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A review by jaslyn_
Everything Leads to You by Nina LaCour
4.5
torn between 4 and 5 stars for this, maybe a 4.5
good things first, Lacour's prose is gorgeous, ever since I read "We are okay" I've always been swooned by how beautiful she can put together emotion from detail, the actions and atmosphere all paint a picture that exemplifies the showiness of her characters' emotional state. This was on display here, though to a lesser extent for some other reaosns
This was one of the first YA novels I've read which did not benefit from a strong FPOV characterisation, i.e. there wasn't a strong character in Emi. There wasn't a strong arc for her and I did not find her development compelling. She's definitely deeply devoted to her craft to the point where it eats away at her life, but we don't really see anything that pushes her forward. HOWEVER, all of this is stolen away by just how gorgeously Ava's character was done. I'm even second guessing myself if this book would've been 1000 times better if Ava was the narrator. Her entire arc from poverty to rich, budding actress while still hanging onto the leash of her past, was grippingly well fleshed out. I loved it so much. Especially when tied in with her (off-page) attraction towards Emi (Emi's own attraction Ava was a fucking dud, imo), was soooo good. The part about Ava not wanting the mystery to end so that Emi would still have an excuse to be with her? So fucking good. Gah. And all the shit she gets up to just paints a gorgeous character
Great themes of privilege and perseverence and the perspective of suffering. Loved the back stories
Slightly clumsy third act, imo. I was kept waiting for the pinch which never seemed to come and it felt a bit kitschy/forced.
In all this was worth the read purely for the mystery of Ava and the romance buildup, but fell a little flat towards the end. But it ended gorgeously.
good things first, Lacour's prose is gorgeous, ever since I read "We are okay" I've always been swooned by how beautiful she can put together emotion from detail, the actions and atmosphere all paint a picture that exemplifies the showiness of her characters' emotional state. This was on display here, though to a lesser extent for some other reaosns
This was one of the first YA novels I've read which did not benefit from a strong FPOV characterisation, i.e. there wasn't a strong character in Emi. There wasn't a strong arc for her and I did not find her development compelling. She's definitely deeply devoted to her craft to the point where it eats away at her life, but we don't really see anything that pushes her forward. HOWEVER, all of this is stolen away by just how gorgeously Ava's character was done. I'm even second guessing myself if this book would've been 1000 times better if Ava was the narrator. Her entire arc from poverty to rich, budding actress while still hanging onto the leash of her past, was grippingly well fleshed out. I loved it so much. Especially when tied in with her (off-page) attraction towards Emi (Emi's own attraction Ava was a fucking dud, imo), was soooo good. The part about Ava not wanting the mystery to end so that Emi would still have an excuse to be with her? So fucking good. Gah. And all the shit she gets up to just paints a gorgeous character
Great themes of privilege and perseverence and the perspective of suffering. Loved the back stories
Slightly clumsy third act, imo. I was kept waiting for the pinch which never seemed to come and it felt a bit kitschy/forced.
In all this was worth the read purely for the mystery of Ava and the romance buildup, but fell a little flat towards the end. But it ended gorgeously.