Lola and The Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

Lola Nolan is a budding costume designer, and for her, the more outrageous, sparkly, and fun the outfit, the better. And everything is pretty perfect in her life (right down to her hot rocker boyfriend) until the Bell twins, Calliope and Cricket, return to the neighborhood. When Cricket, a gifted inventor, steps out from his twin sister's shadow and back into Lola's life, she must finally reconcile a lifetime of feelings for the boy next door. 









Rating: 2/5

Popsugar 2016 Reading Challenge: A book with a protagonist who has your occupation.

I was really excited to start Lola and The Boy Next Door mostly because I’ve never read a fiction book with a protagonist who had my same career or, in this case, aspired to be a Costume Designer. I’ve seen movies and read a few books regarding the fashion industry and design, but never someone like me, so I approached this book with really high expectations which, unfortunately were not met.

Right when I started reading and met Lola I remembered, “Crap, there are a lot of stereotypes regarding this career!” One of the reasons why it took me a while to consider this career as a reality and something I’d want for myself were those stereotypes that said you had to be crazy to study design, you had to have a great fashion sense, dress in incredibly insane outfits, dye your hair pink/purple/rainbow, and all of those silly things. I was not like that at all, I have little clothes and no idea of how to do anything but a bun or a pony tail with my hair.

It took me some time to understand that really, all you need to do to be a designer is dedication and the desire to create things (and a lot of study, of course) but we are just people, some like to dye their hair orange, others don’t but doesn’t make anybody any less creative.

My issue with Lola was that the author created this super-quirky girl in the hopes of making her different. She likes to wear dresses made out of sheets, she uses different wigs throughout the week, she wants to go to prom with a dress like Marie Antoinette (don’t even get me started on the misinformation with that). But the problem is the author tries too hard to make her different, that she doesn’t focus on what’s important, making her real. Instead Lola ends up like the typical stereotype of a “quirky” girl without a personality. She even goes as far as to say that she doesn’t like fashion because she doesn’t want to be like everybody else, but she completely misinterprets the meaning of both fashion and style.

I wasn’t fond of the stereotypes in this novel; whenever we came across one Lola would instantly go all “Oh I know what you think, but it’s not like that at all!!” when it was, in fact, very much like that.

There was also a romance between an underage and an adult (Lola is seventeen and her boyfriend is twenty-two). Every time a romance like that appears in a Young Adult novel I cringe, because you never know how it’ll play out, but in this case I’m glad that even though Lola was pretty oblivious to it, her family and friends weren’t and were sensitive about it, so points for that!

This wasn’t a terrible book, and the love story was good but I was looking forward to seeing something else, more related to what I’m studying and on that front I was really disappointed. Of course, not everybody is studying design so I recommend this book for people who like a cute romance!

Splintered by A.G. Howard

This stunning debut captures the grotesque madness of a mystical under-land, as well as a girl’s pangs of first love and independence.

Alyssa Gardner hears the whispers of bugs and flowers—precisely the affliction that landed her mother in a mental hospital years before. This family curse stretches back to her ancestor Alice Liddell, the real-life inspiration for Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Alyssa might be crazy, but she manages to keep it together. For now.

When her mother’s mental health takes a turn for the worse, Alyssa learns that what she thought was fiction is based in terrifying reality. The real Wonderland is a place far darker and more twisted than Lewis Carroll ever let on. There, Alyssa must pass a series of tests, including draining an ocean of Alice’s tears, waking the slumbering tea party, and subduing a vicious bandersnatch, to fix Alice’s mistakes and save her family. She must also decide whom to trust: Jeb, her gorgeous best friend and secret crush, or the sexy but suspicious Morpheus, her guide through Wonderland, who may have dark motives of his own.


Rating: 2/5 Stars

“Sometimes a flame must level a forest to ash before new growth can begin. I believe Wonderland needed a scouring.” 

One of my goals for this 2016 was to do more college-related stuff outside of college, so I thought about making this Splintered inspired collage but… it sucks, I know.

Splintered is a beautiful book, and not just because of that amazing cover, but the story, the writing and the magical world the author has created is fantastical. This is not the cute and funny Wonderland from Carroll’s tale, this is deliciously creepy and dark full of new characters and elements that make of the story incredibly entertaining.

Unfortunately, as wonderful as that is, it can only go so far when you’ve got crappy main characters, and Alyssa and Jeb simply made the story terrible instead of better.

Alyssa hears the whispers of flowers and bugs, but with her mother in a mental asylum for the same delusions and with her grandmother dead after she jumped off a window, believing she could fly, she’s not yet ready to share this secret with anybody. In order to keep the vices at bay, Alyssa listens to music and kills all the bugs she can, using them as art to create incredibly magical landscapes that may or may not be more than just her imagination.

It’s only when, one day, talking with her mother, Alyssa discovers that the two of them hear the flowers say the exact same thing, leading her to believe it’s more than a mere delusion but rather a shared talent. When her mother explains how Wonderland is real and the voices they hear are part of a curse that requires for Alyssa to go down the rabbit hole and break it before her mother spends another day trapped and under medication.

As I said, the story was wonderful but the characters weren’t. It was hard to reconcile how a world could be so original and wonderful, when the characters were all shades of Young adult clichés.

Take Alyssa for example, she’s your typical “quirky” girl who is made fun off because her  grandmother inspired the original “Alice in Wonderland” story which is… really dumb, really. I mean, imagine you meet someone whose ancestor was the inspiration for something as classical as Alice in Wonderland, wouldn’t you think that’s kind of cool? But no, apparently in this story it’s something awful and shameful and everybody mocks Alyssa for it! It was so lame, merely an excuse for her to play “boo me” and show all mean girls, the biggest one being Taelor, Jeb’s super-rich, super-hot and of course, super bitchy girlfriend. Not to mention that the jokes and “insults” she complained so much about weren’t even bad!

Alyssa had some promise of being a decent character… when she wasn’t around Jeb. You just had to see her taking matters into her own hands and solving the riddles on her own, really instead of helping her Jeb was actually keeping her down. However, by the end of the novel she has become so accustomed to being saved by either Jeb or Morpheus (the other romantic interest) that she doesn’t even try anymore. It was frustrating, whenever faced with a problem Alyssa would say something like “This is up to me now.” Or “I won’t let anybody tell me what to do.” She would try ONCE, fail and start crying for somebody to come and save her and giving up on life…  not smart.

Jeb… uggg UGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG fuck you, Jeb. Seriously just go fuck yourself and die in a whole of your own macho-controlling idiocy. This guy, this fucking guy is one of the worst scumbags I’ve had the misfortunate of reading about. He was Alyssa’s neighbour, childhood friend and crush, and the idiot that follows her into Wonderland and then blames her for it. He constantly tells her she’s dumb, guilt-tricks her into obeying him by accusing her of not trusting him, forces her to do things she doesn’t want to and basically just wants to keep Alyssa in a cage so she can never leave his side.

He’s Christian Grey level of shittiness, complete with commands on when to it and what.

He ruined this book for me and turned Alyssa into a pathetic mess thanks to his manipulations. It disturbed me to discover that Jeb is actually inspired in the author’s husband, what does that say about him?

Morpheus was cool, though he was far from being a saint. He was Alyssa’s guide to Wonderland and breaking the curse, though we soon find out he has other plans of his own.

This story would have been ten time better if it had been Taelor, Jeb’s girlfriend, the one to go to Wonderland instead of Jeb. Just imagine that, the two are enemies so they are obviously not happy to be stuck together, they’ll reluctantly work together when they see they have no other option that is until something happens (possibly an attack from Wonderland’s creatures, who knows?) that brings them closer together. They’ll start talking and realize they don’t dislike each other so much. After a while they’ll discuss what’s really standing between them: Jeb. After they share stories they’ll realize Jeb has been playing both of them (which he HAS btw), and that the things they disliked about each other were the lies Jeb fed them. So they’ll leave Wonderland like freaking Queens because they are awesome, go home and tell Jeb to go suck a bag of dicks.

THE END

Glitch by Heather Anastasiu

In the Community, there is no more pain or war. Implanted computer chips have wiped humanity clean of destructive emotions, and thoughts are replaced by a feed from the Link network.

When Zoe starts to malfunction (or “glitch”), she suddenly begins having her own thoughts, feelings, and identity. Any anomalies must be immediately reported and repaired, but Zoe has a secret so dark it will mean certain deactivation if she is caught: her glitches have given her uncontrollable telekinetic powers.

As Zoe struggles to control her abilities and stay hidden, she meets other glitchers including Max, who can disguise his appearance, and Adrien, who has visions of the future. Both boys introduce Zoe to feelings that are entirely new. Together, this growing band of glitchers must find a way to free themselves from the controlling hands of the Community before they’re caught and deactivated, or worse.

In this action-packed debut, Glitch begins an exciting new young adult trilogy.

Rating: 2/5 Stars

“He seemed about my age, tall and lanky with skin the color of warm brown bread crust,”

Every time a writer describes skin color as food, I just want to go to their house, stare creepily at them like this:

And ask, what was going on through your mind when you thought that was a good idea?

Because seriously, I don’t get it, and it’s not only terribly offensive but it’s dumb. Of all the things you could chose to describe skin you go for “warm brown bread crust”? Thanks for clarifying that the crust was brown by the way… asshole. It doesn’t help the narrative either, now every time I thought about him I pictured Gingy.

Or this guy:

Just… don’t.

About the story, it was super easy to read which is something I really appreciate when I’m in a reading slump, hence the two stars. The plot in itself it has nothing original; oppressive society that suppresses emotions, one girl is different because she feels and sees color ( a la The Giver) she also has superpowers… somehow? And a love triangle, insta-love, saviour of mankind. You know, the kind of book that Dystopian YA Novel would have a feast on.

I was really confused with the premise of Glitch, first because I wasn’t sure how everything worked. Apparently all people are connect to the Net and they have a port at the back of their necks like a computer which makes them unable to feel any kind of emotion or stimuli besides pain (so that people won’t hurt themselves accidentally). However, after a few pages it says that the “Old World” died because of greed, anger and yadda, yadda so they had to go underground (there was a nuclear war too, somehow) and the people underground evolved into being logical beings and having no emotions… but that makes no sense and contradicts the first part of the novel.

Anyways, the thing is people don’t feel or think (How??) except for Zoe who discovers she “Glitches” uncontrollably and during those moments she feels, thinks and notices colors. The problem with this was, Zoe’s narration when she was in and out of the Glitches were completely identical. There was no difference between “sensible” Zoe and the “logical” one, especially since she always talked about how she felt even though she shouldn’t be feeling anything at all!

As the novel moves forward, it turns out that there are other people like her, and two are super-hot super-creepy and possessive dudes, as it is with EVERY dystopian novel. I’m not gonna lie, I was really disturbed by one scene when Zoe says she’s chosen the other guy (I’m not going to say who otherwise it’d be a spoiler) and this asshole pushes her against a wall, hurts her and forces his mouth on hers. He ends up saying something like “I’ll make you love me!” and Zoe feels bad because she hurts his feelings. Are you shitting me? He sexually assaults her and she feels bad because she doesn’t like him? That’s horrible!

Overall it’s a pretty standard Dystopian novel with bland characters, a love triangle and no world-building, but it’s entertaining so I recommend it if maybe you want to have a good laugh?

Oh, a phrase that’s worth mentioning regarding Zoe’s super specialness:

 “Just tell her already,” she said. “You think she’s going to lead the Resistance. You think she’s our only hope to deliver the whole human race from slavery.”

This comes out of nowhere and it made me laugh out loud.

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

Blue has spent the majority of her sixteen years being told that if she kisses her true love, he will die. When Blue meets Gansey’s spirit on the corpse road she knows there is only one reason why – either he is her true love or she has killed him.

Determined to find out the truth, Blue becomes involved with the Raven Boys, four boys from the local private school (lead by Gansey) who are on a quest to discover Glendower – a lost ancient Welsh King who is buried somewhere along the Virginia ley line. Whoever finds him will be granted a supernatural favour.

Never before has Blue felt such magic around her. But is Gansey her true love? She can’t imagine a time she would feel like that, and she is adamant not to be the reason for his death. Where will fate lead them?

Rating: 4/5 Stars

I’m going to start this review by saying that I have no idea of what to say about The Raven Boys. I know, very eloquent, but so are all my reviews.

This time however, I don’t know what to say because there isn’t really much to say. This is the sort of book that you should read without direction and make up your own opinion because there is nothing to compare it with. The only way I would describe The Raven Boys is… like The Raven Boys.

The writing is incredibly beautiful; the story is full of magic and mystery creeping into every page. The characters are interesting and complex and all of those things together create this unique book.

I love it for the most part, though there was something bugging me about it which is why I didn’t give it five stars. There were times when the story seemed incredibly eerie and fantastic, the characters relatable and layered and the plot wonderful, but there were others when I felt like the story was trying too hard to be something “different”, the characters plain and cliché and the plot boring and forced. The reason for Blue joining the raven Boys still makes no sense because there is no logical sense in her wanting to be near Gansey when that means it’s a step closer to killing him.

Was it a story that took the typical archetypes of Young Adult and played them to make some different with them? Or was it a story that tried too hard to be different and ended up falling into the clichés it tried so hard to avoid? I think it was both and neither, if that makes any sense.

However I did love the book and I’m really looking forward to the sequel. I will have to re-read The Raven Boys though, because there are still many things I think I missed without having the complete picture I have now after I finished.

In any case, I honestly think that The Raven Boys is a book everyone should read, at least to try it out once.

The Orphan Queen by Jodi Meadows

Wilhelmina has a hundred identities.

She is a princess. When the Indigo Kingdom conquered her homeland, Wilhelmina and other orphaned children of nobility were taken to Skyvale, the Indigo Kingdom’s capital. Ten years later, they are the Ospreys, experts at stealth and theft. With them, Wilhelmina means to take back her throne.

She is a spy. Wil and her best friend, Melanie, infiltrate Skyvale Palace to study their foes. They assume the identities of nobles from a wraith-fallen kingdom, but enemies fill the palace, and Melanie’s behavior grows suspicious. With Osprey missions becoming increasingly dangerous and their leader more unstable, Wil can’t trust anyone.

She is a threat. Wraith is the toxic by-product of magic, and for a century using magic has been forbidden. Still the wraith pours across the continent, reshaping the land and animals into fresh horrors. Soon it will reach the Indigo Kingdom. Wilhelmina’s magic might be the key to stopping the wraith, but if the vigilante Black Knife discovers Wil’s magic, she will vanish like all the others.


Rating: 2/5 stars

The Orphan Queen has a fantastic premise: in a world were magic produces a toxic waste called the Wraith, magic has been banned from most kingdoms and those who practice it are sentenced to death.

Wilhelmina is the lost princess of the Aecor Kingdom, which was conquered a few years ago by the Indigo Kingdom. After having witnessed her parents’ execution, Wil and other royal children who manage to escape form a street team name the Ospreys. Together they’ll plan an infiltration to the royal palace so they finally recover their kingdom and save their people from Indigo’s cruel regimen.

The problem with this book was, there was nothing remarkable besides the idea behind it. Despite the idea of magic producing wastes that encases entire cities in amber and a Princess infiltrating an enemy castle to free her people, none of those concepts are actually approached and what we got is a girl and her friend flirting with guards, dancing and complaining about the bustier royal ladies in Indigo (in case you didn’t’ know, having breasts makes you an asshole just FYI), flirting with a mystery vigilante and talking about clothes, leaving very little room for the actual take of the Kingdom.

Don’t get me wrong, I mean, clichés can still make a good story in the hands of a skilled writer, this however was not the case. The book was dumb, boring and frankly not what I was expecting.

When I hear a plot such as infiltrate a castle and take back a kingdom, I imagine mystery, danger and clever plans. Instead I came across really dumb ideas that work because the plot demands it, forgettable characters and predictable plot lines.

I’m sorry if I’m being harsh, but this was my first big disappointment of the year and it’s January 10^th! This is not the best start for my reading year.

As I said, the plot has some original ideas, such as the Wraith, Black Knife (a vigilante who gets rid of thieves such as Wil) and Wil’s powers. The problem is, they are carried in a way that it’s so unoriginal that it takes away its value. There is no exploration on the world, which we know nothing about, or the characters, everything is simple and one-dimensional, something I wasn’t a fan of.

The plot consisted of Wil and her friend infiltrating the castle of one o the most powerful kingdoms in the world, and you know how they do it? They pretend to be ladies from a Kingdom destroyed by the Wraith (even though it had been confirmed that no one had survived). Wil and her friends simply write some papers saying who they are (but without any royal seal or anything) and they are allowed to stay in the castle, for as long as they want! Nobody checks their identities or corroborates their stories, they say they are ladies and they believe them.

I really don’t feel like getting into details since I could spoil things, but nothing really makes much sense.. Wil has met the Indigo Prince when she was younger, and if he recognizes her (which she’s not sure on whether he would or not) she and her friend would be likely tortured for information and later killed. But for some reason, Wil never shares this information with anybody, not even her friend, keeping it a secret that there is someone in the castle who could blow the entire operation because… I don’t know actually why she does this. I mean yes, I get that the author did it to build tension with Wil wondering on whether the Prince recognizes her and keeping it a secret from her friend but what reason does Wil have to keep it a secret besides being dumb?

There were no secrets or surprises for me and I guessed pretty much the entire plot at 16%. It wasn’t hard, considering how I have read it so many times before in different books, and the identity of Black Knife was the most obvious of them all.

The characters were one dimensional. Wil spends her day complaining about what it was like to have her kingdom being taken away from her, but I never actually felt her rage. It just seemed like something she had to say. The rest of the time she would spend sneering at the other Ladies who try to befriend her (even though she should gather intel and making friends would take some suspicion off of her) and sensing that something is going on with her friends but DOING NOTHING ABOUT IT!

I would recommend it to people who don’t read much YA or are fans of the genres and wouldn’t mind the things I pointed out. If you are looking for a fantastic fantasy book with wonderful characters, intrigue and more… this is not for you.

The Young Elites by Marie Lu

I am tired of being used, hurt, and cast aside.

Adelina Amouteru is a survivor of the blood fever. A decade ago, the deadly illness swept through her nation. Most of the infected perished, while many of the children who survived were left with strange markings. Adelina’s black hair turned silver, her lashes went pale, and now she has only a jagged scar where her left eye once was. Her cruel father believes she is a malfetto, an abomination, ruining their family’s good name and standing in the way of their fortune. But some of the fever’s survivors are rumored to possess more than just scars—they are believed to have mysterious and powerful gifts, and though their identities remain secret, they have come to be called the Young Elites.

Teren Santoro works for the king. As Leader of the Inquisition Axis, it is his job to seek out the Young Elites, to destroy them before they destroy the nation. He believes the Young Elites to be dangerous and vengeful, but it’s Teren who may possess the darkest secret of all. 

Enzo Valenciano is a member of the Dagger Society. This secret sect of Young Elites seeks out others like them before the Inquisition Axis can. But when the Daggers find Adelina, they discover someone with powers like they’ve never seen. 

Adelina wants to believe Enzo is on her side, and that Teren is the true enemy. But the lives of these three will collide in unexpected ways, as each fights a very different and personal battle. But of one thing they are all certain: Adelina has abilities that shouldn’t belong in this world. A vengeful blackness in her heart. And a desire to destroy all who dare to cross her.

It is my turn to use. My turn to hurt.

Rating: 2.5/5 Stars

I read this for Popsugar's 2016 reading challenge: A bestselling Young Adult

The Young Elites promised to be a book I would love. It tells the story of Adelina, a sixteen year-old girl survivor of a fever that killed her mother and left her scarred, turning her into a Malfetto along with thousands of other children. People fear malfettos, thinking them to be omens of bad luck and even possessors of great powers. Adelina has lived under the care of her abusive father and she never thought much about herself until her powers manifest and she discovers that there is something dark and twisted inside her, ready to take revenge on those who wronged her. It is the story of a person becoming a villain, of being swallowed whole by darkness. Combine that with intrigue, fantasy and a dash of romance and The Young Elites should have been one of my favourite reads!

And yet… all I can think about this book is:

 

Don’t get me wrong, this book is not bad I just… feel nothing towards it.

I started reading this as a part of Popsugar’s reading challenge and because I had been looking forward to try this one for a while now. I got up to 52% in less than a day, something not very common for me since I’m a slow reader. However, and even though I had gotten that far, I still didn’t have a sense of what the story was about. I didn’t care about Adelina (although I did relate to her at some points) nor did any of the secondary characters left an impression on me. At the end of the day, I finished this book not because I wanted to see what would happen, but rather because I wanted to get it over with, and that was probably because I wasn’t as invested in the story as I should have been.

I didn’t care about these characters, or their stories and I’m still trying to figure out why.

Adelina and her journey towards darkness was by far the best part of the book. I relished those moments in which darkness and rage consumed her, only to leave her confused and sorry when it went away. Her confusion and horror were understandable, and it was fascinating to see how she started to justify herself, how her insecurities, her fears and ambitions drove her to do things she never thought she was capable of, and even get to enjoy doing them.

Probably one of the most interesting aspects about Adelina is that, even though she has been physically and mentally abused, she also plays the victim card very often something that not many authors tend to do. Now, I’m not saying that she should just “get over it”, she went through a lot of horrors from her father’s treatment so it’s not as if I’m saying she should shrug it off and move on, her anger and sadness is justified. However, Adelina is very self-absorbed. She’s the kind of person who, in their minds, you are either with them or against them. It’s always interesting to read about people who think so little and yet so high of themselves, and Adelina didn’t seek out darkness because it was her only choice but rather because she enjoyed it. Her ambition and desire to be loved “with no strings attached” came to a point when she would judge every little thing as an act against her, even if she herself had caused it. The author did a good job, I think, of portraying those thoughts in Adelina, her desire to be liked conflicting with her need to stand up for herself and not be someone else to please others.

The romance:

Yeah… I wasn’t a fan of that either. I understand why it was necessary since it showed Adelina bonding with someone who was similar to her, and cared for her at the same time that tried to use her. However I just… I didn’t care about them together or just Enzo, the crown Prince and a powerful Young Elite. He was looking to restore his rightful claim to the throne that was taken away by his older sister. He is the leader of the Dagger Society, and takes a particular interest in Adelina and her powers.

Besides him, the secondary characters were no better. It was strange because, even though the book spends a lot of time doing nothing, it doesn’t focus on the characters either so, unless they mentioned which power they had, I had no idea of who was who. They had little traits such as one being the “nice” other being the “dick” and then a hue of nothingness for the other secondary characters.

I didn’t have feelings for these people, or their relationships. Whenever Adelina and Enzo shared a “romantic” moment all I could do was read with mild boredom, and it was supposed to be hot I mean, he controlled fire y’all!

Same happened with her sister, I know that they cared for one another, I just didn’t feel it. Although her sister did turn out to be a more interesting character than she seemed, her character still was kiddy pool-deep.

The pace:

Honestly, it wasn't great. We would get this super action-packed scene... and then nothing. The pages went on and on with nothing happening and no idea of what the plot was.

The ending was interesting, probably the best part of the novel but it didn’t leave me wanting more. I might read it to know how it all follows up, but so far I don’t have the dire need to order The Rose Society.

To All The Boys I Loved Before by Jenny Han

To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before is the story of Lara Jean, who has never openly admitted her crushes, but instead wrote each boy a letter about how she felt, sealed it, and hid it in a box under her bed. But one day Lara Jean discovers that somehow her secret box of letters has been mailed, causing all her crushes from her past to confront her about the letters: her first kiss, the boy from summer camp, even her sister's ex-boyfriend, Josh. As she learns to deal with her past loves face to face, Lara Jean discovers that something good may come out of these letters after all.






Rating: 2/5 stars

You know that episode of How I Met Your Mother in which Katy Perry played a girl so naive; the guys only remembered her nickname, honey?

To All The Boys I have Loved Before was like reading a love story from Honey’s point of view… when she was ten years old.

The premise alone was interesting, when Lara has a crush she writes said person a letter detailing all of her feelings and then keeps it to herself so she can move on. One day, she discovers that someone has sent all of her letters to her previous crushes, including her sister’s (recent) ex-boyfriend and the one guy she still has feelings for.

I liked the first part, well actually the introduction:

I like to save things. Not important things like whales or people or the environment. Silly things. Porcelain bells, the kind you get at souvenir shops. Cookie cutters you’ll never use, because who needs a cookie in the shape of a foot? Ribbons for my hair. Love letters. Of all the things I save, I guess you could say my love letters are my most prized possession.

I thought that made her realistic and cute, it showed she had a nice personality. I just wish the book had stayed like that, but with a plot.

The supposed plot was the letters being sent to her crushes and her having to deal with all of those guys realizing that she had once had a thing for her, as well as dealing with the absence of her older sister and comforting her now ex-boyfriend and family friend, Josh whom she has been in love with for as long as she can remember and who may actually like her back.

Instead, nothing really happened. I thought the letters would take the main stage I mean, can you imagine if that happened in real life?

 But they are only an afterthought, and we spend the rest of the book with Lara making dumb decisions, crushing over Josh but being conflicted about him dating her older sister (though not as much as I thought she would) and making a deal with one of her ex-crushes to fake being in a relationship so Josh won’t make a move on her… instead of simply telling her that them dating would be wrong. Sigh, there was a lot of nonsense drama.

You may think that the Katy Perry-Honey gif is too much, but that’s because you haven’t’ read about Lara Jean. She was painfully naïve, the entire narration was super easy to follow, but because it seemed to have been written by a ten year old. It honestly made the romance creepy; I couldn’t imagine that girl with a child-like mentality being mature enough to start a love story.

The romance… well besides the child mentality Lara had, I personally could not connect with her desire to date her sister’s ex. I don’t have sisters, but if I think about my cousins and friends, I know that for sure as hell I wouldn’t want to date their ex-boyfriends. Of course, having a crush is not something that you can control, but it surprised me how little Lara thought of dating Josh, as if it weren’t a big deal that she could date him or that he had always thought about her when he was dating her sister. If I were her, I would punch the guy in the face, crush or no crush nobody does that to my imaginary sister, damn it!

The book was filled to the brim with YA tropes, but considering this was contemporary I thought they would be spun around and made something fun, light-hearted and eye-opening. None of that happened. Lara is the perfectly naïve MC, her only friend is the “slutty” girl created to make the MC purer in comparison (I hate, hate, hate, hate, hate this trope), the perfect guy and the over the top drama. Surprisingly, what I really liked was the guy Lara pretends to date, Peter. He was the most realistic aspect of the book.

In the end and because of spoilers I decided to give this book two stars. I recommend it to people who like fluffy romances and don’t mind silly heroines. If you are looking for something with more depth… ehhh, no.