My Oxford Year by Julia Whelan

3.46k reviews for:

My Oxford Year

Julia Whelan

3.81 AVERAGE

sloomis17's review against another edition

5.0
adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense 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: Complicated

mgammie's review against another edition

4.0
reflective sad fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: No
bookishbudgets's profile picture

bookishbudgets's review against another edition

3.0
emotional sad medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: No
sarahn19's profile picture

sarahn19's review against another edition

4.25
challenging emotional reflective sad fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: No
hkendicott's profile picture

hkendicott's review against another edition

4.0
emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted tense 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: Complicated
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stephsbooktalk's profile picture

stephsbooktalk's review against another edition

3.75
This book has been on my radar for awhile now. I am such a huge fan of Julie Whelan's narration and knew that she wrote a couple of books but just haven't gotten the chance to read it. My book friend Leslie shared it in a chat about doing her Read Along and participating in weekly Zooms with Julia and the host The Telltale Book Club leading up to the movie and I thought why not. So I followed the break down weekly and attended the zooms (which ended up being different than I anticipated) and then watched the movie. 

I already knew that I had a cold heart but it truly does take a lot for me to be emotional while reading. This did not hit me in the feels. There is quite a heavy theme storyline that takes up majority of the 2nd half. The zoom actually kind of spoiled that this wasn't going to be what I thought it would be. So if you are expecting a romance, while there is romance it will certainly pull at your heartstrings (or icicles in my case). 

Overall I thought the book was finely written. Julia said during the zoom that the book started as a screenplay (she was a child actress and was more familiar with working with scripts) and it evolved from there. Julia brought to life Ella and Jamie so beautifully.  

The movie adaptation as always made some changes from the book but I thought it was enjoyable! I thought the man who played Jamie was charming and I do not blame for Sofia Carson for falling for him. The book definitely evoked more emotions compared to the movie especially when it came to Jamie and his father. 
astoch's profile picture

astoch's review against another edition

4.0
adventurous hopeful inspiring sad medium-paced
rvk's profile picture

rvk's review against another edition

3.0
I thought this book was OK.  I listened to it because of Julia Whelan, but I just found her accent for Jamie to sound like an old man and I couldn't get over that.  I just didn't see the chemistry between the two main characters and the female main character was a bit insufferable.  
lauren_ann's profile picture

lauren_ann's review against another edition

4.0
emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

kdkenyon's review against another edition

3.75
emotional funny hopeful reflective sad slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes