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burstnwithbooks's review against another edition
5.0
The idea for this book was so unique and I loved the way it played out! I was especially happy with who she ended up with and how it happened. Fantastic read!
alexperc_92's review against another edition
4.0
Funny and sweet! If you loved Dreamology, you'll enjoy this one too!
hijinx_abound's review against another edition
2.0
Really cute concept. An author and a main character battle for control of the story. Many authors talk about characters taking over stories so it was interesting to see one authors battle written out.
I enjoyed the story and the characters but it fell a bit flat for me.
I enjoyed the story and the characters but it fell a bit flat for me.
picsnbooks18's review
3.0
Love triangle romance that the main character knows she is a character in the book!! Like 3/4 of the book the final quarter I did not like.
emjrasmussen's review against another edition
Literally disappointed me a bit. :( The meta-ness is pretty interesting, but underneath that, the plot is just your basic love triangle that doesn't have much going for it. The characters feel a little flat (which was maybe the point, but it didn't work well for me), and I'd probably have lost interest if the book wasn't so short. Overall a quick, light read, but not one that really captivated me.
leacallida's review against another edition
3.0
(3,5/5)
Un roman léger, frais et pourtant original qui parvient à nous tenir en haleine le long de l’histoire ! J’ai beaucoup aimé l’ambiance et les personnages.
Rien de très surprenant, mais un très bon moment de lecture.
Un roman léger, frais et pourtant original qui parvient à nous tenir en haleine le long de l’histoire ! J’ai beaucoup aimé l’ambiance et les personnages.
Rien de très surprenant, mais un très bon moment de lecture.
chrissireads's review against another edition
3.0
I had heard so many things about this book that I knew it was one that I wanted to read. Being a book blogger though there are so, so many books that I want to get to it. I finally found time for Literally though and I’m glad I’ve read it. I can see that it would appeal to loads of readers, especially fans of YA.
Literally centres around Annabelle who has always been pretty perfect. She’s clever and well liked. However, one day she finds out that bestselling YA author Lucy Keating (yes, the author) is writing the story of her life. Annabelle doesn’t want to live her life plotted by an author. She wants to live her own life. Annabelle’s life has become drama filled with her family home being sold, her parents’ separation and a love triangle. It really does seem like Annabelle’s life is right out of a YA novel.
This was such a strange book, but different at the same time. I’m not quite sure whether I think the author being in this book is cringy or cool. Sometimes I thought it was genius and other times it seemed a little awkward. I’m sure it was meant in a tongue-in-cheek way. I think the Lucy Keating in this book was an exaggerated version of herself.
At the heart of it, Literally really is your typical YA story. It’s love triangle, romance and drama galore. If that’s what you want in a book, then you’re in for a treat with this one. I did enjoy this book, especially for the risk that Lucy Keating took in writing herself into the story.
Literally centres around Annabelle who has always been pretty perfect. She’s clever and well liked. However, one day she finds out that bestselling YA author Lucy Keating (yes, the author) is writing the story of her life. Annabelle doesn’t want to live her life plotted by an author. She wants to live her own life. Annabelle’s life has become drama filled with her family home being sold, her parents’ separation and a love triangle. It really does seem like Annabelle’s life is right out of a YA novel.
This was such a strange book, but different at the same time. I’m not quite sure whether I think the author being in this book is cringy or cool. Sometimes I thought it was genius and other times it seemed a little awkward. I’m sure it was meant in a tongue-in-cheek way. I think the Lucy Keating in this book was an exaggerated version of herself.
At the heart of it, Literally really is your typical YA story. It’s love triangle, romance and drama galore. If that’s what you want in a book, then you’re in for a treat with this one. I did enjoy this book, especially for the risk that Lucy Keating took in writing herself into the story.
liralen's review against another edition
3.0
Warning: spoilers below the fold.
What do you do when you learn that your life has been scripted for you? Do you keep following the script? Or do you do everything you can to break the mold?
In Literally, Annabelle learns the unthinkable: her life is not her own. Rather, she's the character in a novel by a popular author...a novel that will almost certainly have a happy ending. She'll get the perfect guy and go off to the perfect college with an implication that everything will be happy forever.
But Annabelle doesn't want this life. Or, she does and she doesn't: she wants her perfect life, which the author has written for her, but she doesn't want the hardships being thrown her way (e.g., her parents divorcing; losing her childhood home), and she doesn't think she wants the 'perfect boy' who's been cast as the romantic lead. She wants the bad-boy-next-door. She wants to make her own decisions. So she resolves to find the author and stop her.
It's fun and it's cute, and yet it leaves me frustrated. Why? (This is where we get deep into spoiler territory. Be warned.) Because it all comes down to boys. Ultimately the only thing Annabelle cares about in terms of writing her own story is which boy she ends up with. She doesn't want to find a way to make her perfect parents, who have always been happy together, stay together. She doesn't want to examine her interests and learn whether Columbia and journalism (which the author has written into her future) are right for her. She doesn't want to look around her bedroom and wonder if her clothing is really her style, or if her friends should really be her friends, or if she should, I don't know, ditch both boys and take a year off from college and go live in a yurt. No...she only cares about which boy she ends up with in her scripted-perfect life. She wants to break the YA mold.
Here's the funny thing, though: the unsuitable boy? The one she wants to end up with, who the author thinks is wrong for her? He's the exact guy that half the standard YA heroines end up with anyway. Like...he can be taken either way. He can be read as The Bad Boy The Heroine Has A Thing For Before Finding The Perfect Guy, or he can be read as The Bad Boy Who's Secretly A Good Boy And Totally Right For Her Once She Learns That The Perfect Guy Is Actually A Tool. (The perfect guy's not a tool here, but whatever, considering that in most of life, it's not a question of 'should I go for the tool or the good guy?' YA is weird sometimes.) She still wants the happily-ever-after.
I love the concept, but I wanted it to go a hundred times further: have Annabelle actually break the mold. Have her decide that she doesn't need the happy ending, that it's okay if she only dates the bad-boy-next-door for five minutes before he moves on to the next girl as long as that means she'll be making her own decisions and mistakes. Have her look at the clichés that make up her life and find a way to dismantle them. Who is Annabelle when her trajectory is not predetermined? By the end of the book, we don't yet know.
I received a free copy of this book via a Goodreads giveaway.
What do you do when you learn that your life has been scripted for you? Do you keep following the script? Or do you do everything you can to break the mold?
In Literally, Annabelle learns the unthinkable: her life is not her own. Rather, she's the character in a novel by a popular author...a novel that will almost certainly have a happy ending. She'll get the perfect guy and go off to the perfect college with an implication that everything will be happy forever.
But Annabelle doesn't want this life. Or, she does and she doesn't: she wants her perfect life, which the author has written for her, but she doesn't want the hardships being thrown her way (e.g., her parents divorcing; losing her childhood home), and she doesn't think she wants the 'perfect boy' who's been cast as the romantic lead. She wants the bad-boy-next-door. She wants to make her own decisions. So she resolves to find the author and stop her.
It's fun and it's cute, and yet it leaves me frustrated. Why? (This is where we get deep into spoiler territory. Be warned.) Because it all comes down to boys. Ultimately the only thing Annabelle cares about in terms of writing her own story is which boy she ends up with. She doesn't want to find a way to make her perfect parents, who have always been happy together, stay together. She doesn't want to examine her interests and learn whether Columbia and journalism (which the author has written into her future) are right for her. She doesn't want to look around her bedroom and wonder if her clothing is really her style, or if her friends should really be her friends, or if she should, I don't know, ditch both boys and take a year off from college and go live in a yurt. No...she only cares about which boy she ends up with in her scripted-perfect life. She wants to break the YA mold.
Here's the funny thing, though: the unsuitable boy? The one she wants to end up with, who the author thinks is wrong for her? He's the exact guy that half the standard YA heroines end up with anyway. Like...he can be taken either way. He can be read as The Bad Boy The Heroine Has A Thing For Before Finding The Perfect Guy, or he can be read as The Bad Boy Who's Secretly A Good Boy And Totally Right For Her Once She Learns That The Perfect Guy Is Actually A Tool. (The perfect guy's not a tool here, but whatever, considering that in most of life, it's not a question of 'should I go for the tool or the good guy?' YA is weird sometimes.) She still wants the happily-ever-after.
I love the concept, but I wanted it to go a hundred times further: have Annabelle actually break the mold. Have her decide that she doesn't need the happy ending, that it's okay if she only dates the bad-boy-next-door for five minutes before he moves on to the next girl as long as that means she'll be making her own decisions and mistakes. Have her look at the clichés that make up her life and find a way to dismantle them. Who is Annabelle when her trajectory is not predetermined? By the end of the book, we don't yet know.
I received a free copy of this book via a Goodreads giveaway.
snchard's review against another edition
1.0
DNF at 65%
Just a bad YA love triangle rendition of Stranger Than Fiction.
Just a bad YA love triangle rendition of Stranger Than Fiction.