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A review by thefriscobay
Love Is for Losers by Wibke Brueggemann
4.0
About the book:
Phoebe is a 15 year old living in London who knows one thing for certain: love is for losers. Her best friend's gone crazy with it and her godmother is obsessed with finding it, but she knows it's not for her. When Phoebe's Mom decides to go on a 6 month Doctors without Borders trip, she loses it. Everything seems like it's falling apart at the same time: friends, family. Even GCSEs are coming up! When she's forced to take up work in a charity shop she meets a group of people who, much to her incredible dismay, are actually pretty cool. And is she, maybe, falling in love too?
TL;DR:
- Content warnings: death by cancer mention, side character death by stroke, side character with severe anxiety, death of a parent
- 3.75 stars
- Diary style story of girl trying to get through a semester at school without her mom, her best friend, and without falling in love. Worth reading if you're looking for a painfully accurate experience of the emotions when you're a young adult, good and bad.
Loved:
- I loved the diary style. Princess Diaries really set the subgenre up, and this does not disappoint. I think the structure helped provide a much needed timeline to Phoebe's story.
- Super sex-positive. I know some reviewers have said it felt like too much, but frankly, I wish I knew half this information when I was 15. Every teen is going to do what they're going to do regardless of how much info they have about sex, so why not give them the facts, so they're more educated!?
- Absolutely loved how casual Phoebe and everyone in her life were about her realization that she was lesbian. I appreciate YA that includes meaningful coming out stories, but I'm a really big sucker for casual ones. I hope I don't have to explain why that makes my heart warm.
- Very sweet, slow romance.
Less into:
- In many ways Phoebe's voice was not unlike Mia's (Princess Diaries) in that they're both rather immature and need to undergo a significant amount of growth. The thing is, Phoebe never really had her growth - she just kind of, became less frustrating? And everyone in her life was like "we love you anyway! but you suck sometimes!" which, like alright, didn't we all, at 15. But there was no inflection point where she realized she was being consistently rude and grew from it. Again - this is VERY realistic. It's not bad, just the truth.
- Related: it didn't feel like there were explicit resolutions between Phoebe and her mom, or Phoebe and her best friend, the two people she spent a lot of time complaining about. Would have been nice to see some more there. Maybe a sequel?!!
Overall it was such a quick read, a page-turner, and I would 100% read a follow up. Just saying.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
Phoebe is a 15 year old living in London who knows one thing for certain: love is for losers. Her best friend's gone crazy with it and her godmother is obsessed with finding it, but she knows it's not for her. When Phoebe's Mom decides to go on a 6 month Doctors without Borders trip, she loses it. Everything seems like it's falling apart at the same time: friends, family. Even GCSEs are coming up! When she's forced to take up work in a charity shop she meets a group of people who, much to her incredible dismay, are actually pretty cool. And is she, maybe, falling in love too?
TL;DR:
- Content warnings: death by cancer mention, side character death by stroke, side character with severe anxiety, death of a parent
- 3.75 stars
- Diary style story of girl trying to get through a semester at school without her mom, her best friend, and without falling in love. Worth reading if you're looking for a painfully accurate experience of the emotions when you're a young adult, good and bad.
Loved:
- I loved the diary style. Princess Diaries really set the subgenre up, and this does not disappoint. I think the structure helped provide a much needed timeline to Phoebe's story.
- Super sex-positive. I know some reviewers have said it felt like too much, but frankly, I wish I knew half this information when I was 15. Every teen is going to do what they're going to do regardless of how much info they have about sex, so why not give them the facts, so they're more educated!?
- Absolutely loved how casual Phoebe and everyone in her life were about her realization that she was lesbian. I appreciate YA that includes meaningful coming out stories, but I'm a really big sucker for casual ones. I hope I don't have to explain why that makes my heart warm.
- Very sweet, slow romance.
Less into:
- In many ways Phoebe's voice was not unlike Mia's (Princess Diaries) in that they're both rather immature and need to undergo a significant amount of growth. The thing is, Phoebe never really had her growth - she just kind of, became less frustrating? And everyone in her life was like "we love you anyway! but you suck sometimes!" which, like alright, didn't we all, at 15. But there was no inflection point where she realized she was being consistently rude and grew from it. Again - this is VERY realistic. It's not bad, just the truth.
- Related: it didn't feel like there were explicit resolutions between Phoebe and her mom, or Phoebe and her best friend, the two people she spent a lot of time complaining about. Would have been nice to see some more there. Maybe a sequel?!!
Overall it was such a quick read, a page-turner, and I would 100% read a follow up. Just saying.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. All opinions are my own.