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3.47 AVERAGE
3.47 AVERAGE
Katie Heaney is a comedic genius in my opinion, and this book just affirmed that belief. She leads us down a path through awkward first kisses, being the only single friend, and all the other awkward situations single girls find themselves in past their teenage years. I first started this book mostly because the description sounded interesting enough, but once I got into it, I couldn't put it down. I finished it in one night, and I went from laughing so hard I cried to cringing at the awkwardness. The entire novel was absolutely hilarious, and the stark honesty of it was refreshing. I felt like I was going through every life event with her, and being 26 and never having a boyfriend myself, I could laugh through my tears right along with her through the innocent childhood years, uncomfortable teenage stage, and finally to the adult stage of complete confusion with relationships. I would recommend this to anyone going through a mid-adult crisis, or just anyone who wants a good but awkward laugh at the stages of life.
This book was included in one of my Book Riot mailings. It's the drivel-iest drivel I've read in a long time - vapid, self-absorbed, and just plain silly. How did something this immature get published? It was enough to make me want to cancel my subscription on the spot.
This book was funny and relatable. Katie's writing style is enjoyable to read. I wish the book had spent more time on her 18+ dating life; the first half of the book moves slow and contains the kind of stories that are funnier when you know the person.
Aside from the slightly misleading title (I'm not sure what Ms. Heaney considers dating, if regularly going out with the same boy and doing various activities isn't considered a date?), this is a mediocre memoir. It's an easy read, if you're the kind of person who can read someone consciously trying to be completely quirky in a run-on sentence-way-too-hypenated-sort-of-way. There are moments where I could completely identify with the author, but far too many moments where I just seriously wished I was reading my psych textbook instead. I didn't hate it, but I also didn't love it.
1.5
I thought this book would be funny... it wasn't.
I thought this book would be relatable... it wasn't.
Honestly the only really good part was the part about The Sims, and it was only like a page. It was weird that the author wasn't the narrator of the audiobook...
I thought this book would be funny... it wasn't.
I thought this book would be relatable... it wasn't.
Honestly the only really good part was the part about The Sims, and it was only like a page. It was weird that the author wasn't the narrator of the audiobook...
I really like this book for the majority of it. I relate to Katie a lot and I felt so nice being able to read someone who felt the same way I do. Once I got to part 4 of the book, I felt like I was pushing myself to finish it and that pacing was off for me. I ended up skimming the majority of the end of the book.
I think I would give this maybe a 3.75
I think I would give this maybe a 3.75
Katie Heaney is like a lot of 20-somethings I know in that she hasn’t had much luck in the romance department. Due to a collection of missed chances and an awkward adolescence (is there any other kind?) she has not had a single date by age twenty-five. What makes her different than a lot of people who are in this situation (and I don’t think it’s quite as uncommon as she thinks) is that she’d really, really like to date.
She was one of those girls whose crushes took over their lives. Anxiety and awkwardness kept her from acting on her desires, but she was a touch obsessive. Most of the people who I know who didn’t/don’t date either didn’t want to or felt like it would happen in its own time and got on with their lives in the meantime. Heaney was less sanguine about it. To put it mildly.
This book is a collection of her attempts at romance/inter-gender socializing. She is very funny and it helps that she spends most of the book mocking herself for her antics. To be fair, it is not always her at fault for a dating situation not working out. It does take two to tango, as they say, and sometimes boys are dumb. Also, sometimes online dating is horrifying. You know exactly what I’m talking about.
One of the nice things about this book is that, while her non-existent dating life is the centre, she also features some stories from her friends who are more and less successful at this than her (depending on how one ranks success). One of her best friends is her polar opposite in this field and is someone who might be able to number her dates in triple digits. Heaney is nicely non-judgey about this which I liked. I also liked that she grew more okay with herself as a single person as she got older. At one point her friends were pressuring her to date someone in particular. She said no and was okay with her decision because she trusted her instincts and didn’t feel like she needed to date this person just to have dated someone. An important take-away lesson I thought.
Never Have I Ever is peppered with references that anyone born in the late 80’s or the 90’s in general will get, the title being a good example. A lot of her experiences are relatable. I found myself thinking over high school incidents that I hadn’t thought of in years. I’m not sure if that’s good or bad, but it is a credit to Ms. Heaney’s writing ability.
Overall, I enjoyed her account. I tended to get annoyed by girls who were obsessed with their significant other in high school and I find that hasn’t changed. It may have made me a touch unsympathetic to Heaney’s plight, but it also put me in her corner when she described the outsider-looking-in feeling her friends would sometimes give her.
3 stars.
She was one of those girls whose crushes took over their lives. Anxiety and awkwardness kept her from acting on her desires, but she was a touch obsessive. Most of the people who I know who didn’t/don’t date either didn’t want to or felt like it would happen in its own time and got on with their lives in the meantime. Heaney was less sanguine about it. To put it mildly.
This book is a collection of her attempts at romance/inter-gender socializing. She is very funny and it helps that she spends most of the book mocking herself for her antics. To be fair, it is not always her at fault for a dating situation not working out. It does take two to tango, as they say, and sometimes boys are dumb. Also, sometimes online dating is horrifying. You know exactly what I’m talking about.
One of the nice things about this book is that, while her non-existent dating life is the centre, she also features some stories from her friends who are more and less successful at this than her (depending on how one ranks success). One of her best friends is her polar opposite in this field and is someone who might be able to number her dates in triple digits. Heaney is nicely non-judgey about this which I liked. I also liked that she grew more okay with herself as a single person as she got older. At one point her friends were pressuring her to date someone in particular. She said no and was okay with her decision because she trusted her instincts and didn’t feel like she needed to date this person just to have dated someone. An important take-away lesson I thought.
Never Have I Ever is peppered with references that anyone born in the late 80’s or the 90’s in general will get, the title being a good example. A lot of her experiences are relatable. I found myself thinking over high school incidents that I hadn’t thought of in years. I’m not sure if that’s good or bad, but it is a credit to Ms. Heaney’s writing ability.
Overall, I enjoyed her account. I tended to get annoyed by girls who were obsessed with their significant other in high school and I find that hasn’t changed. It may have made me a touch unsympathetic to Heaney’s plight, but it also put me in her corner when she described the outsider-looking-in feeling her friends would sometimes give her.
3 stars.
I definitely didn't like this memoir as much as Would You Rather? the sequel which I read first.
I think that Katie suffered from a lot of bad timing and being at the wrong place, at the wrong time when it came to the guys she liked. Most of the guys she writes about are crushes she has, she never has a real relationship over the course of the book (though that was spoiled in the title so that should surprise no one). The last two guys are probably the only two that she might have gone out with, under other circumstances. The reason being was that, these two guys "Spruce" and Neil, actually showed interest in her as a person. The rest of the guys Katie ever liked were one-sided crushes who barely knew her or if they did know her, they didn't know how she felt about them.
Katie offers other girls some advice using her experience with crushes and non-relationships. She says to not waste your time on guys who don't know you exist. Though she seems to fall back into her old patterns through out the course of the book (old habits die hard), I think Katie's story is an important one to note. Anxiety and the social expectation to date can make your life miserable, especially the older you get as more and more people around you are settling down. Not everyone does this all at the same time. Some people get married in their early twenties, some their thirties or forties, others never do. Life is not a competition to see who can get married first, unlike what many girls have been taught from the crib to believe.
Katie was twenty-five when she wrote this memoir about her dateless life; I'm twenty-five now as I'm reading this and I'm just as dateless. We are just two of thousands. I know I'm not alone in this. The people I liked always liked someone else and then the people who liked me, I wasn't ever interested in. So I can more than sympathize with "wrong place, wrong time syndrome" when it comes to any possible dates.
So everyone has their reasons for remaining single, if they have been for a long time (yes, I think it's possible to even be happily single). There is a strength to it, as Katie says, you have more time to decide who you are and what you want in life so you don't have to waste your time on things you don't want. Honestly, I think that's much healthier than throwing yourself at whoever happens to be there because you don't want to be alone or you were pressured into it by everyone around you.
I gave this book 3 stars. I vastly preferred Would You Rather? to this because at least Katie was able to answer her questions for herself. In this book, she hadn't even got to that point yet so it feels unfinished. I think that was point, but still, I preferred when there was more resolution. I know life doesn't always do that neatly, but it's nice for a story when there's some kind of ending or realization.
I think that Katie suffered from a lot of bad timing and being at the wrong place, at the wrong time when it came to the guys she liked. Most of the guys she writes about are crushes she has, she never has a real relationship over the course of the book (though that was spoiled in the title so that should surprise no one). The last two guys are probably the only two that she might have gone out with, under other circumstances. The reason being was that, these two guys "Spruce" and Neil, actually showed interest in her as a person. The rest of the guys Katie ever liked were one-sided crushes who barely knew her or if they did know her, they didn't know how she felt about them.
Katie offers other girls some advice using her experience with crushes and non-relationships. She says to not waste your time on guys who don't know you exist. Though she seems to fall back into her old patterns through out the course of the book (old habits die hard), I think Katie's story is an important one to note. Anxiety and the social expectation to date can make your life miserable, especially the older you get as more and more people around you are settling down. Not everyone does this all at the same time. Some people get married in their early twenties, some their thirties or forties, others never do. Life is not a competition to see who can get married first, unlike what many girls have been taught from the crib to believe.
Katie was twenty-five when she wrote this memoir about her dateless life; I'm twenty-five now as I'm reading this and I'm just as dateless. We are just two of thousands. I know I'm not alone in this. The people I liked always liked someone else and then the people who liked me, I wasn't ever interested in. So I can more than sympathize with "wrong place, wrong time syndrome" when it comes to any possible dates.
So everyone has their reasons for remaining single, if they have been for a long time (yes, I think it's possible to even be happily single). There is a strength to it, as Katie says, you have more time to decide who you are and what you want in life so you don't have to waste your time on things you don't want. Honestly, I think that's much healthier than throwing yourself at whoever happens to be there because you don't want to be alone or you were pressured into it by everyone around you.
I gave this book 3 stars. I vastly preferred Would You Rather? to this because at least Katie was able to answer her questions for herself. In this book, she hadn't even got to that point yet so it feels unfinished. I think that was point, but still, I preferred when there was more resolution. I know life doesn't always do that neatly, but it's nice for a story when there's some kind of ending or realization.
I really enjoyed this and related with the author on so many levels. The narrative reads more like a conversation the author is having with you and flows naturally.
Thought this was going to funny or at least relatable but I was disappointed. Surprised at the good reviews but maybe I just missed the charm.