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A review by kaiyakaiyo
Lost in the Never Woods by Aiden Thomas
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This book was a quick, fun read, but ultimately suffers from Just Okay Syndrome. The Peter Pan elements were a bit too on the nose for a modern AU, and the main char reads like a really exhausting Not Like Other Girls type with a side of trauma. The plot is fine
Given how sweet cemetery boys was, woven in with the really nice world building, this romance felt empty and so did the universe. Reading them in this order probably didn’t do this book any favors.
Also this is me being nitpicky but having the main char view nursing as some second fiddle “if you can’t commit to being a doctor” option when Nurse Practitioners can make well into six figures and do pretty much everything a doctor can was almost laughably under-researched. It also has the lightest flavor of misogyny? Probably not intentional but something about devaluing nursing this way in a book feels… extremely antiquated. It felt like the nurses could’ve been wearing those old timey white hats and dresses for all the actual work they did on screen
The char has a nurse mother and works in the literal hospital, has been meticulously planning her “escape” to nursing school… there’s no way she’d actually think of nursing that way. Nurses are literally the front lines of patient care, whereas some pediatricians don’t even take their patients’ temperature themselves… they have a nurse do it… Very under-researched imo but I guess no one is reading YA for realistic job portrayals so nbd? Idk it just feels like if you’re going to tether half of a story to a hospital, you need to do more than freestyle on random made up nurse-y tasks and vague “files” …
Given how sweet cemetery boys was, woven in with the really nice world building, this romance felt empty and so did the universe. Reading them in this order probably didn’t do this book any favors.
Also this is me being nitpicky but having the main char view nursing as some second fiddle “if you can’t commit to being a doctor” option when Nurse Practitioners can make well into six figures and do pretty much everything a doctor can was almost laughably under-researched. It also has the lightest flavor of misogyny? Probably not intentional but something about devaluing nursing this way in a book feels… extremely antiquated. It felt like the nurses could’ve been wearing those old timey white hats and dresses for all the actual work they did on screen
The char has a nurse mother and works in the literal hospital, has been meticulously planning her “escape” to nursing school… there’s no way she’d actually think of nursing that way. Nurses are literally the front lines of patient care, whereas some pediatricians don’t even take their patients’ temperature themselves… they have a nurse do it… Very under-researched imo but I guess no one is reading YA for realistic job portrayals so nbd? Idk it just feels like if you’re going to tether half of a story to a hospital, you need to do more than freestyle on random made up nurse-y tasks and vague “files” …
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Panic attacks/disorders, and Murder