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20sidedbi's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
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? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail and Blood
Moderate: Death of parent, Outing, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Homophobia, Adult/minor relationship, and Grief
marmaladereads's review against another edition
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
If this book was a song, it would be the Rolling Stones, "You can't always get what you want..."
So I will start this off by saying this is not a romance. Despite the synopsis and the strong romantic subplot, I think romance readers would be exceptionally frustrated with this book. I do recommend reading it as a coming of age book instead, and found it very enjoyable from that point of view.
The book follows Tommy (all the names in this book are pretty terrible, in my personal opinion) as he tries to navigate the college admissions process, figure out the rest of his life, and maybe finally get a boyfriend. In typical teenage fashion, he's maybe a bit more concerned with the last one rather than the first two, and generally seems completely overwhelmed by... well, everything.
Tommy has a pretty concrete life plan for himself, and can't imagine himself deviating from it. When he suddenly finds himself working with Gabe, his first crush from when he was 11, and finds out that Gabe's dream school is in the same city as Tommy's dream school, he imagines a future where they realize they're soulmates, fall in love, go to college together, build a life with a dog and three kids, etc. etc. Of course, life has other plans. Throughout the book, Tommy learns that deviating from the set plan can be freeing, not limiting, and that hyper-focusing on one option can make you blind to others that might be better for you. The book also features a great cast of accompanying characters, including residents at the retirement community where Tommy works and the other teenaged employees.
I think this book does a great job of capturing that feeling of overwhelm that accompanies trying to figure out the rest of your life as a young adult. No one has anything perfectly figured out, even when it seems like they do, and it turns out that everyone in the book is kind of a hot mess in the end. I enjoyed it immensely.
More spoilery thoughts ahead -->
I think what makes this book work is the fact that, after Gabe and Tommy both behave pretty horribly, they *don't end up together.* If they had gotten a HEA despite the cheating plot and Gabe being a total asshole it would've been a very different book, and really would not have worked for me. But the fact that Tommy recognizes that Gabe behaved like an asshole and that they both deserved better really went far to redeem things for me. This is the opposite of what happened in [book: The Breakup Lists] and why I enjoyed that book far less despite these two books having very similar themes.
So I will start this off by saying this is not a romance. Despite the synopsis and the strong romantic subplot, I think romance readers would be exceptionally frustrated with this book. I do recommend reading it as a coming of age book instead, and found it very enjoyable from that point of view.
The book follows Tommy (all the names in this book are pretty terrible, in my personal opinion) as he tries to navigate the college admissions process, figure out the rest of his life, and maybe finally get a boyfriend. In typical teenage fashion, he's maybe a bit more concerned with the last one rather than the first two, and generally seems completely overwhelmed by... well, everything.
Tommy has a pretty concrete life plan for himself, and can't imagine himself deviating from it. When he suddenly finds himself working with Gabe, his first crush from when he was 11, and finds out that Gabe's dream school is in the same city as Tommy's dream school, he imagines a future where they realize they're soulmates, fall in love, go to college together, build a life with a dog and three kids, etc. etc. Of course, life has other plans. Throughout the book, Tommy learns that deviating from the set plan can be freeing, not limiting, and that hyper-focusing on one option can make you blind to others that might be better for you. The book also features a great cast of accompanying characters, including residents at the retirement community where Tommy works and the other teenaged employees.
I think this book does a great job of capturing that feeling of overwhelm that accompanies trying to figure out the rest of your life as a young adult. No one has anything perfectly figured out, even when it seems like they do, and it turns out that everyone in the book is kind of a hot mess in the end. I enjoyed it immensely.
More spoilery thoughts ahead -->
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail and Blood
Moderate: Death of parent and Infidelity
Minor: Suicide
callidoralblack's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Outing, and Death of parent
Minor: Pregnancy, Sexual content, Racism, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Drug use, Homophobia, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Hate crime, and Grief
linnea1801's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Abortion, Blood, and Infidelity
jpleitez1's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Death of parent, Cursing, Blood, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, Homophobia, and Abortion
piperclover's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
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
4.25
This reminds me of The Sky Blues by Robbie Couch a little and I loved that book too. If you're familiar with that book this one ends similarly and I think it's done equally as well as in The Sky Blues. The ending of this book is really what saved it for me from being just a 3.5 star to being over a 4 star. It's really funny, all sides characters are interesting and fleshed out enough that they have distinguishing characteristics, and the instigating plot isn't as stupid as I feared.
For a large portion of the book I was wishing it was 3rd person and dual POV but by the end of it I was actually very glad that it was a first person solo POV because I think you get more out of the story that way. I also absolutely love that Tommy is super blunt and honest but not in a mean way. He calls out people's bad behavior and to their faces but also accepts when hes done wrong and apologizes for it appropriately. YA novels tend to make the main character very one-note and overly accepting of other people's bad behavior but not this one. I'm so pleased withe end couple and would love a sequel about them. The narrator is good too.
I do wish that certain points were emphasized more likehow creepy and gross it is for a 21yo to be dating a 17yo. Tommy points out that the 21yo buying alcohol for minors is skeevy but doesn't outright say that the age gap is actually disgusting. Also there are 2 instances of cheating by kissing and Tommy doesn't feel outraged or guilty enough about it. .
I really disliked that the timeline is fairly vague so I was confused when suddenly a character would say "that was 4 months ago" bc I had no idea a week had even passed. And if you have a fear/dislike of blood like I do, you want to be really careful around chapters 34 and 35. The blood and injury description is very graphic and made me physically ill.
For a large portion of the book I was wishing it was 3rd person and dual POV but by the end of it I was actually very glad that it was a first person solo POV because I think you get more out of the story that way. I also absolutely love that Tommy is super blunt and honest but not in a mean way. He calls out people's bad behavior and to their faces but also accepts when hes done wrong and apologizes for it appropriately. YA novels tend to make the main character very one-note and overly accepting of other people's bad behavior but not this one. I'm so pleased withe end couple and would love a sequel about them. The narrator is good too.
I do wish that certain points were emphasized more like
I really disliked that the timeline is fairly vague so I was confused when suddenly a character would say "that was 4 months ago" bc I had no idea a week had even passed. And if you have a fear/dislike of blood like I do, you want to be really careful around chapters 34 and 35. The blood and injury description is very graphic and made me physically ill.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical content, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
phoebesnow's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
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
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood and Injury/Injury detail
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