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3.62 AVERAGE
3.62 AVERAGE
emotional
hopeful
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Okok Toni was amazing but I struggled to connect w Olivia and found myself very frustrated with her most of the time. I was very hung up on how she literally kept ditching her friend for a girl when her friend had explicitly asked her for a weekend just the two of them.
Very YA and I wasn’t in the mood for YA but I kept reading anyways so idk if I read it at a different time maybe I’d rate it higher.
Very YA and I wasn’t in the mood for YA but I kept reading anyways so idk if I read it at a different time maybe I’d rate it higher.
While I don’t agree with all the decisions made and I don’t think Olivia was the best friend to Imani, I did really enjoy this book! I liked the romance between Olivia and Toni. I liked the character development. And I found the music festival setting to be really fun.
The story touches on some heavy topics, so please check the content warnings first. And while some topics were heavy, the book didn’t feel as heavy as it could have. There was joy and healing and, overall, the topics were handled with care.
This book is filled with love, drama and music. It was beautiful.
So here we have a big case of "it's not you, it's me".
I loved the author's other book, so I picked this one up without hesitation, but I should have known it wasn't for me.
1. I have no love for live music, I'm too autistic for it and it overwhelms me in a bad way, so the whole live music theme didn't elicit any kind of emotional response from me, and it was so important to Toni's story line that I felt like I was missing out on a big part of the book.
2. I'm Very Aro. I like romance but it needs to be well developed and if possible, not too quick or insta-lovey. A romance in less than three days wasn't going to work for me.
I liked some stuff about it: Olivia's storyline around nudes and revenge porn was really good and well-handled, I liked Peter a lot, and the whole first third was fun.
I didn't like a lot more, though.
I didn't feel anything for the main characters most of the time, and sometimes couldn't understand their actions (I don't need characters to be relatable to enjoy a book btw, most characters aren't relatable to me as an autistic person, but sometimes in this book I genuinely couldn't wrap my head around why they did some stuff), the romance never worked for me at all (almost saying I love you like 24h after meeting someone... what in the alloromanticism is this)
Olivia was a bad friend the whole book. And it's addressed, but it still bothered me. Especially since there's then a big reveal the best friend was in love with her all along (she had plenty reasons to be mad at Olivia as friends, I don't know what the romantic feelings added, except Olivia seemed to take those more seriously? I wasn't a fan of the whole thing, but that's likely the aro talking once more).
Again, the whole live music setting wasn't for me. It was fun at times but when the characters got big feelings about it I was just like "sure, I believe you" haha
Nothing about this book was plain bad. I just probably shouldn't have picked it up for myself just because I enjoyed the author's other book. I usually avoid books with romance set over one day/a dew days, but I wanted to give this one a shot. It did not work out, I will remember that in the future.
I loved the author's other book, so I picked this one up without hesitation, but I should have known it wasn't for me.
1. I have no love for live music, I'm too autistic for it and it overwhelms me in a bad way, so the whole live music theme didn't elicit any kind of emotional response from me, and it was so important to Toni's story line that I felt like I was missing out on a big part of the book.
2. I'm Very Aro. I like romance but it needs to be well developed and if possible, not too quick or insta-lovey. A romance in less than three days wasn't going to work for me.
I liked some stuff about it: Olivia's storyline around nudes and revenge porn was really good and well-handled, I liked Peter a lot, and the whole first third was fun.
I didn't like a lot more, though.
I didn't feel anything for the main characters most of the time, and sometimes couldn't understand their actions (I don't need characters to be relatable to enjoy a book btw, most characters aren't relatable to me as an autistic person, but sometimes in this book I genuinely couldn't wrap my head around why they did some stuff), the romance never worked for me at all (almost saying I love you like 24h after meeting someone... what in the alloromanticism is this)
Olivia was a bad friend the whole book. And it's addressed, but it still bothered me. Especially since there's then a big reveal the best friend was in love with her all along (she had plenty reasons to be mad at Olivia as friends, I don't know what the romantic feelings added, except Olivia seemed to take those more seriously? I wasn't a fan of the whole thing, but that's likely the aro talking once more).
Again, the whole live music setting wasn't for me. It was fun at times but when the characters got big feelings about it I was just like "sure, I believe you" haha
Nothing about this book was plain bad. I just probably shouldn't have picked it up for myself just because I enjoyed the author's other book. I usually avoid books with romance set over one day/a dew days, but I wanted to give this one a shot. It did not work out, I will remember that in the future.
This reads exactly like a gay Netflix original movie that gets a terrible spin off that no one watches.
But it was fun and had good queer and POC representation
But it was fun and had good queer and POC representation
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
I absolutely adored Johnson’s previous book, You Should See Me in a Crown and when I received this one in the mail, I was so excited that I sat down and read the whole thing, cover to cover, in one evening. I haven’t done that in ages! This story truly transported me to a music festival in Georgia and I didn’t want to leave. I LOVED this book even more than her first, and that’s saying a lot! Thank you so much to Scholastic for the advanced copy to review!