Scan barcode
A review by amandabethslibrary
Most Likely by Sarah Watson
3.0
A fellow bookstagrammer recently highlighted problematic elements of this storyline, and upon reflection I completely agree. I feel guilty for not speaking out about these issues in my original review, but that’s part of the learning process! A white woman writing Black and brown main characters is wrong, and this also caused other issues such as a lack of focus on the trauma of trans-racial adoption. I love politics so much that I think I got caught up in that part of the storyline and didn’t use my critical eye while reading.
ORIGINAL REVIEW: I love politics, so the subtle political themes throughout this book kept me hooked. I enjoyed learning about each of the four friends and seeing them grow throughout the novel, especially as they wrestled with important questions about their identity, family and future. It was also interesting to know before starting it that one of the girls would be President one day (it says it on the back cover AND there’s an intro about it)—it was a good reminder that our country’s highest-level leaders are just regular people too! There were also several twists, which made me enjoy it even more. I’m only giving three stars though because this book felt a littleeee elementary at some points, as if it was written for a much younger audience (granted it is a YA novel, and the main characters are in high school, but still). Additionally, the book was hard to follow for a while at first. While it doesn’t switch perspectives since it’s in third person, its descriptions of each of the four characters were hard to keep straight until 100 pages in or so. *Not to mention the recent issues brought to light by another bookstagrammer mentioned above.*
ORIGINAL REVIEW: I love politics, so the subtle political themes throughout this book kept me hooked. I enjoyed learning about each of the four friends and seeing them grow throughout the novel, especially as they wrestled with important questions about their identity, family and future. It was also interesting to know before starting it that one of the girls would be President one day (it says it on the back cover AND there’s an intro about it)—it was a good reminder that our country’s highest-level leaders are just regular people too! There were also several twists, which made me enjoy it even more. I’m only giving three stars though because this book felt a littleeee elementary at some points, as if it was written for a much younger audience (granted it is a YA novel, and the main characters are in high school, but still). Additionally, the book was hard to follow for a while at first. While it doesn’t switch perspectives since it’s in third person, its descriptions of each of the four characters were hard to keep straight until 100 pages in or so. *Not to mention the recent issues brought to light by another bookstagrammer mentioned above.*