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A review by caszriel
Time of Our Lives by Emily Wibberley, Austin Siegemund-Broka
3.0
It hurts me to give this three stars, it really does. And it's so close to four... Join me in crying about what could've been. But alas, in relation to other books in this genre and my 2021 rating system, it really is a three.
Do you think a guy who dreads forgetting the past and a girl who's focused on the future could, you know, be friends?
When I started reading Time of Our Lives, I was confused. I've been wanting to read it since before its release, but the first few chapters made me unsure why I'd wanted to read it to begin with. The confusion faded as I got further along, and the book definitely got better.
There's a lot about Juniper that I can relate to, and I loved Fitz as a character. However, their family situations both felt quite exaggerated, slightly forced as if anything less extreme would be unbelievable (to the contrary, I felt that a more subtle approach would've been more believable). As the ridiculousness faded into the background the story settled more into what I thought it should've been all along; an exploration of two teenagers coming to a crossroads in their lives.
I loved this book so much, but the beginning really let it down. The ending, on the other hand, I felt was so perfect; it's everything I wanted for the characters, and I thought it left off at just the right moment. If you're looking for a coming-of-age high school story, I would still highly recommend Time of Our Lives, but perhaps don't go in with as high hopes as I did because those hopes may just get crushed.
Do you think a guy who dreads forgetting the past and a girl who's focused on the future could, you know, be friends?
When I started reading Time of Our Lives, I was confused. I've been wanting to read it since before its release, but the first few chapters made me unsure why I'd wanted to read it to begin with. The confusion faded as I got further along, and the book definitely got better.
There's a lot about Juniper that I can relate to, and I loved Fitz as a character. However, their family situations both felt quite exaggerated, slightly forced as if anything less extreme would be unbelievable (to the contrary, I felt that a more subtle approach would've been more believable). As the ridiculousness faded into the background the story settled more into what I thought it should've been all along; an exploration of two teenagers coming to a crossroads in their lives.
I loved this book so much, but the beginning really let it down. The ending, on the other hand, I felt was so perfect; it's everything I wanted for the characters, and I thought it left off at just the right moment. If you're looking for a coming-of-age high school story, I would still highly recommend Time of Our Lives, but perhaps don't go in with as high hopes as I did because those hopes may just get crushed.