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jenn_sveda 's review for:
Right Where I Left You
by Julian Winters
This may be another case where I'm just not the target audience for this particular book. It was cute, kind of corny, and overall pretty lackluster. It reminded me of the Extraordinaries by TJ Klune, but less hopelessly tone-deaf and cringey.
I felt that the relationship between Diego and Isaac was not developed as well as it could have been - simply explaining that two characters are best friends is not really enough to make me invested in their relationship. For most of the novel, we see Isaac and Diego fighting, lying to each other (mostly by omission, but still), avoiding serious and emotional topics of conversation, being pretty indifferent to each others' interests, and overall miscommunicating their wants and needs. I didn't ever really get the sense that these two were best friends, let alone that they were both secretly in love with each other.
I thought some of the writing was a little too blunt and condescendingly simple. When I read a book featuring a gay main couple, I don't need the book to lecture me about being accepting about diversity in gender and sexuality. I guarantee that for anyone who picked up this book, this is absolutely preaching to the choir, and it just detracts from the story when the author feels the need to soapbox. Isaac's insistence that shows, movies, and books never feature a successful friends-to-lovers storyline also seemed bizarre; I'm not sure what media he's been consuming, but this is a super common trope. It almost feels like the author couldn't think of a compelling obstacle once Isaac realized what his feelings for Diego were, so he had to resort to telling the reader that obviously these relationships never work so the stakes are clearly very high. Davi clearly showing interest in Isaac and then back-pedaling and saying he only ever wanted to be friends felt a little cheap as well. I hate "love triangle" stories where the author makes one romantic option clearly a villain; not only does it undermine the tension when we know that the protagonist is going to choose the "right" option, it also makes the choice seem less meaningful. Obviously Isaac ends up with Diego at the end - Davi was flaky, inconsiderate, and interested in someone else. It feels less like Isaac realized he was in love with Diego the whole time and more like he didn't really have any other options at the end.
The whole Carlos storyline was disappointing to me. Can we please stop telling kids that they need to be the bigger person when their parents make life-altering mistakes? Isaac doesn't need to spend energy hating Carlos, sure, but he also didn't need to forgive him for cheating on his mom and blowing their family apart. Carlos is the adult, not Isaac - Isaac doesn't owe him a second chance. It also just felt very rushed; Carlos shows up at the hospital and Isaac sees him for the first time in years and he just...is fine with Carlos being in his life now. Sure.
I wish the Disaster Academy device had been used a little more thoughtfully. Although it was supposed to be a mirror for Diego and Isaac's relationship, I feel like it was underutilized as a device in the novel, which left the story feeling a little bland and generic. Again, this is a YA novel, and I'm in my late 20s, so maybe I'm just not the audience for this. Still, it's hard not to compare this with something like Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell, which I felt incorporated fan culture more realistically and in a way that made it significant to the story.
I read this for a genre study at my library, which is why I finished it; without that motivator, I felt this novel dragged. It certainly wasn't bad - it just wasn't anything special.
I felt that the relationship between Diego and Isaac was not developed as well as it could have been - simply explaining that two characters are best friends is not really enough to make me invested in their relationship. For most of the novel, we see Isaac and Diego fighting, lying to each other (mostly by omission, but still), avoiding serious and emotional topics of conversation, being pretty indifferent to each others' interests, and overall miscommunicating their wants and needs. I didn't ever really get the sense that these two were best friends, let alone that they were both secretly in love with each other.
I thought some of the writing was a little too blunt and condescendingly simple. When I read a book featuring a gay main couple, I don't need the book to lecture me about being accepting about diversity in gender and sexuality. I guarantee that for anyone who picked up this book, this is absolutely preaching to the choir, and it just detracts from the story when the author feels the need to soapbox. Isaac's insistence that shows, movies, and books never feature a successful friends-to-lovers storyline also seemed bizarre; I'm not sure what media he's been consuming, but this is a super common trope. It almost feels like the author couldn't think of a compelling obstacle once Isaac realized what his feelings for Diego were, so he had to resort to telling the reader that obviously these relationships never work so the stakes are clearly very high. Davi clearly showing interest in Isaac and then back-pedaling and saying he only ever wanted to be friends felt a little cheap as well. I hate "love triangle" stories where the author makes one romantic option clearly a villain; not only does it undermine the tension when we know that the protagonist is going to choose the "right" option, it also makes the choice seem less meaningful. Obviously Isaac ends up with Diego at the end - Davi was flaky, inconsiderate, and interested in someone else. It feels less like Isaac realized he was in love with Diego the whole time and more like he didn't really have any other options at the end.
The whole Carlos storyline was disappointing to me. Can we please stop telling kids that they need to be the bigger person when their parents make life-altering mistakes? Isaac doesn't need to spend energy hating Carlos, sure, but he also didn't need to forgive him for cheating on his mom and blowing their family apart. Carlos is the adult, not Isaac - Isaac doesn't owe him a second chance. It also just felt very rushed; Carlos shows up at the hospital and Isaac sees him for the first time in years and he just...is fine with Carlos being in his life now. Sure.
I wish the Disaster Academy device had been used a little more thoughtfully. Although it was supposed to be a mirror for Diego and Isaac's relationship, I feel like it was underutilized as a device in the novel, which left the story feeling a little bland and generic. Again, this is a YA novel, and I'm in my late 20s, so maybe I'm just not the audience for this. Still, it's hard not to compare this with something like Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell, which I felt incorporated fan culture more realistically and in a way that made it significant to the story.
I read this for a genre study at my library, which is why I finished it; without that motivator, I felt this novel dragged. It certainly wasn't bad - it just wasn't anything special.