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A review by nagam
This Is So Not Happening by Kieran Scott
3.0
[Review originally posted on Rather Be Reading]
I spend a lot of time reading difficult issue books. They’re kind of my thing, but after reading them back to back things can seem a little somber. I was thrilled my library finally got a copy of This is So Not Happening, the last book in the He’s So/She’s So series because this final book was sure to fulfill my need for drama and craziness.
Ally and Jake have finally become an official couple. They can look forward to normalcy and enjoying their senior year together. Or so they think. Ally is thrown a curveball when her ex-best friend Chloe announces that she’s pregnant with Jake’s baby. Chloe and Jake slept together before he and Ally became an official couple. What does that mean for Ally?
She tries to do the right thing and be the supportive and understanding girlfriend who doesn’t go crazy. She stands up for Chloe when things at school get bad for her. (What high school students wouldn’t feast on the news of the popularity heiress getting pregnant?) She sticks by Jake’s side and doesn’t give up on their relationship (even when it seems Chloe takes her place as he suddenly has doctor’s appointments to attend all the time). Ally is stuck in an awkward position because she will most likely lose her friends if she and Jake break up and she can’t talk to her mom about things because she’s too preoccupied planning her wedding to notice something is bothering Ally. She’s left to figure things out on her own.
Though Jake never betrayed Ally, I feel like I would have done more investigating and probing than Ally did. Something just never seemed to add up (and for those of you who read He’s So Not Worth It, you will have strong suspicions). Jake seemed like a pawn in the chess game of Chloe’s life – he was at her beck and call and did absolutely everything she asked. It was really difficult for me to have outsider information and not be allowed to talk sense into the characters.
Jake was the character I struggled with the most. He did the honorable thing and really did everything he could for Chloe, but he became a mean, cold-shouldered boyfriend to Ally. At the climax of the story, I didn’t want Ally to date Jake. I hoped that maybe she would go to college a single lady and she and Jake’s story would finally have a bit of closure. I wish I could say that his character was fully redeemed for me by the end, but his actions were just … actions…without a lot of heart behind them.
While there were a few other things I would have liked to have seen (as in maybe a few chapters from Chloe’s POV to understand her character a bit more, more focus on Ally’s mom’s remarriage, and some of the spunkiness provided by Ally’s best friend Annie we saw in book number two), I did enjoy the nostalgia that crept up as Ally applied to colleges and prepared to move on after graduation. I loved seeing the characters mature and ready themselves for their next stage of life.
This is So Not Happening was definitely full of drama and an easy-breezy read; Scott does a great job exploring the difficult topic of teen pregnancy without making the topic feel overwhelming. If you’re like me and you like “issue” books, definitely give this one (actually, the whole series) a try if you need something a little more light-hearted than normal.
I spend a lot of time reading difficult issue books. They’re kind of my thing, but after reading them back to back things can seem a little somber. I was thrilled my library finally got a copy of This is So Not Happening, the last book in the He’s So/She’s So series because this final book was sure to fulfill my need for drama and craziness.
Ally and Jake have finally become an official couple. They can look forward to normalcy and enjoying their senior year together. Or so they think. Ally is thrown a curveball when her ex-best friend Chloe announces that she’s pregnant with Jake’s baby. Chloe and Jake slept together before he and Ally became an official couple. What does that mean for Ally?
She tries to do the right thing and be the supportive and understanding girlfriend who doesn’t go crazy. She stands up for Chloe when things at school get bad for her. (What high school students wouldn’t feast on the news of the popularity heiress getting pregnant?) She sticks by Jake’s side and doesn’t give up on their relationship (even when it seems Chloe takes her place as he suddenly has doctor’s appointments to attend all the time). Ally is stuck in an awkward position because she will most likely lose her friends if she and Jake break up and she can’t talk to her mom about things because she’s too preoccupied planning her wedding to notice something is bothering Ally. She’s left to figure things out on her own.
Though Jake never betrayed Ally, I feel like I would have done more investigating and probing than Ally did. Something just never seemed to add up (and for those of you who read He’s So Not Worth It, you will have strong suspicions). Jake seemed like a pawn in the chess game of Chloe’s life – he was at her beck and call and did absolutely everything she asked. It was really difficult for me to have outsider information and not be allowed to talk sense into the characters.
Jake was the character I struggled with the most. He did the honorable thing and really did everything he could for Chloe, but he became a mean, cold-shouldered boyfriend to Ally. At the climax of the story, I didn’t want Ally to date Jake. I hoped that maybe she would go to college a single lady and she and Jake’s story would finally have a bit of closure. I wish I could say that his character was fully redeemed for me by the end, but his actions were just … actions…without a lot of heart behind them.
While there were a few other things I would have liked to have seen (as in maybe a few chapters from Chloe’s POV to understand her character a bit more, more focus on Ally’s mom’s remarriage, and some of the spunkiness provided by Ally’s best friend Annie we saw in book number two), I did enjoy the nostalgia that crept up as Ally applied to colleges and prepared to move on after graduation. I loved seeing the characters mature and ready themselves for their next stage of life.
This is So Not Happening was definitely full of drama and an easy-breezy read; Scott does a great job exploring the difficult topic of teen pregnancy without making the topic feel overwhelming. If you’re like me and you like “issue” books, definitely give this one (actually, the whole series) a try if you need something a little more light-hearted than normal.