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4.01 AVERAGE
4.01 AVERAGE
"Girls wage endless wars with their voices, tearing you apart without touching you at all."
This book broke my heart and felt so very personal. Having lost friendships has always been hard and to finally have a book put it into words...the pain, yearning, anxiety, and depression. It makes me feel a little less alone.
Woodfolk captures the intensity of female friendships (especially of the teen variety) so clearly, as well as the pain when those friendships end.
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
you can't rewrite the past, but you can choose to start again.
sometimes best friends aren't forever.
most of what i have to say has already been said (i liked two reviews that i really resonated and liked, if you guys want to read this.)
but this book is really important because it talks about friendship, which should be a universal topic but surprisingly isn't really focused on. more specifically, when you were everything talks about the fallout and the repercussions of one ending.
i have been lucky to have not experienced a super messy breakup in any sense of the world, relationship or friendship-wise. most, if not all of my "failed" or relationships that stopped was due to mutual drifting or other things, but i've always remained on decently good terms with everyone.
cleo and layla's friendship was not that. they were so close, the bestest of friends and suddenly the worst of enemies. told from cleo's perspective, we witness layla drifting away, cleo saying words she shouldn't have, layla saying things she really shouldn't have, messy drama, other parties getting involved, and honestly just very rude and hurt things being thrown back at each other. even though this story is told from cleo's perspective, she's not innocent in the split up. both parties had a role in the ultimate spiral of their friendship. there is a lot of growth, realizations and pain in this book, but there's also hope for what comes once you get through the dark tunnel. when you finally move on? when you allow yourself to hope and trust and love again.
i really liked the side characters again, as i think they all had very specific purposes and reasons for being in cleo's life. sydney, willa, dom being the main ones but even sloane, valerie, layla: good or bad, the people in your life are there for a reason, a lesson to be learned, morals and such.
the epilogue almost made me cry. it's not perfectly fixed, or they aren't about to magically become friends again but there's hope and acceptance. and that's all we can really wish for in this world, isn't it?
thank you library for showing me this book and allowing it to catch my eye. i appreciate it.
sometimes best friends aren't forever.
most of what i have to say has already been said (i liked two reviews that i really resonated and liked, if you guys want to read this.)
but this book is really important because it talks about friendship, which should be a universal topic but surprisingly isn't really focused on. more specifically, when you were everything talks about the fallout and the repercussions of one ending.
i have been lucky to have not experienced a super messy breakup in any sense of the world, relationship or friendship-wise. most, if not all of my "failed" or relationships that stopped was due to mutual drifting or other things, but i've always remained on decently good terms with everyone.
cleo and layla's friendship was not that. they were so close, the bestest of friends and suddenly the worst of enemies. told from cleo's perspective, we witness layla drifting away, cleo saying words she shouldn't have, layla saying things she really shouldn't have, messy drama, other parties getting involved, and honestly just very rude and hurt things being thrown back at each other. even though this story is told from cleo's perspective, she's not innocent in the split up. both parties had a role in the ultimate spiral of their friendship. there is a lot of growth, realizations and pain in this book, but there's also hope for what comes once you get through the dark tunnel. when you finally move on? when you allow yourself to hope and trust and love again.
i really liked the side characters again, as i think they all had very specific purposes and reasons for being in cleo's life. sydney, willa, dom being the main ones but even sloane, valerie, layla: good or bad, the people in your life are there for a reason, a lesson to be learned, morals and such.
the epilogue almost made me cry. it's not perfectly fixed, or they aren't about to magically become friends again but there's hope and acceptance. and that's all we can really wish for in this world, isn't it?
thank you library for showing me this book and allowing it to catch my eye. i appreciate it.
Wow, this book hit me right in the feels. An original story with a surprisingly unoriginal plot, in that, losing friends happens so often and it’s a shock not more people talk /write about it. And as someone who cut a really toxic friend whom I, as the story would say, lived in a “snow globe” with from my life last year, I certainly have looked for literature that would help me make sense of the emptiness a friend breakup can leave.
While I could tell this was YA at times, the way Cleo was not as self-aware as say an adult would be, I think the theme just resonates so strongly with anyone who has experienced this pain. The author poignantly shows the breakdown of a friendship, one that doesn’t end in a necessarily happy resolution. I especially loved the epilogue and how it brought Cleo’s character development full circle.
I’ll definitely be looking out for more by this author.
Merged review:
Wow, this book hit me right in the feels. An original story with a surprisingly unoriginal plot, in that, losing friends happens so often and it’s a shock not more people talk /write about it. And as someone who cut a really toxic friend whom I, as the story would say, lived in a “snow globe” with from my life last year, I certainly have looked for literature that would help me make sense of the emptiness a friend breakup can leave.
While I could tell this was YA at times, the way Cleo was not as self-aware as say an adult would be, I think the theme just resonates so strongly with anyone who has experienced this pain. The author poignantly shows the breakdown of a friendship, one that doesn’t end in a necessarily happy resolution. I especially loved the epilogue and how it brought Cleo’s character development full circle.
I’ll definitely be looking out for more by this author. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.
While I could tell this was YA at times, the way Cleo was not as self-aware as say an adult would be, I think the theme just resonates so strongly with anyone who has experienced this pain. The author poignantly shows the breakdown of a friendship, one that doesn’t end in a necessarily happy resolution. I especially loved the epilogue and how it brought Cleo’s character development full circle.
I’ll definitely be looking out for more by this author.
Merged review:
Wow, this book hit me right in the feels. An original story with a surprisingly unoriginal plot, in that, losing friends happens so often and it’s a shock not more people talk /write about it. And as someone who cut a really toxic friend whom I, as the story would say, lived in a “snow globe” with from my life last year, I certainly have looked for literature that would help me make sense of the emptiness a friend breakup can leave.
While I could tell this was YA at times, the way Cleo was not as self-aware as say an adult would be, I think the theme just resonates so strongly with anyone who has experienced this pain. The author poignantly shows the breakdown of a friendship, one that doesn’t end in a necessarily happy resolution. I especially loved the epilogue and how it brought Cleo’s character development full circle.
I’ll definitely be looking out for more by this author. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.
4,5 na real... esse livro me quebrou demais... a escrita é linda, estou em pedaços.
2.5 stars.
I really, really wanted to love this story. A story that focuses on a friendship breakup instead of a romantic one? Sign me up.
But I had a really hard time getting into it. The writing wasn't great, and I had a hard time feeling sympathetic for our main character. And for all its focus on friendship breakup, there was still a significant romantic storyline that felt like it undermined the focus on platonic friendship.
I'd love to see more stories focus on this kind of plot, but this one just didn't do it for me.
I really, really wanted to love this story. A story that focuses on a friendship breakup instead of a romantic one? Sign me up.
But I had a really hard time getting into it. The writing wasn't great, and I had a hard time feeling sympathetic for our main character. And for all its focus on friendship breakup, there was still a significant romantic storyline that felt like it undermined the focus on platonic friendship.
I'd love to see more stories focus on this kind of plot, but this one just didn't do it for me.
This book beautifully develops such an important theme that’s applicable to every stage of life: some friendships are not necessarily meant to last forever, but that doesn’t mean the friendships that end can’t hold a special place in your heart. I easily gave this book 5 stars for the theme, characters, emotional roller coaster, and great life reminders.