Reviews with content warning for Alcohol - Opposite of Always

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Opposite of Always by Justin A. Reynolds

9 reviews

modernhobbitvibes's review against another edition

emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

Pros: The focus on friend-love and friends-as-family was good. Time loop plots are always fun and this was a good example of that.

Less a con, more that it's "not for me": Sometimes the teenagers act like teenagers in a way that activated my secondhand embarrassment hardcore. Less a criticism, more a warning that those prone to such feelings might cringe at a few sections.

Con: Kate was SEVERELY manic pixie dream girl'd in her characterization. That's the biggest factor that knocked this book down a few pegs.

I'd say this is overall a pretty good book and worth reading, but the Kate characterization could've been better.

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genevieve_eggleston's review

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective sad 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

4.25

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micaelamariem's review against another edition

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emotional 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

3.0

I just finished one of my first books of the month, a Book of the Month pick from a few months ago, Opposite of Always by Justin A. Reynolds.

Essentially, Opposite of Always is a Groundhog’s Day retelling. Jack, the main character, meets Kate, the girl of his dreams. They could have had a whirlwind romance. But she dies. And while that should be the end, Jack finds himself back to the same day he met Kate. Again and again, stuck in this endless time loop trying to save Kate.

The author, Justin A. Reynolds, is an author from Ohio. Opposite of Always was his debut and it won the Indies Introduce Top Ten Debut Title and became a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year. Apparently, it’s also being adapted for film.

My initial impression is that while I enjoyed the book, I’m not sure I’m the kind of reader that likes time loops or time travel. I wasn’t sure before, but now I think those are things I’m just going to steer clear of. That being said, the story was still compelling. Particularly because the crux of the narrative lied with the characters.

Jack, the main character, always feels like he doesn’t measure up, especially against his two best friends. Kate is working against an illness she doesn’t want to define her life. Both Jillian and Franny are coming to terms with nontraditional families and troubles with their respective fathers. Through it all, Jack is working on who he is, how he can save his love, and how he can be a good friend. The main lesson, or theme, I took from the storyline was that sometimes instead of fixing the issue, it’s important just to be there and do what you can.

“Don’t be afraid. Take chances. And when those don’t work out, take more.”

For the most part, the book was also well-written. As a YA romance/science fiction, the chapters were short and sometimes, the main character was frusturating in his shallow thoughts and mistakes he made. But hey, that’s being a teenager. I think, perhaps, the main thing that annoyed me about Jack was how quickly he changed from the girl he was pining after to claiming affection for a new girl. It was all very “insta-love” and I really am not a fan of that.

Overall, however, I think the book met my expectations, if a little frusturating at times. I suppose I didn’t have as high hopes for this one and was still entertained. Still, I’d give the book three stars and I’d recommend to those who do like time loop stories.

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bujo_bellel's review against another edition

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emotional funny inspiring 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

3.5

I quite liked this book, it was rather slow at the start which I think could have been made quicker. I liked the build-up and how it teaches us the morale that time is precious and that we should never give up. I quite like the relationship between Jack and Kate. I really hate the pet name (baby) that Franny and Jillian called each other which is one of my pet peeves. This book was kind-of anti-climatic but it might be because I was reading this book for a long time and thus was in this world for very long.

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grizzlysnack's review against another edition

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medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

The good things about this book:

the concept
Jack's support system

The bad things about this book:

the execution of concept
characters
character interactions & dialogue

This book is very forgettable, to be honest. If I didn't write out the different scenes for this review and journal entries I probably wouldn't be able to tell you anything significant from the plot

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nila's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad 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? It's complicated

4.25

Time travel in romance stories is one of my least favorite tropes. I never like how it changes the power dynamics and and how one of the characters get complete control over the other, reliving the tile period with knowledge about the second person, which they don't even remember sharing. But Reynolds managed to avoid that trap, and the book was instead a sweet, funny and sad story about friendship, found family and all kinds of love.

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cheye13's review against another edition

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emotional reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This is very well written, but I didn't like it as much as I'd wanted to. I'm not sure this is marketed quite right, since the emphasis is on the "groundhog day" trope and I don't think that trope is done well here. It's a new take on the trope, but I'm not sure the take adds anything necessarily worthwhile to the use of the trope itself. And there is acknowledgement of this within the text that feels like a cheap copout that I'd rather have been left out.

This also reads very young. The height of emotion and sense of stakes only works because this is a teenager's perspective, and even then it still strains belief. Ultimately I'm glad this book was published, but it's most definitely not for me.

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fromjuliereads's review against another edition

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funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective 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

I really liked this book! There were so many laugh out loud scenes, moments that were so difficult to read. Great characters and fantastic writing!

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charlee92's review against another edition

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hopeful lighthearted 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

3.0

Cheesy YA romance. Cute ground hog day style story.

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