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dustilane 's review for:
I Kissed Alice
by Anna Birch, Victoria Ying
I received a digital arc from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
I did not enjoy the reading experience of this book and quite honestly wanted to DNF it the whole first half of the book. The only thing that kept me going was that it was an ARC and that I did want to know what happened, which I guess the author gets points for that.
All of these characters are so unlikable: Rhodes, Iliana, Sarah, then Kiersten when she joins the picture. The only character I wanted to root for was Rhode’s brother, Griffin. Out of the main girls, I definitely liked Rhodes the most but even then... I get that the whole point of the story is that they’re all flawed and Iliana sees herself as the one being wrong even though she’s actually being the bully but I can’t stand a story where the characters are all just awful. They’re all just mean girls. I love a good flawed character but I just couldn’t find anything in the characters to make me care about them. There’s so many terrible friendships in this book that are more infuriating than anything else.
The writing was super weird too, especially at the beginning. It’s just things that were said and then the way backstories and scenes were told was kind of confusing. I just didn’t like the way it was written at all.
I definitely got more interested in the story in the second half of the book, especially once we start to see a reveal in sight. However, I didn’t like that I knew from the beginning who Alice and Cheshire were because then it was just boring to me to just wait for them to realize. I do recognize that that is just a personal thing I personally don’t like in books, so some people may like it. I just like when there’s a good reveal and I didn’t feel like I got that.
I love the queer rep obviously and that the story takes place at a school for the arts. I was intrigued by the fan art elements and the focus on Alice in Wonderland. These are all things that interest me and are the reasons I requested this book in the first place. While I still enjoyed these parts of the book, it wasn’t enough to make me love or even really enjoy it.
I guess what really just got me was so much of the book was just girls being hateful and that’s not what I want to read. And the writing style. I get what the author was trying to do and I do think this book has its audience, but I am not a part of that group. I’m giving this book 2.5 stars. I added a half of a star just for the fact the second half was a little easier to read and slightly more enjoyable.
I did not enjoy the reading experience of this book and quite honestly wanted to DNF it the whole first half of the book. The only thing that kept me going was that it was an ARC and that I did want to know what happened, which I guess the author gets points for that.
All of these characters are so unlikable: Rhodes, Iliana, Sarah, then Kiersten when she joins the picture. The only character I wanted to root for was Rhode’s brother, Griffin. Out of the main girls, I definitely liked Rhodes the most but even then... I get that the whole point of the story is that they’re all flawed and Iliana sees herself as the one being wrong even though she’s actually being the bully but I can’t stand a story where the characters are all just awful. They’re all just mean girls. I love a good flawed character but I just couldn’t find anything in the characters to make me care about them. There’s so many terrible friendships in this book that are more infuriating than anything else.
The writing was super weird too, especially at the beginning. It’s just things that were said and then the way backstories and scenes were told was kind of confusing. I just didn’t like the way it was written at all.
I definitely got more interested in the story in the second half of the book, especially once we start to see a reveal in sight. However, I didn’t like that I knew from the beginning who Alice and Cheshire were because then it was just boring to me to just wait for them to realize. I do recognize that that is just a personal thing I personally don’t like in books, so some people may like it. I just like when there’s a good reveal and I didn’t feel like I got that.
I love the queer rep obviously and that the story takes place at a school for the arts. I was intrigued by the fan art elements and the focus on Alice in Wonderland. These are all things that interest me and are the reasons I requested this book in the first place. While I still enjoyed these parts of the book, it wasn’t enough to make me love or even really enjoy it.
I guess what really just got me was so much of the book was just girls being hateful and that’s not what I want to read. And the writing style. I get what the author was trying to do and I do think this book has its audience, but I am not a part of that group. I’m giving this book 2.5 stars. I added a half of a star just for the fact the second half was a little easier to read and slightly more enjoyable.