were a lot of cute and funny moments, and Charlie was pretty sympathetic. However, the book asked me to suspend my disbelief a little too far, and as a result, I was never fully immersed because I just kept questioning things. I knew from the blurb there would be some things I’d just need to roll with—like, the timeline of Charlie’s transition isn’t exactly realistic, but hey, I bet SO many trans teens wish it would be, so I was super willing to accept this aspect and even excited about it. But why was testosterone never brought up? I thought it was a plot point begging to exist, since a daily use of injections or gel would be more difficult to hide in a room-sharing situation than post-surgery scars alone. I also got the feeling the author may have decided it would be *too* difficult to hide and just handwaved that whole aspect.
Also, what about Jasper being “the sexiest poet of the year” and an absolute bestseller at sixteen? And not even being the only one character like that in the book? And how does he have those huge accounts with one million followers when he’s only got 3 months of the year, tops, to maintain an online presence because of the school’s weird “absolutely no phones or internet ever, not for a second” rule? For that matter, how did Charlie and Delilah stay friends for a couple of years while she kept attending the all-girls school next door with the same rule? I would have thought they used snail mail to stay in touch—Charlie seems like the type and Delilah doesn’t have enough personality for me to be sure, but I guess she might be into that, too—except there’s the whole plot point around Charlie trying to contact Delilah via clandestine notes and not receiving a response. And there’s not a single line alluding to previous correspondence between them, which would have been so trivially easy to include and, by doing so, to explain their entire friendship.
There are a few more plot holes of a similar nature, but I guess I’ll stop here and just reiterate that it was really frustrating to be constantly taken out of the story by all these “but hang on, how is this supposed to work and why” moments, especially when so much plot absolutely hinged on some of them. It made everything feel just a little too artificial, far more than the pretentious, ridiculous, animesque characters did. Actually, the pretentious and ridiculous ways in which some of the characters behaved felt relatable and endearing in many ways, since they’re all dramatic intelligent teenagers locked away together and largely raised by books. I do wish characters outside STRIP were developed better, though.
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
A cute book, it was a fairly light and quick read. I have to say, Jasper I am shocked you were forgiven for the shit you lowkey pulled. This book scored high just because my man is a yearner and I love to see that. The stupid little bookshelf being like a wedding invitation :sob: . I'm also glad to see Charlie make friends and grow more confident in his identity while also trying to maintain his scholarship.
Probably not going to stick with me that hard, but delivered what it promised in a fun and entertaining way.
Probably not going to stick with me that hard, but delivered what it promised in a fun and entertaining way.
emotional
inspiring
medium-paced
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
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:
Complicated
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-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
This story was cute and I enjoyed it - I really liked Charlie. Jasper was insufferable, though, and the school was a little too far fetched - I had a hard time suspending my disbelief around some aspects.
I really wanted to like it more because I want more romance with trans protagonists.
Audio book narration was top tier, though - 5/5 for the narrator.
I really wanted to like it more because I want more romance with trans protagonists.
Audio book narration was top tier, though - 5/5 for the narrator.
emotional
funny
hopeful
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I wanted to love this because the premise is so cute but unfortunately a total miss for me. :(