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A review by katykelly
Opposite of Always by Justin A. Reynolds
4.0
Second (and third) chance to get love right... Groundhog Day rehash of a teenager's first love.
"All the time travel in the world can't save the people you love." Jack is in love with his best friend Jillian (who is happily dating their mutual friend Franny) when he meets college girl Kate, who instantly gets under his skin and connects with the senior.
Getting to know each other, he realises this may be love. But then Kate dies (this is NOT a spoiler, by the way)... and Jack then finds himself meeting her all over again at the same party and reliving their months together all over again... It's not madness, it's not a dream. So why is Jack reliving the relationship - is there something he should be doing?
A twist on the Groundhog Day repeating-time theme (see recently released Pretty in Punxatawney), Jack's issues with his feelings for best friends, Franny's convict father, Jack's perfect parents (not at all annoying, actually, great role models), all balance alongside his relationship with the lovely Kate. It could get annoying, his constant falling in love with her, reliving the same events, but we see different moments and discussions.
I did wonder how the repetitive angle of this idea would work for Jack - he surely must be attending the same classes multiple times, completing the same homeworks again and again, having the same dinner-time conversations with his parents, but this never gets mentioned. A shame, I thought.
I liked seeing Jack experiment with other realities and fulfilling his fantasies, even though he didn't seem to learn from mistakes and remains a pretty poor friend for many of his attempts. The author manages to keep what could be an incredibly saccharine sugar-sweet love story from becoming overly so, with Jack and Kate remaining likeable and their feelings for each other more sweet than sickly.
Fresh look at the genre and idea, worthy YA read that could make a great film/series.
For ages 13 and above.
With thanks to Netgalley for the sample reading copy.
"All the time travel in the world can't save the people you love." Jack is in love with his best friend Jillian (who is happily dating their mutual friend Franny) when he meets college girl Kate, who instantly gets under his skin and connects with the senior.
Getting to know each other, he realises this may be love. But then Kate dies (this is NOT a spoiler, by the way)... and Jack then finds himself meeting her all over again at the same party and reliving their months together all over again... It's not madness, it's not a dream. So why is Jack reliving the relationship - is there something he should be doing?
A twist on the Groundhog Day repeating-time theme (see recently released Pretty in Punxatawney), Jack's issues with his feelings for best friends, Franny's convict father, Jack's perfect parents (not at all annoying, actually, great role models), all balance alongside his relationship with the lovely Kate. It could get annoying, his constant falling in love with her, reliving the same events, but we see different moments and discussions.
I did wonder how the repetitive angle of this idea would work for Jack - he surely must be attending the same classes multiple times, completing the same homeworks again and again, having the same dinner-time conversations with his parents, but this never gets mentioned. A shame, I thought.
I liked seeing Jack experiment with other realities and fulfilling his fantasies, even though he didn't seem to learn from mistakes and remains a pretty poor friend for many of his attempts. The author manages to keep what could be an incredibly saccharine sugar-sweet love story from becoming overly so, with Jack and Kate remaining likeable and their feelings for each other more sweet than sickly.
Fresh look at the genre and idea, worthy YA read that could make a great film/series.
For ages 13 and above.
With thanks to Netgalley for the sample reading copy.