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4.01 AVERAGE
4.01 AVERAGE
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying
Moderate: Ableism
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Pedophilia
emotional
reflective
sad
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:
Complicated
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
sad
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
I want more books about friendship breakups! This was devastating and relatable and I liked that neither girl was wholly responsible for the friendship dissolution. High school girls do shitty things to each other and it's mostly ignored by adults because they tend to wage psychological warfare instead of just punching each other and forcing adults to intervene. As much sympathy I have for the situation, I didn't like Cleo. Most of the side characters were good, in that they mostly played their tropes in ways that I liked. I could see this being a helpful story to understand for high schoolers changing friend groups and growing up.
Not as heart wrenching as i hoped it would be but i still liked it
The truest struggle of reading this book is waiting until the end to give it 5 stars. As one of surely countless women who had an incredibly intimate, special, "you over everything" friendship as a high school/college-age girl, this is exactly how it felt to be friends with and slowly lose that person. More so than any book I've ever read on female friendship, this book encapsulates what it feels like to have that one true friend, and what it feels like to slowly start noticing the cracks in that friendship and feel as though you are helpless to stop it. I will forever recommend this masterpiece.
Also, stuttering representation... *SQUEAL*
Also, stuttering representation... *SQUEAL*
Very nice take on friendships and more importantly, the theme of being in control of your own actions and consequences. I’m glad the breakup reveal doesn’t take until the end of the story—it gave enough space for the story to grow following the conflict. No one girl was innocent, neither Cleo or Layla were solely responsible for their downfall. And that’s realistic, sometimes people grow/change.
This book follows Cleo as we learn about how her friendship with her best friend Layla unravelled. I firstly loved the premise, I have not read many books that explore friendship breakups which I find is such a defining moment in many women's coming of age experiences. So that was lovely
Things I liked :
Cleo
Cleo was a realistic 16 year old. Her emotions and feelings and anger felt so genuine and relatable to me. I can't tell you how many times I had to stop reading because her thoughts or things she said was something I've said or thought. She's flawed , 100% but you definitely explored and understood the reasoning behind her actions
Writing/Themes
I thought the writing was beautiful. I also loved how diverse the characters were without it feeling forced and how she really conveyed the awkward black girl experience without feeling like we were centering a white audience. I really felt somehow calmed while reading this. This book takes place in New York and it was very atmospheric. I love how there was exploration of female friendships and navigating changing personalities and expectations. I like the exploration of Cleo's relationship with her parents and her expectations of them and having to accept them as humans too who sometimes makes mistakes. I liked that Dom challenged her on romanticizing relationships and people. I was really happy that the plot conflicts were not over the top and wish I read this book in high school.
Cleo/Dom relationship :
I thought they were very cute and I loved how like I mentioned he wasn't afraid to call her out. I often read YA contemporaries where the protagonists have the personalities of cardboard and I cant get how they are so devastatingly in love. But I found that they had well defined interests and lives outside of each other and could definitely see how they fit and why they clashed and how they make each other better. So I loved them
"lessons learnt"
I really love that Cleo had to acknowledge her mistakes and be held accountable for her actions. I love that she had to navigate finding new friendships and learning to trust again and learning to forgive others.
Things I was so/so about :
Shakespeare references
Cleo loves and regularly quotes Shakespeare who she loves but who like I could care less for. I think its also such an obvious choice and I wish a different/less cliche literary love was used
Teen dialog
This was definitely realistic but I always cringe reading teen dialog. If Dom said "shorty" ONE MORE TIME!
Mostly I really enjoyed this, I would definitely recommend this book to my younger sisters and I hope this book gets all the love it deserves
Things I liked :
Cleo
Cleo was a realistic 16 year old. Her emotions and feelings and anger felt so genuine and relatable to me. I can't tell you how many times I had to stop reading because her thoughts or things she said was something I've said or thought. She's flawed , 100% but you definitely explored and understood the reasoning behind her actions
Writing/Themes
I thought the writing was beautiful. I also loved how diverse the characters were without it feeling forced and how she really conveyed the awkward black girl experience without feeling like we were centering a white audience. I really felt somehow calmed while reading this. This book takes place in New York and it was very atmospheric. I love how there was exploration of female friendships and navigating changing personalities and expectations. I like the exploration of Cleo's relationship with her parents and her expectations of them and having to accept them as humans too who sometimes makes mistakes. I liked that Dom challenged her on romanticizing relationships and people. I was really happy that the plot conflicts were not over the top and wish I read this book in high school.
Cleo/Dom relationship :
I thought they were very cute and I loved how like I mentioned he wasn't afraid to call her out. I often read YA contemporaries where the protagonists have the personalities of cardboard and I cant get how they are so devastatingly in love. But I found that they had well defined interests and lives outside of each other and could definitely see how they fit and why they clashed and how they make each other better. So I loved them
"lessons learnt"
I really love that Cleo had to acknowledge her mistakes and be held accountable for her actions. I love that she had to navigate finding new friendships and learning to trust again and learning to forgive others.
Things I was so/so about :
Shakespeare references
Cleo loves and regularly quotes Shakespeare who she loves but who like I could care less for. I think its also such an obvious choice and I wish a different/less cliche literary love was used
Teen dialog
This was definitely realistic but I always cringe reading teen dialog. If Dom said "shorty" ONE MORE TIME!
Mostly I really enjoyed this, I would definitely recommend this book to my younger sisters and I hope this book gets all the love it deserves
this book was insanely beautiful, and the characters were lovely. i just struggled to get into the story.
the struggles with friendship and trust the main character cleo went through throughout this book felt so real and valid, and brought back memories of my own failed friendships. the emotions this book held were so raw, and i appreciated the quirkiness and beauty of the writing.
i also really appreciated the relationships developed in this book, between cleo and layla, sydney and willa, cleo and dom, and cleo and her dad. this book dealt with some tough subjects, but the closure found in the end worked really well.
that being said, i had a hard time with this book. i think it was partially due to the switching back and forth between the past and present timelines. i kept getting them confused, and trying to figure out the timeline of events distracted me from the plot.
overall, this was a beautiful book. i highly recommend ☺️
the struggles with friendship and trust the main character cleo went through throughout this book felt so real and valid, and brought back memories of my own failed friendships. the emotions this book held were so raw, and i appreciated the quirkiness and beauty of the writing.
i also really appreciated the relationships developed in this book, between cleo and layla, sydney and willa, cleo and dom, and cleo and her dad. this book dealt with some tough subjects, but the closure found in the end worked really well.
that being said, i had a hard time with this book. i think it was partially due to the switching back and forth between the past and present timelines. i kept getting them confused, and trying to figure out the timeline of events distracted me from the plot.
overall, this was a beautiful book. i highly recommend ☺️