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A review by makenna
This Is How It Happened by Paula Stokes
4.0
I think I need to start this off with talking about what I liked most about this book, which was how much it kept making me feel over and over. I am always weary when books have flashbacks to events because I always seen to feel disconnected from them and from the character, but that wasn't how it was with this book. I cannot believe how much the flashbacks made me care for Dallas, and the fact that I was actually almost crying multiple times because I couldn't accept the fact that he wasn't just in a coma and could possibly come back. Not only were those flashbacks making me emotion, but so were the moments when Gen was afraid. during those moments when she was worried about the backlash of the truth coming out, I kept getting teary eye. Any book that can keep making me emotional over and over again like TIHIH deserves a clap and a half (and for the 99.9% of you who don't get that reference, it's from Game Theory on Youtube, sorry for my gaming nerd side slipping through, I just couldn't resist...)
Now for what I didn't like so much... the writing. I just was not a huge fan. During the beginning I noticed a lot of "telling but not showing" which is one of my biggest pet peeves when reading a book although I did not notice it as much after the first third, so it wasn't too bad). Not only did that bug me, but there were a lot of parts where I felt like it didn't flow as well as I would have liked. I am finding it difficult to describe the specifics of why it did not flow well, but it just didn't work well for me.
Here's me, being bad once again at ending a review. Honestly, I thought this was a really good book, and while I had my problems with the writing, I am definitely interested in reading Girl Against the Universe to see if that is a problem I will have with all of Paula's books or if maybe it's just this specific one.
Now for what I didn't like so much... the writing. I just was not a huge fan. During the beginning I noticed a lot of "telling but not showing" which is one of my biggest pet peeves when reading a book although I did not notice it as much after the first third, so it wasn't too bad). Not only did that bug me, but there were a lot of parts where I felt like it didn't flow as well as I would have liked. I am finding it difficult to describe the specifics of why it did not flow well, but it just didn't work well for me.
Here's me, being bad once again at ending a review. Honestly, I thought this was a really good book, and while I had my problems with the writing, I am definitely interested in reading Girl Against the Universe to see if that is a problem I will have with all of Paula's books or if maybe it's just this specific one.