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A review by alexan13
Technically, You Started It by Lana Wood Johnson
3.0
Probably closer to a 2.75.
I really wanted to love this book. It has a demisexual main character, which is still pretty rare, and is written entirely through text conversations which is a really cool format.
However, I felt like the text conversations varied in quality. This format made it really quick to get through, but nothing really compelled me to get through it. I really recommend not reading the synopsis of this book, like at all, because then there might be some driving plot conflict to keep you flipping pages, but having read the synopsis, you essentially know everything. Sure, it’s kind of fun to see the confusion play out as a reader with the advantage of knowing more than the characters, but it was also frustrating at times. I think it would have been more fun had I know less going in.
I also couldn’t really connect to the characters, despite the texting format supposedly giving the kind of insight to these characters that a close friend would have. I felt like this was the kind of novel that tried too hard to have a “”quirky”” main character. Others might not feel this way, but unfortunately sometimes the writing (yup, the writing of casual texts) came off as kind of stilted, leading me to feel disconnected from the main character.
Overall, I think this book has a cool format and actually utilizes its format to craft a plot that would not have worked had the book been written any other way. It’s really quickly to get through, so worth giving a go if you’re interested, but unfortunately it just didn’t work for me.
I really wanted to love this book. It has a demisexual main character, which is still pretty rare, and is written entirely through text conversations which is a really cool format.
However, I felt like the text conversations varied in quality. This format made it really quick to get through, but nothing really compelled me to get through it. I really recommend not reading the synopsis of this book, like at all, because then there might be some driving plot conflict to keep you flipping pages, but having read the synopsis, you essentially know everything. Sure, it’s kind of fun to see the confusion play out as a reader with the advantage of knowing more than the characters, but it was also frustrating at times. I think it would have been more fun had I know less going in.
I also couldn’t really connect to the characters, despite the texting format supposedly giving the kind of insight to these characters that a close friend would have. I felt like this was the kind of novel that tried too hard to have a “”quirky”” main character. Others might not feel this way, but unfortunately sometimes the writing (yup, the writing of casual texts) came off as kind of stilted, leading me to feel disconnected from the main character.
Overall, I think this book has a cool format and actually utilizes its format to craft a plot that would not have worked had the book been written any other way. It’s really quickly to get through, so worth giving a go if you’re interested, but unfortunately it just didn’t work for me.