Review: My Heart and Other Black Holes by Jasmine Warga

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Sixteen-year-old physics nerd Aysel is obsessed with plotting her own death. With a mother who can barely look at her without wincing, classmates who whisper behind her back, and a father whose violent crime rocked her small town, Aysel is ready to turn her potential energy into nothingness.
There’s only one problem: she’s not sure she has the courage to do it alone. But once she discovers a website with a section called Suicide Partners, Aysel’s convinced she’s found her solution: a teen boy with the username FrozenRobot (aka Roman) who’s haunted by a family tragedy is looking for a partner.
Even though Aysel and Roman have nothing in common, they slowly start to fill in each other’s broken lives. But as their suicide pact becomes more concrete, Aysel begins to question whether she really wants to go through with it. Ultimately, she must choose between wanting to die or trying to convince Roman to live so they can discover the potential of their energy together. Except that Roman may not be so easy to convince.

I loved this book. I hated this book. I mostly loved this book. Argh, where to start. I want to say this book is amazing and dealt with depression well and I loved it. But I can’t. I just can’t. Because I have rules, and this book breaks one of the most important ones.

We’ll get on to that in a bit, because I really don’t want to run the risk of making this a completely rant-y review when I actually really enjoyed this book.

“And this time, I can feel my hand. I can feel everything. And I want to keep feeling everything. Even the painful, awful, terrible things.”

The Good

Despite it’s flaw(s), this is a really beautiful book and it did make me cry. It’s full of hope and life and that’s the complete opposite of what I expected. I went into this novel thinking it would kind of drag me down. I expected for it to be dark and sad and devoid of life. But it was actually very different in many ways – it left me hopeful rather than sobbing.

I also actually felt that for the most part, Aysel’s depression was described extremely well. Although I can’t talk from personal experience, I’ve read many reviews that say her depression is pretty spot on, and I can’t argue. Although mental illness affects everyone differently, most people seem to relate to her thought processes, and it seems to be really well done. Although I have never been diagnosed with a mental illness, I have had my low times, and I can agree that Aysel’s depression was easy to relate to.

Alongside all of the deep and meaningful stuff, this book is good in the general sense. It has some really good side characters including friends and family, it holds an interesting story and a good plot. And the writing is beautiful, without being pretentious like other authors that shall not be named (*cough* John Green *cough*).

“Because feeling things is what lets us know that we’re alive.
And I want to be alive.”

The Bad

Despite how much I still love this book, I can’t overlook one simple fact. And if you don’t want spoilers for this book, you might want to skip this part!

Aysel was cured.

I just want to say, I wouldn’t say I disagree that being in love can help with depression. In fact, I think having people around you is an incredibly big help. Hell, I even think being in love can help you see the world through fresh eyes and help emotionally. But I can’t help but feel that this message could be slightly damaging to teens. I think it’s about time we have a book about a character who overcomes a mental illness with the help from their family, friends, and a doctor or other mental health specalist. It’s not that I don’t agree with the message this book portrays, I just believe we need another story.

★★★★

-Beth

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Review: Scarlett Epstein Hates it Here by Anna Breslaw

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Meet Scarlett Epstein, BNF (Big Name Fan) in her online community of fanfiction writers, world-class nobody at Melville High. Her best (read: only) IRL friends are Avery, a painfully shy and annoyingly attractive bookworm, and Ruth, her weed-smoking, possibly insane seventy-three-year-old neighbor.
When Scarlett’s beloved TV show is canceled and her longtime crush, Gideon, is sucked out of her orbit and into the dark and distant world of Populars, Scarlett turns to the fanfic message boards for comfort. This time, though, her subjects aren’t the swoon-worthy stars of her fave series—they’re the real-life kids from her high school. And if they ever find out what Scarlett truly thinks about them, she’ll be thrust into a situation far more dramatic than anything she’s ever seen on TV…

This book has left me with very mixed feelings. I loved it, and I was bored. It was easy to read, but I didn’t find it exciting or entertaining.

I wouldn’t say I disliked Scarlett as such, but I didn’t have much of a connection with her either. I don’t know how to describe this, but I found her…young. She was just so naive. Although I did like parts of her, I felt her character wasn’t developed that well. I also felt she could be a little nasty to some of the other characters for no reason. And her fascination with her crush?

  1. You’ve barely talked in 4 years
  2. He’s not, like…yours?
  3. Why do you like him? Again, I want more character development. I want to know more about who is as a person (other than he likes comedy).

“The best parts of life aren’t clear-cut or obvious—they don’t have neat endings”

I unfortunately felt similar feelings for all of the characters. I love that this book had a variety of different characters, but I couldn’t help but be confused among some. Take Ruth and Dawn for example. It took me like half the book to realise which was which.

I have to say, I found this one really easy to read. I literally read 80 pages in about 45 minutes. I got through this one so quickly and I loved it because of that.

I know it’s your inclination to skip to the end, but you can’t just focus on how it’s all gonna turn out.”

I also actually thought the fanfiction was done pretty well and I enjoyed the story within the story.

And one last criticism is the ending. I can’t remember much about it, but I wish more things were tied up. It just felt a little…empty.

So there’s plenty of negatives, but I can’t say I didn’t enjoy it.

★★★

-Beth

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Review: The Night Circus by Erin Morgernstern

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The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. The black sign, painted in white letters that hangs upon the gates, reads: Opens at Nightfall Closes at Dawn. As the sun disappears beyond the horizon, all over the tents small lights begin to flicker, as though the entirety of the circus is covered in particularly bright fireflies. When the tents are all aglow, sparkling against the night sky, the sign appears. Le Cirque des Reves. The Circus of Dreams. Now the circus is open. Now you may enter.

I absolutely adored this book. I found it magical and beautiful, and I don’t know how anyone could not feel involved and enchanted by this book.

It’s been a year now since I found this one, and although it’s taken me a while, I’m so glad I finally got round to reading it! It’s not often that I find a book so heavily setting based, but it worked. It worked so well. It’s hard to describe what exactly I loved so much about this book. I just felt utterly captivated by it.

I can understand why people have called this book boring – but I think sprawling suits it much better. This book kind of needs a large collection of pages to explain itself completely. The plot can come across as so complicated, it works being revealed slowly.

Secrets have power. And that power diminishes when they are shared, so they are best kept and kept well. Sharing secrets, real secrets, important ones, with even one other person, will change them.”

I felt so completely inside this book. That’s hard to describe, but it’s true. I felt so deeply involved with this thing that is the circus. And I think that’s why this book stands so far apart from many others, because I didn’t feel necessarily involved in the characters or the plot or any normal bookish things. But I felt involved in the circus, and for me, that was enough.

I would agree that this book is slow. But it’s slow in a relaxing, chilled way. It’s slow in a way that let me consume this book over weeks. This book isn’t without romance, but don’t go into it thinking you’re going to read a romance book. Actually, I would say this book is much more about love than romance. Love between people. Love between places. Love contained in letters sent across the globe.

Writing them down is worse, because who can tell how many eyes might see them inscribed on paper, no matter how careful you might be with it. So it’s really best to keep your secrets when you have them, for their own good, as well as yours.”

I don’t know what else I can possibly say about this book as I don’t feel I could possibly do it justice. This is an incredibly atmospherical read and I would highly recommend that if you like the sound of it, you should go and read it. And when you do, be prepared to be transported into a world that will completely and utterly enchant you.

★★★★★

-Beth

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Review: The Territory (#1) by Sarah Govett

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Limited Space requires Limited Numbers
The year is 2059. Noa Blake is just another normal 15 year old. Except in the Territory normal isn’t normal. The richest children can download information and bypass the need to study. In a flooded world of dwindling resources, Noa and the other ‘Norms’ have their work cut out to compete. And competing is everything – anybody who fails the TAA exam at 15 will be shipped off to the disease-ridden Wetlands, to a life of misery, if not certain death.
But how to focus when your heart is being torn in two directions at once?

I have been provided with a copy of the book and payment by the author in exchange for an honest review. This has not changed my review in any way.

I started this book thinking it might take me a while to get into. Thinking it might be a little young and not something I’d usually read. But soon enough, I was picking this book up whenever I had a spare minute just to find out what was happening next.

Rather than this book being in chapters, it had a break every couple of pages and I loved that. It meant that I didn’t have to committ myself to sitting down and finishing 20+ pages, and that I could literally read this book whenever. And that’s one of the reasons I finished this one in under 2 days!

I also found the writing utterly captivating. Although this book read as though it would suit young teens, I still enjoyed it immensely. Because of this, the book was only 200 pages long and very easy to read, which I loved!

I adored the characters and world. The world had just enough relating to Earth as we know it to ensure I could picture everything clearly, but enough differences to make it stand completely on it’s own as something unique. And this book is just that – unique.

Noa lives in a difficult, dangerous and terrifying world and I felt I could really relate to her feelings. Her thoughts shone through incredibly in the writing and I felt her emotions clearly. Noa isn’t the only character I loved – this book actually has some really great side characters. I felt close to Noa’s friends and family and I felt everything they went through right along with them.

Overall, The Territory is intense, emotional and unique. It left me with tears in my eyes, and now I’m absolutely hooked and can’t wait to continue with the story! I would highly recommend this book for teens aged 12-16 and are readers of dystopia.

★★★★

-Beth

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Review: Twelve Days of Dash and Lily by David Levithan and Rachel Cohn

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Dash and Lily have been dating for nearly a year, but when Lily’s beloved grandfather falls ill, the repercussions take their toll on everyone. Even though they are still together, somehow the magic has gone out of their relationship and it’s clear that Lily has fallen out of love with life.
Action must be taken! Dash teams up with Lily’s brother and a host of their friends, who have just twelve days to get Lily’s groove back in time for Christma
s.

I know, I know. It’s after Christmas, and here I am reading a Christmas book. Why? Because I found it on my shelf and knew if I didn’t read it now I’d have to wait another year! These books are pretty short and easy to read, so I knew I just had to do it.

And I actually really enjoyed this book. I’ve found other books by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan are not usually my favourites, but this is definitely the best I’ve read.

“The minute she left the apartment, I missed having her there.”

I like that this book was short, because I felt like I didn’t need any more. I love the Christmassy feel and Dash and Lily’s relationship. Emotions are explored and written about a lot, and I think the authors wrote about the sad situations in Dash and Lily’s lives were explained really well.

This book made me laugh out loud often, simply because it is so random sometimes. There were some very unexpected moments and it isn’t common for a book to make me laugh!

But as with all loves, I supposed, the consolation was in the fact that she’d be back.”

I won’t say this book was without it’s problems, though. For a start, I kind of didn’t like Lily for parts of this novel. She’s just so…whiny. She seems so self-centered and really didn’t think about what was best for everyone else. I did feel like this improved throughout the novel, but it annoyed me at the start.

But I have to say, I enjoyed this novel. I felt that the authors talked about the progression of relationships in a relatable way, and although it was cheesy, it was just such an easy, enjoyable read.

★★★★
(3.5 stars)

-Beth

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Review: We All Looked Up by Tommy Wallach

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Before the asteroid we let ourselves be defined by labels:
The athlete, the outcast, the slacker, the overachiever.
But then we all looked up and everything changed.
They said it would be here in two months. That gave us two months to leave our labels behind. Two months to become something bigger than what we’d been, something that would last even after the end.
Two months to really live.

Happy New Year everyone! I welcomed in the new year with a quiet night in with my boyfriend, and honestly it was lovely. While we were away, I read We All Looked Up, one of the two books my good friend Pete gave to me for Christmas!

We All Looked Up follows four teenagers in the months before an asteroid hits Earth. It sounds unique, and I’ve heard good things. It’s a contemporary, with romance, and poetic words about the end of the world. What’s not to like?

Unfortunately, I found a few things to dislike. I wouldn’t go as far to say I’m not a fan of this book, or that I didn’t enjoy reading it, but it definitely wasn’t without its faults.

The good

Like I said, I did enjoy these books. I felt a connection to the characters and their ways and I loved the apocalyptic feel of the ever-changing world around them. Wallach explores the way the asteroid affects high school, shopping, eating out, prison and even gas stations. And it actually doesn’t seem unrealistic – because I think it’s grounded by the connection we have with our four narrators.

In some ways, I really liked having the viewpoint of four people – two women and two men. I think it gives every reader someone to relate to, and I definitely felt closer to one or two of them. I also really enjoyed Wallach’s writing, it’s so easy to read. I got through this book in a couple of days and I almost felt lazy reading it. The plot was steadily paced, and that made for a relaxing, laid back kind of reading.

“The best books, they don’t talk about things you never thought about before. They talk about things you’d always thought about, but that you didn’t think anyone else had thought about.”

The bad

Unfortunately, I did find faults with this novel. I may have liked the slow pacing of the plot, but it was just that – slow. I can’t overlook the parts that dragged without much happening at all. It’s the end of the world, let’s have some movement!

Even though in some ways I enjoyed having more than one narrator, you’re always at risk of having a little confusion. And I did feel confused in parts, because I don’t think Wallach defined his characters well enough. I realised around halfway through the book that I couldn’t actually picture any of them. I’m not looking for extensive descriptions, but just a bit of a mention would be nice. Something to help me imagine them – the only one I could describe for you would be Misery. However, I did like Eliza’s development and her interest in photography. It still doesn’t mean I can picture her, but at least she has some kind of defining feature. Something that makes her who she is.

I also have mixed feelings about the ending. I’m so conflicted, but it left me unsatisfied in some ways. I would have just liked something more definite. Something a little more solid and a little less mushy and poetic.

“You read them, and suddenly you’re a little bit less alone in the world. You’re part of this cosmic community of people who’ve thought about this thing, whatever it happens to be”

I don’t know if it’s worth mentioning, but something else stood out for me in this book. I wouldn’t say it’s a bad thing, because I don’t think Wallach really did a bad job…but I could tell this was written by a man. It just stood out to me when the female characters were talking about men, and it was nothing bad, but I just knew.

So there might be more bad than good here, but don’t read too much into that. The bad is always easier to write about, and even if there were faults, I can’t say I didn’t find this an enjoyable and interesting read.

★★★

-Beth

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Review: Turtles All the Way Down by John Green

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Sixteen-year-old Aza never intended to pursue the mystery of fugitive billionaire Russell Pickett, but there’s a hundred-thousand-dollar reward at stake and her Best and Most Fearless Friend, Daisy, is eager to investigate. So together, they navigate the short distance and broad divides that separate them from Russell Pickett’s son, Davis.

Aza is trying. She is trying to be a good daughter, a good friend, a good student, and maybe even a good detective, while also living within the ever-tightening spiral of her own thoughts.

As you may or may not know, I’m not a massive John Green fan. It’s not like I hate him or anything, I just have really mixed opinions about his books. For me, The Fault in Our Stars is overhyped, Will Grayson, Will Grayson and An Abundance of Katherine’s are not worth the read, Looking for Alaska is pretty good and Paper Towns is my favourite.

But nevertheless, Turtles All the Way Down got me intruiged. And the more of my friends that were reading (and loving) it, the more I wanted to find out what was so good. Before I continue, thank you to my lovely friend Pete for gifting me this book for my birthday!

I have to say, Turtles was a really pleasant surprise for me. Especially after struggling with Gemina, I really needed a good contemporary. And Green, for a change, didn’t let me down!

I’m not going to say this book isn’t niggle-free. It still niggled me in the classic way Green manages to get on my nerves. For a start, you can tell that these are his characters. The way he writes is still pretty pretensious, and the characters still talk like no person I have ever met – only seeming to have these big, important discussions about the sky.

But once I got past that this book is just unbelievably cheesy in some ways, I managed to accept it and enjoy it. And I enjoyed it a hell of a lot more than I expected to.

“We never really talked much or even looked at each other, but it didn’t matter because we were looking at the same sky together, which is maybe even more intimate than eye contact anyway.”

I have to appreciate the way Green wrote about mental health. Although it’s an extremely subjective topic, I really felt for Aza and her situation. I felt an emotional connection to her and I understood her invasive thoughts in the best way. I also love how Green included the very real and difficult parts of mental illness – personal struggles, mental battles and therapy sessions that were portrayed as a postive and helpful part of Aza’s life. We need more of that in YA!

I loved the plot and I felt the mixture of romance, contemporary and even hints of mystery were done really well. Green did a great job of (thank you), keeping the romance underlying and not letting it take over the book. Friendship and family realationships were also explored deeply and I really appreciate the balance he managed to find. I love how the romance didn’t ‘fix’ Aza’s mental illness – that can happen too much in YA and make it completely unrealistic and unrelatable.

“I mean, anybody can look at you. It’s quite rare to find someone who sees the same world you see.”

This may seem like a random point and isn’t something I’d usually mention, but I saw a review which mentioned the technology in this book and I completely agreed with them. The characters use technology as teenagers actually do, and I have to agree that Green got it spot on.

I also have to mention the ending before I go. I found it perfect for the book. Even though it’s not definite, it included a lot of hope and I really like that from an ending. It left things open but not too open. It had perfect balance.

So overall this book is a really easy but enjoyable read. I think it represents YA really well and it has a lot of really good points. And even though I might not be the biggest Green fan…I don’t think I can complain. This book just has to be awarded a solid 4.5 stars from me.

★★★★★

-Beth

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Review: Secret Heir (Dynasty #1) by M.J. Prince

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I have been provided with an Advanced Reader Copy by the author in exchange for an honest review.

I found this book a really pleasant surprise. It’s not something I’d dive for but I was quickly absorbed by the beautiful and twisted world Prince has created.

The plot drew me in straight away. Jazmine is a girl from Earth who is a member of a royal family from a planet she knows nothing about. The grandfather she has never met takes her back to this planet, where she’s shipped off to boarding school with royal teenagers from the other 5 dynasties. It quickly becomes apparent that the other teens have been spreading rumors about her and her life on Earth and make her life a living hell. But are all of these people really her enemies, and is there more going on behind the scenes?

I found the world of Eden very cleverly done as it mirrors life on Earth, but differs with Elements and the powers each person has. I understood Eden easily but found it’s differences enthralling.

Let’s talk about the characters! I adored Jazime and I felt a really close connection to her. She’s a badass and she fights for what she believes in, and I really admired her throughout the book. The pranks she pulls towards the start of the novel made me laugh out loud in parts!

Unfortunately, this book isn’t without a few faults. It could do with a little touching up on the spelling and grammar side and I did find a lot of sentences repeated themselves throughout the novel. I felt the book dragged a little in the middle but loved the beginning and especially the end! Oh my, that ending. It left me desparate for the next book and I definitely want to continue with this series.

Even though I had my suspicions about the twist at the end, I was still completely shocked and torn. It just proves how persuasive and enthralling Prince’s writing really is, and I really admire how tricked I was by the writing.

I think partly due to the romance in this book, I felt like this was a real guilty pleasure, but I loved it all the same. It may have not been perfect, but I really enjoyed it and it actually reminded me of A Court of Thorns and Roses in many respects. In fact I have to admit, I liked it more.

So overall, Secret Heir is a really good romance/fantasy which took me out of my comfort zone. A solid 4 stars from me and one I’d definitely recommend!

★★★★

-Beth

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Review: Gemina by Various Authors

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Moving to a space station at the edge of the galaxy was always going to be the death of Hanna’s social life. Nobody said it might actually get her killed.
The sci-fi saga that began with the breakout bestseller Illuminae continues on board the Jump Station Heimdall, where two new characters will confront the next wave of the BeiTech assault.
Hanna is the station captain’s pampered daughter; Nik the reluctant member of a notorious crime family. But while the pair are struggling with the realities of life aboard the galaxy’s most boring space station, little do they know that Kady Grant and the Hypatia are headed right toward Heimdall, carrying news of the Kerenza invasion.
When an elite BeiTech strike team invades the station, Hanna and Nik are thrown together to defend their home. But alien predators are picking off the station residents one by one, and a malfunction in the station’s wormhole means the space-time continuum might be ripped in two before dinner. Soon Hanna and Nik aren’t just fighting for their own survival; the fate of everyone on the Hypatia—and possibly the known universe—is in their hands.
But relax. They’ve totally got this. They hope.

I don’t know how to write this review. I’m so conflicted and confused right now. I loved it. I was bored. I was, overall, disappointed.

I know, I know. I adored Illuminae, and I’ve been singing it’s praises ever since. I found it broke the YA rule book and I loved the authors for it. And I did go into Gemina with very high expectations – so many people said it’s even better and Illuminae is so hard to beat!

“This tiny moment. In between the time you decide to pull a trigger and the time death arrives.”

So, I did like a lot about this book. For one, the suspense. I would be on the edge of my seat, to find out that the character I thought would die actually lives. I also liked the whole concept of multiverses and wormholes and I thought that was done really well. This book made me smile, and made me chuckle.

Also, Ella. Ella is the ultimate feminist and all around badass and I loved her for it. And as with Illuminae, there are some utterly beautiful poetic parts of this book that I can’t wait to share with you.

Anddd it’s time for the bad. Let’s start with Hanna, the typical spoilt-rich-girl-who-actually-is-pretty-badass. It was just so cheesy and predictable. I did like Nik, but I also found him a pretty typical bad boy. What happened to throwing out the rule book?

“There’s just you and it and everything you’re about to take away. It’s too big. It goes forever.”

I was constantly confused. For this entire book. And I distinctly remember not feeling like this for Illuminae. I mean, maybe this is because I read Illuminae so long ago. But I still think I should have understood even a little bit more than I did in Gemina. In some ways, this book was kind of too much. There was too many plot twists. Too many people to kill. Too many files, and way too many pages. I kind of felt like I was reading this book and only understanding about 10% of whatever-the-f*ck was going on.

So it turns out I loved and really didn’t like this book, all rolled into a massive mix of emotions. I could rate this book from one to five stars for a variety of reasons (I was bored, I was amused, I was utterly overwhelmed by an incredibly random part of beautiful poetry), so I guess I’m going to be settling in the middle.

★★★

-Beth

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Review: 36 Questions That Changed My Mind About You by Vicki Grant

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Two random strangers. Thirty-six questions to make them fall in love.
Hildy and Paul each have their own reasons for taking part in the psychology study (in Paul’s case it is the $40, in Hildy’s the reasons are significantly more complex). The study poses the simple question: Can love be engineered between two random strangers?
Hildy and Paul must ask each other 36 questions, ranging from “What is your most terrible memory?” to “When did you last sing to yourself?” By the time Hildy and Paul have made it to the end of the questionnaire, they’ve laughed and cried and lied and thrown things and run away and come back again. They’ve also each discovered the painful secret the other was trying so hard to hide. But have they fallen in love?

Thank you to Hot Key Books for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

This book has such an interesting concept! It’s based on The Experimental Generation of Interpersonal Closeness, which is a 1997 experiment where couples were set the task of asking each other 36 questions over the course of around an hour and staring into each others eyes for 4 minutes. Six months after the real experiment, two of the couples were married.

“I have to tell you to your face. That’s the only way I can and/or should do it. I’ve got to think of myself, too.”

I can totally see why Vicki wrote about this experiment. It facsinated me, and so did the book. I went into this book worried that it would be predictable and cheesy. Worried that it would be taking place just in one room with dialogue, and wondering how the author would portray this incredible experiment.

But I actually think that Vicki did an incredibly good job. I won’t say this book wasn’t predictable and cheesy – it was. But I couldn’t help but find it adorable and romantic. I loved both characters, and I found it so clever how Vicki made us fall for someone who originally came across as such an a**hole. I really loved Hildy and the way the book talked about her family life and her friends.

“Because, honestly, if you don’t want to see me, you probably don’t deserve to know the answer, in which case it’ll be my secret which I’ll take to death.”

This book was so fast paced and really easy to read, I literally sped through this book so quickly. I guess you could say I’m a big romantic, and because of that I really liked this book. But I think you do kind of have to be a romantic to love this book. It’s no bad thing, but I think you should go into this book prepared for cheese.

I found the mixture of texting/dialogue and prose actually worked and is part of the reason this book is so fast paced. Overall, I can safely say I enjoyed this book and I found it really well written. It also included some hilarious lines that actually made me chuckle out loud. I won’t be giving it the full 5 stars simply because it’s not perfect and didn’t completely blow me away, but it’s definitely one I’ll be recommending in the future for lovers of a good rom com. In fact, if this was a rom com movie, I think it’d do really well. And I’d definitely be queuing up to see it.

★★★★

P.S. If you like the sound of books based on The Experimental Generation of Interpersonal Closeness, I’m fairly certain it’s loosely mentioned in one of my favourite books, The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon.

-Beth

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