Reviews with content warning for Alcohol - I Was Born for This

I'm surprised I ended up liking this as much as I do. Big thanks to the skillful narrators; Aysha Kala and Huw Parmenter! I only chose this book because of the narration tbh, as I wanted to listen to something by Oseman and this book was the only tolerable one (yeah, I tried them all and am very picky about the voices).

Narration aside, I liked how accurately the story depicted the lives of (young) fans, online friendships, fanfics and all that jazz. It took me a few years back to when I was in junior high, and a part of it will always live inside me. Oseman's portrayal of young people and fan culture is so accurate and does not feel fake at all (probably due to her relatively young age as well), and I love how casually she includes all kinds of diversity in her books without it feeling forced. Not to forget her authentic depictions of various mental health issues! This woman sure didn't come here to just play, she won it all. Some minor defects of the story were its predictability and general YA-ness, also I really disliked Rowan through the whole book (I have no idea why but he annoys me. A lot). Obviously I shouldn't have chosen a YA book to read if I dislike YA, but where else would I find a story this heartwarming, genuine, inclusive and accurate (and about teenagers, let alone fangirls)? Overall I did like this story. Relatable. A bit annoying, but understadably so.

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hb2249's review against another edition

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emotional 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

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elliizzzabeth's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted relaxing 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

5.0

Alice Oseman triumphs again! This was such a good look in to celebrity and fan culture from both perspectives. A love letter to fandom but also painfully aware of its limitations and toxicity as well. I love the way this book is so open ended. It's not a love story or 'how I became best friends with my idols' which are traps it could have so easily fallen into but expertly avoids. Its the story of two very different people's lives crossing for a brief moment in time and what they both learn from each other. I also loved the exploration of religion and faith from these two perspectives but without ever becoming preachy or focusing on hard doctrine. I also loved the diversity! Our protagonsts are a trans man and a Muslim woman but the story is about them as people rather than focusing on their identities.
My one drawback is that obviously the fandom is focused around band and so there are lots of discussions of shipping real people and rpf which I find a little uncomfortable. But the book explores that phenomenon and how it affects the real people involved so its not like it condones it or anything but it's definitely mentioned a lot.
Overall, such an incredible book. 10/10

Content Warnings

rorireads_'s review against another edition

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challenging dark funny informative reflective tense fast-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

4.0

This book was such a delve into fandom culture. I loved it. Juliet and Angel and Jimmy and Rowan and Lister and every other character had some purpose and gave life to this story. This one’s going to stick with me for a while

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xeleanorx's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective sad tense fast-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

4.5

was a book which highlighted the problems with fandom culture and it was very interesting to seeing the two sides of a fandom, someone whose within the fandom and someone whose actually apart of the band. i liked seeing both of their problems and them overcoming them and understanding how to love themselves. The characters where amazing and really drove the story.

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hayleyvem's review against another edition

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challenging emotional inspiring fast-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

4.0

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hannahrogers's review against another edition

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emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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sweetsxrrxw's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

when i started reading this book i had no idea what was it about but as soon as i found out the main character was a hijabi my heart felt fullfied. it's so hard to find good muslim representation nowadays, specially coming from non-muslim people. but alice did a great job. she didn't only portray angel as a normal teen but also added some details for the reader to not forget about her religion and it was just amazing.
the other main character is a biracial trans anxious boy who is the singer of the trendiest band at the moment which is super cool too.
the rest of the characters are also nice and it's pretty easy to love most of them.

there are no huge plot twists in the book but it's actually pretty entertaining to see how the plot is being driven and how the words of the two main characters collide while important topics such as self discovery, mental health, growing up and being confused or pressured about what to do next in life are discussed.

this book really brought me back to my intense fangirl era back in 2016-2019. i believe alice has portrayed really well the feeling of becoming so passionate about something that it ends up becoming the main reason of your happiness and it can even bring you up new friendships (mostly online lmao)
on the other side, she also represents how dark and mentally exhausting the music industry and rich people can be. we can clearly see that through jimmy, whose anxiety stops him from doing stuff in several occasions or whose intrusive thoughts are present all along.

to sum up, i just loved this book and its content so much, i think everyone should give it a chance. even if you don't feel identified with any of the characters, im pretty sure there's lots of quotes or scenes that you'll keep in mind for a long time, x.

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