DNF. This book was just not the book for me. I made it through about 20% and was just not interested in this character or where this story was going.

Bookishly Ever After by Isabel Baneira is a YA romance.
Now normally I would post a description of the plot before I put my own two cents in. But to avoid repeating myself, I will combine them. This book is about a high school girl named Phoebe who has no interest in boys with flaws. She wants the boys that are perfect from the novels she reads. She has a crush on a boy she admires because he looks like her favorite book boyfriend in her head.
Throughout this book, she is constantly reading. She doesn’t sleep, she ignores her friends and she avoids going out all so she can read. The only other hobby she has is knitting. This behavior is not normal…and not in a cute, quirky fun way. A parent needs to intervene here before she is a total recluse. Plus, she is a teenager. There is no way these kids would still be her friends. But taking it a step further, the plot of this book has boys chasing after her…in what world? To talk to them, she pretends she is a character from a book she has read. Okay, maybe she needs more than parental intervention.
I tried to finish. I really did. I have seen that this book gets good reviews. The writing was very good but the plot and characters didn’t work for me at all.

For a shy bookworm, I really found myself drawn to this book. I am 34 years old and I still love books in the Young Adult category. This book was sweet, funny, and a great journey in adolescence.. As a former teacher, I would guide my students toward this book if they are looking for a great story.

Thank you to Netgalley, Isabel Bandeira and Spencer Hill Press for allowing me to read and review this book.  This is my honest and unbiased opinion.  I really enjoyed reading Bookishly Ever After as it reminded me a bit of my own childhood teen angst.

Phoebe is the epitome of a devoted bookworm.  She make notes of dialogue and quotes from her books to use in real life as she is very shy and not good at communicating, especially with boys.

Her book obsession and constant book referencing is just so relatable but she takes it to another level when she actually dresses up to go to author events. It made me sad, though, that she felt the need to go to her books for answers to real life problems and relationships.

Her hobbies include band practice, archery and knitting.  Phoebe spends a lot of her time (when she’s not reading) knitting herself costumes related to her favourite character in her books.

Without going into detail, there is a boy interest or two.  Phoebe is trying to decide which one she likes more.  Her best friend intervenes and tries to push her towards one in particular.  Just it happens like in real life if you had friends like these!

Phoebe is a very likeable character and I think that she is easy to relate to.

Bookishly Ever After is an easy and enjoyable read for teens/YA but I bet that there are adults out there that will enjoy it too.  I was entertained and really liked the story.

This book was a light, fun read that is perfect when you don't want to read something heavy. Many readers will find it is easy to identify with the MC, Phoebe. While I found that Phoebe fit the "book nerd" stereotype a little TOO well, it didn't stop me from enjoying the book.

If you are or were shy awkward, bookish teen,you will love this story. The friendships and crushes made me feel like I was back in school.

This was a cute book, following Phoebe and Dev’s relationship. Phoebe is the typical book addict – she loves YA romance and has many book boyfriends. Then she meets Dev, an Indian-American who also seems to like Phoebe. Phoebe’s world is slightly off-kilter and she struggles with how she should be around Dev who is becoming more than a bookish fantasy, but a possible boyfriend.
My one main issue was that at times, it got a bit stuck on Phoebe’s uncertainty. The book spent too long on their flirting with each other whilst little else was happening. At times, I just wished it would move a faster pace. However, I had to remind myself that this was a YA novel.
I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely LOVED this book and finished it 3 days. Such a cute story and I can't wait to read the next book in the series!

I didn't wish for this book. Somehow it's granted.

~2.5 stars~

I got this as a review book so I thought I would do this one a little differently than I usually do to help people know how I felt about certain aspects of the book :)

So first of all…

The Cover: 10/5 XD That was the thing that drew me in and made me want to read it honestly (Which I know I shouldn’t be so shallow to do that, but I am just telling the truth lol :P

Romance: 3/5 I thought that Phoebe and Dev were pretty cute :) Their romance didn’t get too out of hand…but there was some content from other characters that was inappropriate and because of that, I wouldn’t really recommend this to my friends

Language: 1/5 There was also waaay too many swear words…too many to count :/ So yeah, I definitely didn’t like that part of it and I was tempted to stop it so many times because I just felt dirty reading it…I finished it though because I wanted to give my honest opinion about the book as a whole

I didn’t know too much about it when I requested it…I didn’t look into reviews or anything. So it was kind of my fault for not making sure it was clean beforehand :/ I still did like some parts of it! But because of the things mentioned above, I wouldn't recommend it to anyone I know...that content may not bother some people, but it made me uncomfortable

A NetGalley e-book in exchange for an honest review.

This was a cute book and an easy quick read. I wanted to love it but it was just okay.

Phoebe Martins would prefer that her life was a YA fantasy. She takes this preference and tries to model after some of her favorite characters when she finds out that the hot guy has a crush on her. As she tries to mimic her favorite love scenes and bravery she stumbles across her own reality.

As a book nerd since age four and a former band geek I still had a tough time relating to Phoebe. It was a cute read though. I did uncontrollably giggle and smile at parts but overall it just fell flat for me.

I thought this was a super cute, breezy YA read! I loved that Phoebe and her circle of friends were so diverse, and that the social groups at her school were very fluid (vs. the stereotypical cliques that we usually see). I particularly love the exploration of Phoebe's struggle with reconciling her bookishly influenced expectations to reality, as well as the fact that her friends were supportive of her personal and/or romantic decisions (despite the brief initial appearance of the dreaded 'bossy best friend' trope, which thankfully didn't take root). I would recommend this to anyone in the mood for something that is both bookish and adorable. 3.5/5

*I received a complementary copy for a review.*

First and foremost, a book about a bookworm is plain adorable, but a book about a bookworm who uses her fangirling to get the boy he likes it's a whole other level! *fangirls about fangirling MC*.

Anyway, the main character, Phoebe, is trying to go for a super cool guy who looks like her favourite book crush (who hasn't done that at least in their mind?), but whom she thinks she doesn't have a chance with. On the other hand there's Dev, this super down-to-earth guy who is her friend. Which one should she choose? Duh! So when she hears Dev might like her, she goes out of her way to flirt with him... in a bookish fashion. Yas!!!

It was just the kind of fluffy book that makes a sad day a little brighter.

I was pretty stoked about this book. I’ve been really digging the sweet contemporaries about nerdy/geeky/ people lately. And what’s better than a character who is BOOKISHLY geeky? #Relatable. And this ya story does set up for a sweet contemporary. It’s set in a modern high school. There is a group of friends. And a love story. But I can’t lie to you guys, I struggled with parts of this book. To be perfectly honest, I DNF’d at around 50% and skimmed the rest. It was so frustrating because I would be highly invested for like two chapters and then one of five-ish things would happen that would jerk me back out of the story and make me annoyed. I couldn’t stay invested for any real length of time which when reading means everything. However I do realize that not everyone comes with the same life experience or annoyances as I do so I’m gonna list the stuff that pulled me out of the story. If none of these actions are things that bother you then I do suggest you try this book out.

Things that Irked Sydney

1. THE BOOK WITHIN A BOOK

In Bookishly Ever After, Phoebe is obsessed with a paranormal series called Golden. Similar to Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell, certain chapters contained excerpts of the book she was reading. I didn’t like it in Fangirl, and I didn’t like it in this book either. It was distracting to go back and forth between the two character sets and between contemporary and paranormal setting. I started skimming the excerpts.

2. PEERS REACTION TO BOOK COMMUNITY

I totally bought into Phoebe and her bookish habits. She would stay up all night reading and have a book hangover the next day. She was introverted and preferred knitting to sports. Cool. What I didn’t buy into was her peers reaction to her reading. Everyone, including other nerds, made Phoebe out to be weird and a social pariah because she would rather read than talk to boys. I don’t believe that. Not because I think Phoebe isn’t a nerd. But because nerds stick together. You’re a computer nerd? Great. I’m not gonna make fun of you for liking computer stuff and you don’t make fun of me for reading. I’ve never seen a high school group that openly mocked/ ridiculed/ and loudly judged someone who read. Yeah, we were the kids often alone at lunch. But our preferences weren’t thrown in our face as socially unacceptable. This leads me to my next issue.

3. PHOEBE’S BEST FRIEND EM

Em was awful. In more ways that one. But for this particular issue I’m going to talk about one of her habits that just didn’t jive with me. She regularly talked down to Phoebe. She was loudest of those who put Feebs down for having book boyfriends but being nervous to talk to real guys. She had no empathy, no compassion, and no idea that she was a nerd herself. I mean dude, you’re in the freakin’ band AND drama club. You aren’t so cool yourself. Em forces Phoebe into situations that she KNOWS Phoebe is uncomfortable with “for Phoebe’s own good.” Um Bull. By the time I was in high school I a) didn’t let other’s push me into stuff that made me physically uncomfortable and b) would NEVER let my best friend talk down to me. Part of being best friends is showing each other mutual respect and understanding. Em had none of that.

4. RACISM

To make Em even better as a character she said few racist things. I’ll list just two of them here.

(in this scene Em is trying to hit on/flirt with a German Foreign Exchange student)
“Well, Miss AP English, finish that up quick and then get to work on Jon. I’m getting my remedial English butt back to my English as a Second Language Project.”

“So what do you say about dating our Bollywood Casonova?” ( Dev is Indian)

I just wasn’t okay with Em’s attitude in general and when she would say things like this it rubbed me wrong.

5. IF YOU LIKE ME I GUESS I LIKE YOU

The entire premise of this story is set around Dev crushing on Phoebe and Phoebe wanting to impress him so she changes her self only to decide she likes her real self better. Even if I take out the fact that Feeb’s friends pushed her into changing herself FOR Dev, what was missing in the beginning was feelings for Dev. From the first chapter Phoebe makes it apparant that she is crushing on a boy named Kris. Em decides that Dev has a crush on Phoebe, which granted he does, and then pushes Phoebe to make her move. Phoebe didn’t even like Dev!! Em just wanted Phoebe to have a boyfriend. Anyone would do. I call this Ariel syndrome. In the Little Mermaid Ariel is obsessed with humans. She gives up her voices not because she is in love with Eric specifically but because she loves human. Anyone could’ve fallen off that ship and she would have wanted to be “part of that world.” Phoebe realizes Dev likes her and decides to think about him romantically. What an inspiration for our teens… NOT. Later in the book Dev and Phoebe do build a friendship strong enough to base a relationship off of. But the Ariel syndrome Phoebe went through to get there ruined it for me.

This such a fun, quick read. I don't normally read contemporary YA, but with an MC who is essentially my younger self (and probably in many way my current, older self) how could i pass this one up? I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this book. It was a great, cute story and I'm looking forward to Dramatically Ever After!

DNF at 15%

I just could not get into this book. I even put it away and tried it again at a later date. I was struggling to stay interested and follow the storyline. I kept getting the characters mixed up. I didn't feel like any of the characters had any real depth which made them easier to mix up. I'm sure some people will love this book. I wanted to love it but it just wasn't for me.

***Copy obtained from Spencer Hill Press via Netgalley***

Plot was very slow. Characterization was out of touch with reality. I get the concept, but I'm a big Rainbow Rowell fan, and Fangirl does it better.

A beautifully written coming of age tale about learning that what you read in books may not work as well as you think. I enjoyed the well written novel.