cornflowernights's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
It’s an easy read, for sure… but there’s no need for every 2-5 page chapter to finish with a sentence that could be found in a dish towel.
“I was done with my past; it was time to go after my future.”
“It was time for me to do things for me.”
“I was done with my past; it was time to go after my future.”
“It was time for me to do things for me.”
caytlynn's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I figured this would be some sort of fake dating trope or just like friends to lovers type of thing but I was definitely mistaken. There was a lot of cringey weird things our FMC did through out this book that was rough to push through. While I enjoyed the concept of her trying to make her ex jealous it was just done in a rough way. Then honestly making us like or just come to terms with Lissi just felt wrong. In the end she knew and even admitted to knowing about Cam and still went along with Marc’s shenanigans. Even if someone was really nice in general knowing they knew and went along and you still want to be friends just doesn’t sit right with me.
It was a fun little read with some well thought out points but still not what I look for in my romance like books.
It was a fun little read with some well thought out points but still not what I look for in my romance like books.
lisaluvsliterature's review against another edition
4.0
I was excited to try this one out. It seemed like it would be pretty cute. And really, it was cute. It kept me turning pages and smiling, and shaking my head at the crazy things that happened to Camryn. I loved when her friends decided to do a Bachelor style thing to find her a new guy. I loved that we don’t get the stereotypical characters, like mean girl cheerleaders. And that even the “other woman” wasn’t really necessarily an evil seductress that we have to hate. Other than the story being really cute, I guess I didn’t realize just how much of a “love story about friends” it was going to be. Because about halfway through, I saw it going that way, and I was disappointed, because I get it, friends are more important than boys. But when I read what I think is going to be a romance, I want a good romance. So it was not exactly the type of ending I was looking forward to. But it’s probably great for a YA book, and for young girls to read so they don’t think they have to have a boy to be happy.
Review first appeared on Lisa Loves Literature.
Review first appeared on Lisa Loves Literature.
lizanya_30's review against another edition
4.0
Me gusto la historia, solo que me canso un poco el pensamiento de Camryn pero la conclusión y su cambio al ver las cosas fue muy satisfactorio y me hizo llorar me sentí liberada.
EL MENSAJE ES MUY BUENO
Feminine power.
EL MENSAJE ES MUY BUENO
Feminine power.
books_over_everything's review against another edition
4.0
**Disclaimer: I was given a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.**
Title Finding Mr. Better-Than-You
Author Shani Petroff
Release Date January 14, 2020
Publisher Swoon Reads
Description from Amazon
Camryn has been dating Marc FOREVER—since freshman year! She dropped out of volleyball to go to all his games, switched her schedule around to be in his favorite class, and has been busting her butt to get into Columbia so they can go to the same college. So when Marc suddenly, and very publically, breaks up with her a week into their senior year so that he can date the new transfer student, she’s absolutely devastated.
But why be sad, when you can get even? Inspired by her favorite movies, Camryn decides that the best revenge is a Senior Year well lived, starring a boy who is ever so much better than her ex. With a little help from her friends, Cam is going to have the Best. Senior. Year. Ever.
Initial Thoughts
I was really excited to sign up for this tour. I love a good revenge story and this sounded like so much fun. It gave me all kinds of Mean Girls vibes and I love that movie.
Some Things I Liked
Mean Girls vibes. As stated above, I had a feeling this book would have some parallels to the hit comedy and I was right. From the main character who loses herself along the way to finding herself, to the art show this book gave me so many similar feelings to a movie that I’ve seen like a hundred times.
References on references on references. I loved that Cam’s favorite activities are watching rom-coms and reading. This made so much excellent room for this book to reference so many things that I love too. I love when the characters I’m reading about like the same things I do.
Finding yourself. This is a book that I wish I had read when I was Cam’s age. I had no idea what I wanted to do, what my interests were, or who I was at seventeen. Let’s be fair, I still don’t totally know and I’m twenty-seven now (but, I have a much better idea
Title Finding Mr. Better-Than-You
Author Shani Petroff
Release Date January 14, 2020
Publisher Swoon Reads
Description from Amazon
Camryn has been dating Marc FOREVER—since freshman year! She dropped out of volleyball to go to all his games, switched her schedule around to be in his favorite class, and has been busting her butt to get into Columbia so they can go to the same college. So when Marc suddenly, and very publically, breaks up with her a week into their senior year so that he can date the new transfer student, she’s absolutely devastated.
But why be sad, when you can get even? Inspired by her favorite movies, Camryn decides that the best revenge is a Senior Year well lived, starring a boy who is ever so much better than her ex. With a little help from her friends, Cam is going to have the Best. Senior. Year. Ever.
Initial Thoughts
I was really excited to sign up for this tour. I love a good revenge story and this sounded like so much fun. It gave me all kinds of Mean Girls vibes and I love that movie.
Some Things I Liked
Mean Girls vibes. As stated above, I had a feeling this book would have some parallels to the hit comedy and I was right. From the main character who loses herself along the way to finding herself, to the art show this book gave me so many similar feelings to a movie that I’ve seen like a hundred times.
References on references on references. I loved that Cam’s favorite activities are watching rom-coms and reading. This made so much excellent room for this book to reference so many things that I love too. I love when the characters I’m reading about like the same things I do.
Finding yourself. This is a book that I wish I had read when I was Cam’s age. I had no idea what I wanted to do, what my interests were, or who I was at seventeen. Let’s be fair, I still don’t totally know and I’m twenty-seven now (but, I have a much better idea
auburnedge's review against another edition
3.0
This was a very different novel than I was expecting. It took until they broke up for me to really be invested. Cam was a bit obsessive for me in the beginning. But after that I really enjoyed it. Cam coming into her own and really finding what she needs was the best part.
Stick with it until they break up and you will really enjoy what comes next.
Stick with it until they break up and you will really enjoy what comes next.
d_iris's review against another edition
1.0
Yeah there really isn't much to like about this book. It is uninspired, unsubtle, and redundant. And that's not even the unforgivable sin at play here. So what if the story is trite and unoriginal? Plenty of books with this same premise have merit and deserve praise, but that's because their authors infused their characters and story with life and personality. They believed in the story they were telling; convinced it had merit. This book felt as though no one believed in it, and so it is pretty much dead on arrival. Cam-the MC- is extraordinarily unlikable. The lessons she has to learn are so heavy handed and clumsy, with no nuance that you can't help but think that either A) the author didn't know how to convey what she wanted, or B) she thinks you're too dumb to figure it out yourself.
While reading I really couldn't shake the feeling that perhaps this story could've been salvageable had the author done something no one was expecting. Like have Cam befriend Lissi. Like have the two fall in love. I think the book could have yielded so much more had she just pushed the story along a little.
Sigh.
I really cannot get behind this mess. 1/5. Just...no.
While reading I really couldn't shake the feeling that perhaps this story could've been salvageable had the author done something no one was expecting. Like have Cam befriend Lissi. Like have the two fall in love. I think the book could have yielded so much more had she just pushed the story along a little.
Sigh.
I really cannot get behind this mess. 1/5. Just...no.
itsme_lori's review against another edition
3.0
This was not what I was expecting. It's an interesting idea to create a character who's such a big fan of rom-coms and have her star in a book that isn't a rom-com.
It was still very cute and a great book about friendship and finding yourself, especially after a breakup. But it was still very rom-commy but without an actual romance. Which doesn't really make sense, I know. But I don't really know how else to describe it. It's a story about loving yourself and not being who you think people want you to be and about the people who know you and love you anyway.
Maybe if I had been anticipating something different I would have been less confused by the abrupt ending but I just kept waiting for her to find the guy. It just seems like it's saying you can have all or nothing but not both. But you can. You can have great friends and know who you are and have a boyfriend/girlfriend who loves and supports you for who you are.
Maybe I just need some time and my thoughts will change. Maybe they won't. If you want a romance, this isn't it. If you want a finding-yourself book or a YA ode to friendships and self-reflection and women supporting women but in a fluffy sort of way, this is definitely the book for you.
It was still very cute and a great book about friendship and finding yourself, especially after a breakup. But it was still very rom-commy but without an actual romance. Which doesn't really make sense, I know. But I don't really know how else to describe it. It's a story about loving yourself and not being who you think people want you to be and about the people who know you and love you anyway.
Maybe if I had been anticipating something different I would have been less confused by the abrupt ending but I just kept waiting for her to find the guy. It just seems like it's saying you can have all or nothing but not both. But you can. You can have great friends and know who you are and have a boyfriend/girlfriend who loves and supports you for who you are.
Maybe I just need some time and my thoughts will change. Maybe they won't. If you want a romance, this isn't it. If you want a finding-yourself book or a YA ode to friendships and self-reflection and women supporting women but in a fluffy sort of way, this is definitely the book for you.
jbrooxd's review against another edition
3.0
[I received an electronic review copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.]
3.5 stars. This had a rocky start for me because I did NOT like Cam at all. I prefer characters who know their own minds and have some strength and sass to them. At the start, Cam was all about the boyfriend. She had given up her extracurriculars so she could be wherever he was. She pestered her counselor all summer to change her classes because she "wasn't going to spend her senior year without at least one class" with the boyfriend. The early chapters had all sorts of red flags for me. And it wasn't because the boyfriend was abusive or dictating those choices - that was just how Cam responded in the relationship. If I hadn't agreed to read this through Netgalley I probably would not have finished this.
I'm glad I pressed through because that seemed to be the whole point of the book - watching Cam find herself when the boyfriend she built her life around dumped her. But it took awhile - she did a lot of the same things in her next relationship, and it was frustrating to watch. But in the end she found herself again. She remembered how it felt to do things that were true to her personality, and she started choosing her own path instead of yielding to the path of the male voice in her life.
3.5 stars. This had a rocky start for me because I did NOT like Cam at all. I prefer characters who know their own minds and have some strength and sass to them. At the start, Cam was all about the boyfriend. She had given up her extracurriculars so she could be wherever he was. She pestered her counselor all summer to change her classes because she "wasn't going to spend her senior year without at least one class" with the boyfriend. The early chapters had all sorts of red flags for me. And it wasn't because the boyfriend was abusive or dictating those choices - that was just how Cam responded in the relationship. If I hadn't agreed to read this through Netgalley I probably would not have finished this.
I'm glad I pressed through because that seemed to be the whole point of the book - watching Cam find herself when the boyfriend she built her life around dumped her. But it took awhile - she did a lot of the same things in her next relationship, and it was frustrating to watch. But in the end she found herself again. She remembered how it felt to do things that were true to her personality, and she started choosing her own path instead of yielding to the path of the male voice in her life.
themoodreader's review against another edition
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0