Take a photo of a barcode or cover
2.81 AVERAGE
2.81 AVERAGE
This book didn't really have a plot. That's not necessarily a deal-breaker for me, but there needs to be some kind of exchange. Characters need to grow or relationships need to be build. Both of those things happened in this book, but not to the extent that I would have liked. And because of that, the plot felt even more empty.
The first two-thirds of the book were fine. Just okay, but not anything terrible. The characters are quirky and interesting and, to some extent, believable. But then we get towards the end and everybody's just loving everybody and Ramona now has two boyfriends...um, okay. I'm all about acceptance and including diversity in books, but that just seemed really strange. I just don't get it! It doesn't seem fair to either boy and I'm having a hard time figuring out if this is a situation that real people would be okay with. How realistic is this situation? That's my main question.
Overall, the first bit of the book was fine, but then the ending got really weird. Sometimes the book felt a bit preachy as well with some of the issues that Tom was going on about.
Note: I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
The first two-thirds of the book were fine. Just okay, but not anything terrible. The characters are quirky and interesting and, to some extent, believable. But then we get towards the end and everybody's just loving everybody and Ramona now has two boyfriends...um, okay. I'm all about acceptance and including diversity in books, but that just seemed really strange. I just don't get it! It doesn't seem fair to either boy and I'm having a hard time figuring out if this is a situation that real people would be okay with. How realistic is this situation? That's my main question.
Overall, the first bit of the book was fine, but then the ending got really weird. Sometimes the book felt a bit preachy as well with some of the issues that Tom was going on about.
Note: I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Poly rep!
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This book started to adorable, and I really fell in love with the characters instantly. Or it took me a few pages, but as soon as I saw Ramona through Sam's eyes, I just loved her and her open behaviour and I thought the three of them were so cute! I was grinning the whole time during the first half of the book, just because the three of them made me so happy, and I was really sure I'd love everything, especially after there was even some ace representation in it (really great, didn't expect it!), but sadly it kind of fell short towards the end, and only fell shorter the closer the ending came.
The ace rep made me really happy, but I didn't really like, how it was depicted as something strange. Or it felt like it was still depicted as something strange.And I really hated how after Sara reacted so horrible about this, Tom still tried to be her friend. I wanted to see her realizing she was in the wrong or him cutting her out, but this just didn't feel right. (Same for Ramona not wanting to touch Tom for a while, I wish it could have been all happy instead of just obvious that it willbe happy at some point.)
Also the ending didn't really feel right to me. I actually liked most of it(and I was really happy for all of them) , but there were just some things that didn't really work. A lot of things just feel unfinished, and like I was supposed to know more but didn't, and the last chapter was good, it was just ... I expected more, I think. It felt a little to "silent" while reading, but I can't really say why.
(And the different layouts didn't work for me either, sadly. I got the reasons behind those choices, it just felt a little random all the time (except for the part about dyslexia, I totally got why there).)
But even if I disliked a lot of things in the second half, I really loved the first, and I did like the overall story and how Tom, Sam and Ramona just worked it out. The interactions between them all or just two of them always felt great and real, and it did feel like real friendship and love, and I really loved all of that. I just wish we could have had just these friendship/love-scenes, and not the drama towards the end.
Although I will say I really appreciated how Ramona tried to work it out with Emmalyn, that was a nice choice.
In conclusion, I don't think it was a bad book, and the ideas were probably all great, it was just a little dissapointing in the execution.
The ace rep made me really happy, but I didn't really like, how it was depicted as something strange. Or it felt like it was still depicted as something strange.
Also the ending didn't really feel right to me. I actually liked most of it
(And the different layouts didn't work for me either, sadly. I got the reasons behind those choices, it just felt a little random all the time (except for the part about dyslexia, I totally got why there).)
Although I will say I really appreciated how Ramona tried to work it out with Emmalyn, that was a nice choice.
In conclusion, I don't think it was a bad book, and the ideas were probably all great, it was just a little dissapointing in the execution.
I’ll say that I certainly wasn’t expecting asexual representation in this book, so that was a nice surprise! Otherwise…none of the characters were very endearing, and this could have been great polycule rep, yet it felt more like the guys were just sharing a girlfriend. And hey, maybe that’s how some polycules function, but to me, it just felt like a big meh.
