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A review by gggina13
Happily Ever Afters by Elise Bryant
2.0
Dude, I genuinely do not even know if the Harry Potter books have more Harry Potter references than this gd book. It came out in 2021!!!!!! And I understand publishing timelines. The first JKR debacle apparently happened in June 2020. So this book would have been written, and probably already had ARCs out. But damn dude, was it not worth delaying publication by a few months to get this shit out of this story?
And I am a trans ally which places me FIRMLY in an anti-JKR stance. But for what it's worth, I have been generally annoyed with Harry Potter references in books, especially YA books, for quite some time now. I'm of the opinion that there are so many other franchises that this generation of teens are exposed to?? Like can we replace HP stuff with Percy Jackson????? Diary of a damn Wimpy Kid??? A zoo wee mama peppered in here and there in a book would be ICONIC but nooooooooo we have a 16 year old in 2021 wearing Ravenclaw robes for a Halloween costume...........
UGH not to focus this review on HP stuff because spoiler, it's not the only thing I really didn't like about this book, but there's a part where the MC is talking to her crush and they are bonding over, you fucking guessed it, HP. He says he wants to be like JK Rowling when he gets older. She says, "not JUST like her, right???" And he says "why, because of what she said?" and she says yes, then reflects internally how she and her best friend spent some time being really upset and conflicted over the situation. Part of what pisses me off about this is that THIS is how it's all acknowledged? A throwaway line that's essentially "damn she really said that lol" and doesn't even NAME WHAT SHE SAID ON PAGE. This book is for TEENAGERS, who probably aren't on Twitter because they're not old like us millennials, so there is a huge chance that there are teens who could read this that have no clue what the hell Elise Bryant is referring to when she talks about "what JK Rowling said".... If you're going to be bold enough to wave your Harry Potter flag ALLLLL over your book, own tf up and say ON PAGE that the woman is transphobic and does not respect trans women as women. Acknowledge who exactly is hurt by it. It's such a cop out to half ass mention it to maybe try and absolve the guilt of sucking HP off for the rest of the book. ESPECIALLY considering the fact that her crush's response to the mention of the controversy is "well, she's still famous"..... fuck off dude
And really, I'm not quite sure on Elise Bryant's viewpoint of trans people, because it's fully not clear through that little exchange, and the book ALSO deadnames Elliot Page. (I have seen a first edition hardcover, and it was on page there, and I checked out the audiobook from Hoopla and heard it there. I would be interested to know if any edition has been amended, and if so, I'll take this part out of this review.) So I don't know that this is an author I would consider any kind of ally for trans people just based on this information. I haven't looked into any recent posts about the subject from her, so she could have been outspoken on her opinions since this book was written, but just be careful on who you support.
BUT! Onto the story!
Tessa moves away from her bestie and hometown and is about to go to a like, art-related high school. She is a writer, got her start with fan-fic, and writes romance. She meets her neighbor, a sweet boy named Sam, who is never fully described as fat, but has "a round stomach pushing against his shirt" or whatever the case was. She sure does spend a lot of time calling his outfits ugly, saying he's not her type.... hmmmm...... and her crush has "sharp hipbones"..... one has to wonder.....
REGARDLESS, she starts riding to school with Sam since they're neighbors, meets some friends at school, has a crush on Nico, a popular rich boy, goes to novel-writing class, has the epiphany that she has to share her novel writing and get it critiqued lmao, like idk how she thought she'd write a novel and become an author and never get her work read, but hey, whatever, anyway, she panics and shuts down and gets writers' blocked. Her best friend from back home, Caroline, basically is like, ooh let's make you have a love story that inspires you to write again!! and they come up with a scheme to get Nico and Tessa together.
May I mention, there is specifically a scene where Caroline says "oh, a skinny white boy, your type," and Tessa is like, "hey, my last boyfriend was Black!!" and it feels SO written in as a throwaway line for anyone who would critique Tessa being interested in white boys? Which like, I wouldn't have lol, but after that I'm kind of like.... you're oddly calling attention to it so now I'm paying attention
Well, here's the thing. Nico has a girlfriend named Poppy. But that will not deter Tessa! She still spends a lot of time trying to get with him since the two of them are allegedly off and on but they're clearly on in the book..... it's very unsettling and everyone around her except for Sam, the voice of reason, is like, oooooh go after what you want, girl!!!
Sam is the only reason to read this book. He is a sweet angel. Another partial reason is Miles, Tessa's brother who has a few different disabilities and has to be taken care of like a younger brother to Tessa, even though he's 3 years older. He's a fun character, but I'm not really obsessed with the way the family acts about him? Like the parents expect Tessa to really spend a lot of time taking care of him, which she doesn't seem super happy about being obligated, but then they offer to hire someone, and Tessa refuses, because she wants the family to take care of him... ??? Idk, I get how it can be a confusing choice, but she just contradicts herself in everything she does.
Anyways, she ends up by the end of the story 1] messing up her friendship with Caroline, because Caroline tells her to her face that she only ever calls Caroline when it's about Tessa, Tessa, Tessa, and wtf does Tessa do after that? Low key ghost her until it's another episode of the Tessa show 2] getting awfully mad at Nico for stringing her along and taking her as a second choice but she LITERALLY does the same exact thing to Sam 3] fully lying to her mom about something she couldn't even go behind the scenes and force to be true for NO REASON other than trying to avoid getting in trouble for something that's her fault, then you're basically waiting around for the shoe to drop knowing that it has to break somewhere?
And the book literally just ends before Tessa and Sam can reconcile after their big fight and break off (not a break up because they weren't dating) lmaooo like basically the author was like idk what I'd have Sam say if Tessa apologized so let me just not even imagine!!!
Truly a disappointment of a book in almost every way which is insane to me considering how much I liked Reggie & Delilah!! This kind of thing is why I'm often nervous to go backwards through an author's backlist!!!!
And I am a trans ally which places me FIRMLY in an anti-JKR stance. But for what it's worth, I have been generally annoyed with Harry Potter references in books, especially YA books, for quite some time now. I'm of the opinion that there are so many other franchises that this generation of teens are exposed to?? Like can we replace HP stuff with Percy Jackson????? Diary of a damn Wimpy Kid??? A zoo wee mama peppered in here and there in a book would be ICONIC but nooooooooo we have a 16 year old in 2021 wearing Ravenclaw robes for a Halloween costume...........
UGH not to focus this review on HP stuff because spoiler, it's not the only thing I really didn't like about this book, but there's a part where the MC is talking to her crush and they are bonding over, you fucking guessed it, HP. He says he wants to be like JK Rowling when he gets older. She says, "not JUST like her, right???" And he says "why, because of what she said?" and she says yes, then reflects internally how she and her best friend spent some time being really upset and conflicted over the situation. Part of what pisses me off about this is that THIS is how it's all acknowledged? A throwaway line that's essentially "damn she really said that lol" and doesn't even NAME WHAT SHE SAID ON PAGE. This book is for TEENAGERS, who probably aren't on Twitter because they're not old like us millennials, so there is a huge chance that there are teens who could read this that have no clue what the hell Elise Bryant is referring to when she talks about "what JK Rowling said".... If you're going to be bold enough to wave your Harry Potter flag ALLLLL over your book, own tf up and say ON PAGE that the woman is transphobic and does not respect trans women as women. Acknowledge who exactly is hurt by it. It's such a cop out to half ass mention it to maybe try and absolve the guilt of sucking HP off for the rest of the book. ESPECIALLY considering the fact that her crush's response to the mention of the controversy is "well, she's still famous"..... fuck off dude
And really, I'm not quite sure on Elise Bryant's viewpoint of trans people, because it's fully not clear through that little exchange, and the book ALSO deadnames Elliot Page. (I have seen a first edition hardcover, and it was on page there, and I checked out the audiobook from Hoopla and heard it there. I would be interested to know if any edition has been amended, and if so, I'll take this part out of this review.) So I don't know that this is an author I would consider any kind of ally for trans people just based on this information. I haven't looked into any recent posts about the subject from her, so she could have been outspoken on her opinions since this book was written, but just be careful on who you support.
BUT! Onto the story!
Tessa moves away from her bestie and hometown and is about to go to a like, art-related high school. She is a writer, got her start with fan-fic, and writes romance. She meets her neighbor, a sweet boy named Sam, who is never fully described as fat, but has "a round stomach pushing against his shirt" or whatever the case was. She sure does spend a lot of time calling his outfits ugly, saying he's not her type.... hmmmm...... and her crush has "sharp hipbones"..... one has to wonder.....
REGARDLESS, she starts riding to school with Sam since they're neighbors, meets some friends at school, has a crush on Nico, a popular rich boy, goes to novel-writing class, has the epiphany that she has to share her novel writing and get it critiqued lmao, like idk how she thought she'd write a novel and become an author and never get her work read, but hey, whatever, anyway, she panics and shuts down and gets writers' blocked. Her best friend from back home, Caroline, basically is like, ooh let's make you have a love story that inspires you to write again!! and they come up with a scheme to get Nico and Tessa together.
May I mention, there is specifically a scene where Caroline says "oh, a skinny white boy, your type," and Tessa is like, "hey, my last boyfriend was Black!!" and it feels SO written in as a throwaway line for anyone who would critique Tessa being interested in white boys? Which like, I wouldn't have lol, but after that I'm kind of like.... you're oddly calling attention to it so now I'm paying attention
Well, here's the thing. Nico has a girlfriend named Poppy. But that will not deter Tessa! She still spends a lot of time trying to get with him since the two of them are allegedly off and on but they're clearly on in the book..... it's very unsettling and everyone around her except for Sam, the voice of reason, is like, oooooh go after what you want, girl!!!
Sam is the only reason to read this book. He is a sweet angel. Another partial reason is Miles, Tessa's brother who has a few different disabilities and has to be taken care of like a younger brother to Tessa, even though he's 3 years older. He's a fun character, but I'm not really obsessed with the way the family acts about him? Like the parents expect Tessa to really spend a lot of time taking care of him, which she doesn't seem super happy about being obligated, but then they offer to hire someone, and Tessa refuses, because she wants the family to take care of him... ??? Idk, I get how it can be a confusing choice, but she just contradicts herself in everything she does.
Anyways, she ends up by the end of the story 1] messing up her friendship with Caroline, because Caroline tells her to her face that she only ever calls Caroline when it's about Tessa, Tessa, Tessa, and wtf does Tessa do after that? Low key ghost her until it's another episode of the Tessa show 2] getting awfully mad at Nico for stringing her along and taking her as a second choice but she LITERALLY does the same exact thing to Sam 3] fully lying to her mom about something she couldn't even go behind the scenes and force to be true for NO REASON other than trying to avoid getting in trouble for something that's her fault, then you're basically waiting around for the shoe to drop knowing that it has to break somewhere?
And the book literally just ends before Tessa and Sam can reconcile after their big fight and break off (not a break up because they weren't dating) lmaooo like basically the author was like idk what I'd have Sam say if Tessa apologized so let me just not even imagine!!!
Truly a disappointment of a book in almost every way which is insane to me considering how much I liked Reggie & Delilah!! This kind of thing is why I'm often nervous to go backwards through an author's backlist!!!!