I'm not really sure how I feel about this book. I felt such contradictory feelings reading this. At times I adored the witty banter between our main characters Penny and Sam, but other times the story felt unnatural and jilted if that make sense. I loved them when they interacted with each other but less so when they interacted with other characters. Their relationship was awkward but at times adorable. The way Penny felt towards her mom was understandable looking through Penny's eyes, but not so much looking in as a reader. I wish we got more Jude because I really liked her as a character. The writing style was a little messy and left me a little confused at parts (especially introducing certain plot devices that didn't really add anything to the story) but overall it kept my interest. I wanted to see where these characters ended up.

I received an ARC of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I send this book to myself to test compatibility. N/A

This definitely has a hipster-esque feel to it that didn't capture my attention. Lovely cover, but possibly too heavy for every reader.

Arc provided by NetGalley!

So this was definitely a roller coaster of a book, and that’s pretty much how I feel about it. It had its ups and downs, and while I ended up liking it in the end, it still felt lacking. Also for a 400-some page book it felt surprisingly short.

So, I did like the characters, Sam and Penny. Their lives developed outside of their relationship with each other (though I felt Sam’s had a little more depth), and though their origin was a little weird (he has a panic attack and she discovers him and helps him recover, and from that point on they are each other’s “emergency contacts”), it fits. I thought the side characters, like the friends, were decently developed.

The writing I’m kind of hit or miss on. The reason the book is so long is because it’s written like this:

Here’s a sentence.
And another one!
Sentence!

Text from one person

Text from another

And so on. I can see the author has a background in comic books and this writing does feel pretty pop-y. I enjoyed it at times, while other times it was distracting. Sometimes they spoke realistically and other times I was like Lolololol no. Also sometimes the dialogue makes it sound like Sam is wayyyyyy older than Penny when in reality there is only like a 2 year difference. Sometimes the characters are incredibly snobby and then back to relatable. There’s also a surprisingly amount of dark stuff for a novel that at its core seems to want to be fluffy. The author handles it well, though.

I enjoyed reading this, though. There was enough stuff in it that I liked, and I was interested by the characters. Definitely flawed, though.

I read this because it was blurbed by Rainbow Rowell, which makes sense, because it has a very Fangirl vibe. And not just because the protagonist is just starting college and wants to be a writer! But because it is about insecurity and vulnerability and learning to make friends and learning to make peace with your family and learning your craft and learning to open up to a cute boy (who is also a compelling POV character in his own right). GREAT stuff. A/A-.

I absolutely loved this book. It made me nostalgic even though it is set in the present.