A review by softstarrynights
Never Always Sometimes by Adi Alsaid

2.0

This is a ***SPOILER FREE*** review of Never Always Sometimes which I really didn't enjoy, and as much as I hate writing not so positive reviews, I'm going to tell you why.

“Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.” ― Anton Chekhov

This isn't a quote from this book, but it's a quote I always think of when I'm writing and I've never quite understood what Chekhov meant until now. The gist of Never Always Sometimes is as follows, Julia and Dave are two indie kinds who are about to graduate high school when they find a list of things that they promised themselves they would never do. Unsurprisingly, they decide to complete everything on the list. Adi Alsaid was definitely a tell-er not a show-er. You expect a certain amount of exposition at the beginning of a book, especially when your two main characters are already best friends. However, to me this felt like 300 odd pages of Julia/dave felt this, did this, thought this. I'm not sure how well, I'm conveying this though writing, but maybe if you read this you'll see where I'm coming from.

In case you haven't picked up on this fact so far this is a Young Adult (YA) contemporary, a genre which I rarely expect much more than a quick, cute, read. Honestly, 95% I'm impressed by the depth or characterisation or plot, but that did not happen here. The plot was the most predictable plot I've read all year, and I feel like a terrible person admitting this. There were no surprises, and the lack of characterisation brought on by all the 'telling' meant that the book felt flat for me.

As I said before, I'm not a fan of negative reviews, but I think I've done my best to try to illustrate just why I, personally, didn't enjoy this book. I know that there are plenty of people who really love it but unfortunately Never Always Sometimes just wasn't my cup of tea.