A review by anniefwrites
Freshman Year by Sarah Mai

emotional reflective fast-paced

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

This book showed another side of college life which I really appreciated—not knowing what you’re doing and not feeling like it’s “the best years of your life” despite what everyone says. I didn’t have the best college experience in some ways, and I was surprised by how specifically Mai reflected the emotions and thoughts I had at that time back at me. It really is a time of just starting to assess yourself: who you are, what you need to work through, who you want to be, and that was captured very well. It was a bit of a stressful read, but ultimately a good one. The only thing I’ll add is that I didn’t think the epilogue was necessary; the reader is smart enough to pick up on those takeaways themselves.