Take a photo of a barcode or cover
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This was another book I really wanted to love. Unfortunately, it just felt like the concept was better than the writing itself.
On a positive note, I don’t agree with several other reviews I’ve seen that talk about the middle of the book being too slow. I felt like it was paced well, I don’t need to have massive explosions every chapter. The story moved along nicely with the Esther and Bennie chapters providing nice context for each other.
HOWEVER (Spoilers)—
For the first 80% of the book the situation between Bennie and Esther felt out of place and kind of unnecessary. There were random pining moments that popped up periodically, seemingly always immediately after a gross, or at least unappealing, description of Esther’s dirty hair, blue skin or something with bugs. The lead up of Bennie falling for her made absolutely no sense to me. But I was fine with just sort of ignoring that whole bit (which as a queer girl, was pretty sad). Of course as turns out, it was kind of a major part of the ending that Bennie loved her so much. So… I really feel like the author shit the bed on their love story if the ultimate plan was to hang the entire conclusion on love saving the day.
Additionally, the writing was very repetitive. Multiple mentions of sour apples was awkward and if I had to read one whine from Bennie about how done/screwed/fucked she was, I was legitimately considering DNFing the book just for that. It was multiple times on the same page, at one point. Once was enough, 384729474739 times later I wanted to strangle everyone involved in editing this book.
On a positive note, I don’t agree with several other reviews I’ve seen that talk about the middle of the book being too slow. I felt like it was paced well, I don’t need to have massive explosions every chapter. The story moved along nicely with the Esther and Bennie chapters providing nice context for each other.
HOWEVER (Spoilers)—
For the first 80% of the book the situation between Bennie and Esther felt out of place and kind of unnecessary. There were random pining moments that popped up periodically, seemingly always immediately after a gross, or at least unappealing, description of Esther’s dirty hair, blue skin or something with bugs. The lead up of Bennie falling for her made absolutely no sense to me. But I was fine with just sort of ignoring that whole bit (which as a queer girl, was pretty sad). Of course as turns out, it was kind of a major part of the ending that Bennie loved her so much. So… I really feel like the author shit the bed on their love story if the ultimate plan was to hang the entire conclusion on love saving the day.
Additionally, the writing was very repetitive. Multiple mentions of sour apples was awkward and if I had to read one whine from Bennie about how done/screwed/fucked she was, I was legitimately considering DNFing the book just for that. It was multiple times on the same page, at one point. Once was enough, 384729474739 times later I wanted to strangle everyone involved in editing this book.