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A review by stormydawnc
Never Have I Ever: My Life (So Far) Without a Date by Katie Heaney
3.0
As soon as I heard about this book and it’s adorable cover, I knew I had to read a copy of Never Have I Ever. See, reading the synopsis had me pumping my fist in solidarity, because much like Katie, I’ve never been in a romantic relationship, and am now in my early ’20s. And I was pretty sure before reading that Katie’s story and my own would hold some sort of similarity. And of course, since Katie and I are vastly different, our stories are as well, but I was right: there was something charming and familiar to so many of Katie’s experiences.
Katie’s story is quite in-depth. She doesn’t leave a single boy out, starting from her childhood crushes and working her way up to young adulthood. Katie reminisced about her elementary school crushes with humor and a slight nostalgic quality that made me remember the first boy I ever liked as well, and I laughed along with Katie when things didn’t quite go as plan with all the elementary and middle school crushes.
Of course, as Katie lets us in to her relationship–or lack thereof–with boys growing up, things take a turn for the more serious as she gets older, as things do. I definitely felt for Katie at times and loved her quite humorous insights into the her heartbreak and decisions. I have to mention that Katie mentions her friends a lot, and I loved this! She frequently uses the examples of her friends to give the whole story more scope and contrast, and this at times saved Never Have I Ever for me. It was fascinating to see the realization of relationships that both Katie and her friends whose stories are partially told as well.
However, while I enjoyed Never Have I Ever, I did have some issues that really hindered my enjoyment. First was the fact I felt every story, every anecdote about every boy, was drawn out for the sake of humor. Sometimes this worked, sometimes it didn’t. I really like dry humor, and some of the humor used in this book made me laugh out loud. After a while, though, my thoughts would turn more towards, “Okay, I get it. This was bad news from the start. There’s been five jokes about it so far.” At a point, it felt like the humor was being pushed too hard and I was laughing not because of something actually funny, but because I wanted to move on.
I also thought things wrapped up a little too quickly. For the entire length of Never Have I Ever, Katie spares no detail in actions or in her feelings. And with a book like this, one sort of expects a great ending to wrap up everything up. I enjoyed the message Katie shared–she’s glad for some of the things that being single has given her, like the freedom of being able to do what she wants without factoring in other people, being able to come into her own, etc. But it all wrapped up a little too much on the surface level for me. All along the way I thought Katie was saying great things about her experiences, but at the end it only barely skimmed the surface.
Katie’s story is quite in-depth. She doesn’t leave a single boy out, starting from her childhood crushes and working her way up to young adulthood. Katie reminisced about her elementary school crushes with humor and a slight nostalgic quality that made me remember the first boy I ever liked as well, and I laughed along with Katie when things didn’t quite go as plan with all the elementary and middle school crushes.
Of course, as Katie lets us in to her relationship–or lack thereof–with boys growing up, things take a turn for the more serious as she gets older, as things do. I definitely felt for Katie at times and loved her quite humorous insights into the her heartbreak and decisions. I have to mention that Katie mentions her friends a lot, and I loved this! She frequently uses the examples of her friends to give the whole story more scope and contrast, and this at times saved Never Have I Ever for me. It was fascinating to see the realization of relationships that both Katie and her friends whose stories are partially told as well.
However, while I enjoyed Never Have I Ever, I did have some issues that really hindered my enjoyment. First was the fact I felt every story, every anecdote about every boy, was drawn out for the sake of humor. Sometimes this worked, sometimes it didn’t. I really like dry humor, and some of the humor used in this book made me laugh out loud. After a while, though, my thoughts would turn more towards, “Okay, I get it. This was bad news from the start. There’s been five jokes about it so far.” At a point, it felt like the humor was being pushed too hard and I was laughing not because of something actually funny, but because I wanted to move on.
I also thought things wrapped up a little too quickly. For the entire length of Never Have I Ever, Katie spares no detail in actions or in her feelings. And with a book like this, one sort of expects a great ending to wrap up everything up. I enjoyed the message Katie shared–she’s glad for some of the things that being single has given her, like the freedom of being able to do what she wants without factoring in other people, being able to come into her own, etc. But it all wrapped up a little too much on the surface level for me. All along the way I thought Katie was saying great things about her experiences, but at the end it only barely skimmed the surface.