stephslittlebooknook 's review for:

Beverly by Laura J. Robert

2.5

emotional funny sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Ratings: 

2.5⭐️

1🌶️

Themes:

• Duel PoV
• Coming of age 
• forbidden romance 
• First love 
• Mutual pining 
• Childhood Trauma 
• Death 

Thoughts: 

Well I have to say, I feel like the TikTok hype was deffo overdone on this book. Also the plagiarism concerns around this book left me with a sour taste, if I’d have know this before reading I wouldn’t have picked this up. It deffo felt like a compilation of books I’ve recently read. And the conflict started to become quite repetitive, this book definitely could have been shorter. By the end I felt like we were rehashing the same issues and resolving them in the same manner. I didn’t feel connected to either of our main characters, but I did love Tiffany and Jamal. Those two were absolute highlights. The 3rd act conflict I really didn’t see coming, that had me teary. Overall this book was average. (But I’m also still trying to climb out of my Releasing 10 slump, I think this was just too similar. But obviously no where near as good.)  

Best Bits: 

“How do you tell someone you don’t love them – not because they are unworthy of love or haven’t tried hard enough, but because someone else has already taken that place in your heart? How do you shape something so cruel into words that won’t leave scars behind?” 

“Your presence feels like both salvation and destruction.” 

“Blake. The name meant nothing to me then, but it would come to mean everything.” 

“How could anyone not know what it meant to be smiled at?”

The two taps 😭❤️

“You’re my hobby.” 😭 poor Beverly 

“Who made you cry?” 😭

The brownies 🤣

“You’re my anchor. My human seatbelt. My Emotional Support Beverly.” 

The boy is mine 🎶

“Grief is a quiet, shapeless thing. It loops and dips, showing up on birthdays, in greedy store aisles, in the middle of songs you didn’t ask to hear. It lingers in the pauses - in the laughter that comes too late, in the quiet moments where you realise, again and again, that they’re still gone. But I guess, at the end of the day, it’s just proof that your heart has loved.” 

The letters 😭