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kyleofbooks 's review for:
The Mixtape to My Life
by Jake Martinez
Thanks go out to NetGalley and Xpresso Book Tours for providing me this eARC in exchange for an honest review.
I feel like I sleep-walked through this entire book. None of it sank in or gripped me like I wanted it to, and I’m disappointed... but I’m angry, too, for wasting my time. I feel a little awful for saying that, as it’s Mr. Martinez’s debut, but I have to be honest. It’s just a muddled mess of high school angst, cringe-inducing encounters, unconvincing romance, and a steady bombardment of annoying, clichéd MELODRAMA.
What follows are bullet points of the many reasons I disliked The Mixtape to My Life:
•Justin
I guess the main reason this didn’t work for me is the MC. He’s just... bland. This isn’t a big book (it’s under 200 pages), so the amount of info-dumping at the beginning was annoying, and the characterization of Justin rushed. My first impression of him wasn’t a positive one, and it remained that way all through the book.His best friend calls him a “f****t”, and acts all kinds of horrible, and Justin mopes about it before blaming himself and his “temper”. No, you stupid fuck. You have shit friends. There was not much to like in regards to Justin, and that’s upsetting.
•The “Friends”
I didn’t see how Justin could tolerate Benny (his supposed BFF): the same person who spilled his biggest secret to his new girlfriend, and caused him to flash his crush—and crush’s mother— (full on twig and berries) without any repercussions? Like, dude, you ripped your friend’s shorts and briefs down, embarrassing the hell out of him, and then y’all go and play Mario Kart like everything is hunky dory? And I was beginning to warm to Lila, Benny’s GF, before this next part: Justin offhandedly admits to never having had a first kiss, so Benny and Lila take it upon themselves to essentially assault Justin— Lila kisses him out of the blue, unprovoked, taking away from Justin what is considered a teenaged milestone: the first kiss. AND THEN, Lila practically forces Benny to kiss Justin, too, which... what the fuck? He didn’t want to. How is this all okay? If my first kiss was stolen from me in that way, I’d be fuming! That whole passage made me so uncomfortable. There are countless other instances of Benny and Lila being the ABSOLUTE WORST FRIENDS EVER. I just gave up.
•The Romance
If I ever read a more pitiful love story...
I found it so sickeningly juvenile and angst-y and unconvincing. All that cringe-y pining on Justin’s part got old real fast. I don’t believe for a second that Dominic would ever be interested in Justin, or conversely, why Justin was so goo-goo-eyed over Dominic? Like, I get it: good looking and he stood up for you. But everything was surface-level bullshit. Chill the fuck out. A hollow romance, and a one-dimensional, possessive, controlling love interest.
•The Gimmick
It seems like every YA offering has some kind of gimmick to draw a reader’s attention, whether it be a kooky character trait, or a unique setting/time period. But the addition of Justin always carrying around a Walkman and listening to niche 80’s music seemed like a cheap gimmick for a story like this. Also, the setting of the book in the nineties. If it weren’t for the musical selections and lack of teens texting, it could’ve been now. The time period wasn’t pushed hard enough for me to find any conceivable reason for it being set then. So, yeah, the “mixtapes” felt like an obvious ploy to appeal to readers by having a quirky character trait, and as though the author created the entire story around that one idea... and it just adds nothing to the narrative.
•Marching Band
It took up way too much page space, and was simply boring and wholly uninteresting.
•All the Bullies
Okay, I found it totally unrealistic that there were THAT MANY assholes at that school. I think I counted at least half a dozen who bullied Justin in some way. And they’re all, again, one-dimensional bullies: they snicker and sneer, tease and harass, but it’s... so... goddamned... CHILDISH! Give me more nuance to the bullies! High School is not like that... AT ALL!
•The Writing
The writing felt extremely shallow; vacant of any emotional impact. Tip: if you find the main character pathetic and whiny, stop reading. In this case, it just got worse. Every conflict and plot point was so damn predictable, it was not worth reading 200 pages about. You could guess each and every resolution early on. This book took the easy way out in terms of cliché plot lines and cheesy writing. To make it all go down within a two-week timeframe was just absurd to me. I rolled my eyes so much during this read, that I strained them in their sockets. Now, I have a headache. I blame everything about this book for that.
On the surface, I understand Justin’s feelings of inadequacy: of being a “coconut” in the Latinx community, but this topic wasn’t handled in a way that I found deep or resonating, and I don’t think the author pushed it far enough.
In the end, I wished I had DNF’d this. I soldiered through instead.... and that was a mistake.
I feel like I sleep-walked through this entire book. None of it sank in or gripped me like I wanted it to, and I’m disappointed... but I’m angry, too, for wasting my time. I feel a little awful for saying that, as it’s Mr. Martinez’s debut, but I have to be honest. It’s just a muddled mess of high school angst, cringe-inducing encounters, unconvincing romance, and a steady bombardment of annoying, clichéd MELODRAMA.
What follows are bullet points of the many reasons I disliked The Mixtape to My Life:
•Justin
I guess the main reason this didn’t work for me is the MC. He’s just... bland. This isn’t a big book (it’s under 200 pages), so the amount of info-dumping at the beginning was annoying, and the characterization of Justin rushed. My first impression of him wasn’t a positive one, and it remained that way all through the book.
•The “Friends”
I didn’t see how Justin could tolerate Benny (his supposed BFF): the same person who spilled his biggest secret to his new girlfriend, and caused him to flash his crush—and crush’s mother— (full on twig and berries) without any repercussions? Like, dude, you ripped your friend’s shorts and briefs down, embarrassing the hell out of him, and then y’all go and play Mario Kart like everything is hunky dory? And I was beginning to warm to Lila, Benny’s GF, before this next part: Justin offhandedly admits to never having had a first kiss, so Benny and Lila take it upon themselves to essentially assault Justin— Lila kisses him out of the blue, unprovoked, taking away from Justin what is considered a teenaged milestone: the first kiss. AND THEN, Lila practically forces Benny to kiss Justin, too, which... what the fuck? He didn’t want to. How is this all okay? If my first kiss was stolen from me in that way, I’d be fuming! That whole passage made me so uncomfortable. There are countless other instances of Benny and Lila being the ABSOLUTE WORST FRIENDS EVER. I just gave up.
•The Romance
If I ever read a more pitiful love story...
I found it so sickeningly juvenile and angst-y and unconvincing. All that cringe-y pining on Justin’s part got old real fast. I don’t believe for a second that Dominic would ever be interested in Justin, or conversely, why Justin was so goo-goo-eyed over Dominic? Like, I get it: good looking and he stood up for you. But everything was surface-level bullshit. Chill the fuck out. A hollow romance, and a one-dimensional, possessive, controlling love interest.
•The Gimmick
It seems like every YA offering has some kind of gimmick to draw a reader’s attention, whether it be a kooky character trait, or a unique setting/time period. But the addition of Justin always carrying around a Walkman and listening to niche 80’s music seemed like a cheap gimmick for a story like this. Also, the setting of the book in the nineties. If it weren’t for the musical selections and lack of teens texting, it could’ve been now. The time period wasn’t pushed hard enough for me to find any conceivable reason for it being set then. So, yeah, the “mixtapes” felt like an obvious ploy to appeal to readers by having a quirky character trait, and as though the author created the entire story around that one idea... and it just adds nothing to the narrative.
•Marching Band
It took up way too much page space, and was simply boring and wholly uninteresting.
•All the Bullies
Okay, I found it totally unrealistic that there were THAT MANY assholes at that school. I think I counted at least half a dozen who bullied Justin in some way. And they’re all, again, one-dimensional bullies: they snicker and sneer, tease and harass, but it’s... so... goddamned... CHILDISH! Give me more nuance to the bullies! High School is not like that... AT ALL!
•The Writing
The writing felt extremely shallow; vacant of any emotional impact. Tip: if you find the main character pathetic and whiny, stop reading. In this case, it just got worse. Every conflict and plot point was so damn predictable, it was not worth reading 200 pages about. You could guess each and every resolution early on. This book took the easy way out in terms of cliché plot lines and cheesy writing. To make it all go down within a two-week timeframe was just absurd to me. I rolled my eyes so much during this read, that I strained them in their sockets. Now, I have a headache. I blame everything about this book for that.
On the surface, I understand Justin’s feelings of inadequacy: of being a “coconut” in the Latinx community, but this topic wasn’t handled in a way that I found deep or resonating, and I don’t think the author pushed it far enough.
In the end, I wished I had DNF’d this. I soldiered through instead.... and that was a mistake.