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A review by bookwormbullet
Never Say Never by Justine Manzano
3.0
Thank you so much to Sword and Silk Books for providing me with an ARC for an exchange of an honest review.
The concept of this book was pretty interesting. It has been a while since I had read books with themes of greek mythology set in a modern setting, so I was interested to pick this book up. However, although the concept from the book’s description sounded cool, I think the execution could have been better. The greek mythology aspect felt a little detached from the rest of the story, mainly through the way Val was portrayed as Aphrodite. She felt less like the goddess of love and more like a teenager who had suddenly been dumped with these godly responsibilities. I also didn’t appreciate Brynn’s character all that much because she definitely was a “I’m not like other girls” type of character, which I’m not really a fan of. She constantly would compare her clothes and appearance to those of girls like Val and although I know what the author was trying to convey with these sentiments, sometimes it can come off as unintentionally misogynistic. I thought we left those types of characters back in 2014 :(
Like other readers have mentioned, this book felt weirdly out of place in the sense that I couldn’t exactly tell what year the book’s events were supposed to take place? Some of the language that the characters used felt a little outdated and Brynn and her friends weren’t necessarily partaking in activities that current teenagers partake in so I wasn’t able to relate to them in that sense as well. I think a little clarification about when this book takes place would have been helpful.
Overall this book reads like a typical YA contemporary romance. I think with a little more development with the fantasy aspect, this book could have been a great read!
The concept of this book was pretty interesting. It has been a while since I had read books with themes of greek mythology set in a modern setting, so I was interested to pick this book up. However, although the concept from the book’s description sounded cool, I think the execution could have been better. The greek mythology aspect felt a little detached from the rest of the story, mainly through the way Val was portrayed as Aphrodite. She felt less like the goddess of love and more like a teenager who had suddenly been dumped with these godly responsibilities. I also didn’t appreciate Brynn’s character all that much because she definitely was a “I’m not like other girls” type of character, which I’m not really a fan of. She constantly would compare her clothes and appearance to those of girls like Val and although I know what the author was trying to convey with these sentiments, sometimes it can come off as unintentionally misogynistic. I thought we left those types of characters back in 2014 :(
Like other readers have mentioned, this book felt weirdly out of place in the sense that I couldn’t exactly tell what year the book’s events were supposed to take place? Some of the language that the characters used felt a little outdated and Brynn and her friends weren’t necessarily partaking in activities that current teenagers partake in so I wasn’t able to relate to them in that sense as well. I think a little clarification about when this book takes place would have been helpful.
Overall this book reads like a typical YA contemporary romance. I think with a little more development with the fantasy aspect, this book could have been a great read!