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A review by saraa_t
Every Reason We Shouldn't by Sara Fujimura
3.0
I picked up this book on a whim looking for more fun, lighthearted content, and Sara Fujimura came through in many ways with Every Reason We Shouldn’t. With humor and passion, her characters come off the page to spin double salchows in your living room. But while I especially enjoyed protagonist Olivia, she and love interest Jonah have a few problematic character traits I don’t enjoy seeing in YA fiction especially. Coupled with a poorly handled school shooting situation, I was grimacing more than smiling by the end of this one.
Every Reason We Shouldn’t centers around a biracial family in Phoenix trying to keep their struggling ice rink afloat. Spunky Olivia is the daughter of two Olympic medalists trying to balance high school, competition failure, and her passion for figure skating.
When Jonah shows up at Ice Dreams with Olympic speed skating hopes, Olivia falls head over heels pretty quickly. The two go to the same high school and cultivate a relationship centered around their mutual understanding of the other’s hopes and dreams — and how much time and dedication goes into seeing them through.
The first of a few problems begins to present itself around this dedication: Olivia and Jonah both have troubling relationships with food, with Jonah going so far as to shame his friends for eating “simple carbs” on multiple occasions. Olivia is impressed by Jonah’s dedication, and, in her own desire to get back in shape, she follows suit and begins internally reproaching herself for having an extra bite of something, even when she’s hungry.
In the same vein as this, Fujimara’s male characters, Jonah and Olivia’s ex–skating partner Egg especially, put Olivia down on various occasions. She’s on her way to being “washed-up,” and neither Jonah nor Egg pretend to believe in her dreams of trying to make it to the Olympics. (But both of them expect her undivided support while following their own dreams, of course.)
Last point of contention: the high school intruder bit. Spoiler alert: Jonah and Olivia’s high school is locked down in the latter half of the book due to a potentially violent intruder. This serves as a bit of a come-to-Jesus moment for Jonah, who professes his love for Olivia via text just after the students are given the all clear to return to class. While this is a traumatic experience for most of the novel’s characters, Fujimara uses it as a plot movement device and hardly provides any reflection about the event from the characters. After a few days, the event is forgotten completely. By the end of the novel, I’d forgotten it even happened. Not great.
There are a few memorable supporting characters, like Olivia’s single mom best friend Mack, who add to the narrative in thoughtful ways. Mack is fun, smart, supportive, raising a kid, and trying to make the cut for a badass women’s roller derby team.
Having voices and narratives like Olivia’s in YA fiction that’s filled with Asian Americans characters is important, but, while I’d be interested to hear more from Olivia, I’d hope her story was told with support from those in her circle and filled with positive relationships like Mack and Olivia’s.
Every Reason We Shouldn’t is a quick, fun romance with some juicy sporting elements, but I’d hesitate to recommend it for various reasons. Fingers crossed Fujimara redeems this storyline in a sequel.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Tor Teen for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Every Reason We Shouldn’t centers around a biracial family in Phoenix trying to keep their struggling ice rink afloat. Spunky Olivia is the daughter of two Olympic medalists trying to balance high school, competition failure, and her passion for figure skating.
When Jonah shows up at Ice Dreams with Olympic speed skating hopes, Olivia falls head over heels pretty quickly. The two go to the same high school and cultivate a relationship centered around their mutual understanding of the other’s hopes and dreams — and how much time and dedication goes into seeing them through.
The first of a few problems begins to present itself around this dedication: Olivia and Jonah both have troubling relationships with food, with Jonah going so far as to shame his friends for eating “simple carbs” on multiple occasions. Olivia is impressed by Jonah’s dedication, and, in her own desire to get back in shape, she follows suit and begins internally reproaching herself for having an extra bite of something, even when she’s hungry.
In the same vein as this, Fujimara’s male characters, Jonah and Olivia’s ex–skating partner Egg especially, put Olivia down on various occasions. She’s on her way to being “washed-up,” and neither Jonah nor Egg pretend to believe in her dreams of trying to make it to the Olympics. (But both of them expect her undivided support while following their own dreams, of course.)
Last point of contention: the high school intruder bit. Spoiler alert: Jonah and Olivia’s high school is locked down in the latter half of the book due to a potentially violent intruder. This serves as a bit of a come-to-Jesus moment for Jonah, who professes his love for Olivia via text just after the students are given the all clear to return to class. While this is a traumatic experience for most of the novel’s characters, Fujimara uses it as a plot movement device and hardly provides any reflection about the event from the characters. After a few days, the event is forgotten completely. By the end of the novel, I’d forgotten it even happened. Not great.
There are a few memorable supporting characters, like Olivia’s single mom best friend Mack, who add to the narrative in thoughtful ways. Mack is fun, smart, supportive, raising a kid, and trying to make the cut for a badass women’s roller derby team.
Having voices and narratives like Olivia’s in YA fiction that’s filled with Asian Americans characters is important, but, while I’d be interested to hear more from Olivia, I’d hope her story was told with support from those in her circle and filled with positive relationships like Mack and Olivia’s.
Every Reason We Shouldn’t is a quick, fun romance with some juicy sporting elements, but I’d hesitate to recommend it for various reasons. Fingers crossed Fujimara redeems this storyline in a sequel.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Tor Teen for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.