sarful's review against another edition
1.0
I wanted to love this book, but to my chagrin, I was just not a fan.
First off it’s rife with clichés, and yet it strives to be above all that. It strives to be unique and individual, to knock down stereotypes and see beyond the facade. It didn’t.
Second, Rachel is a bully. No matter how many times the author gives excuses as to why she is, it never justifies how she treats Sana nor anyone else for that matter. There seemed no real reason why Sana still wanted Rachel.
Third, the author seems to live in LA, but it reads like someone’s idea of LA. They go to out of the way places or smack into small shops near touristy areas. They go from the valley to Echo Park for “the best Thai”, despite the fact that’s there’s so much good Thai in the valley. But, the thing that really annoyed me is Rachel bitches and moans about what a terrible place she lives, in Palms. From how she describes it, “where dreams go to die”, I’d expect a legit ghetto. Palms is emphatically not a ghetto nor a bad place, at all. It’s a nice residential spot where many college kids live, literally right next door to Culver City, where Sony Pictures is! Sigh. And when Rachel gets excited about NYU for film school she cites that finally she’ll be in a city where film is taken seriously. To which a few chapters later she’s on the set talking to a female director she admires, in the city that apparently doesn’t take film seriously, in LA.
Plus it took too long for the two to become more than tentative friends. Oh and Rachel goes to a piercing shop with Sana to get one ear pierced. One. And the guy uses a needle without numbing her ear first, instead of a piercing gun like any other place. That was odd.
There’s probably more that frustrated me if I think about it, but this is enough. My expectations were most likely too high going into it.
First off it’s rife with clichés, and yet it strives to be above all that. It strives to be unique and individual, to knock down stereotypes and see beyond the facade. It didn’t.
Second, Rachel is a bully. No matter how many times the author gives excuses as to why she is, it never justifies how she treats Sana nor anyone else for that matter. There seemed no real reason why Sana still wanted Rachel.
Third, the author seems to live in LA, but it reads like someone’s idea of LA. They go to out of the way places or smack into small shops near touristy areas. They go from the valley to Echo Park for “the best Thai”, despite the fact that’s there’s so much good Thai in the valley. But, the thing that really annoyed me is Rachel bitches and moans about what a terrible place she lives, in Palms. From how she describes it, “where dreams go to die”, I’d expect a legit ghetto. Palms is emphatically not a ghetto nor a bad place, at all. It’s a nice residential spot where many college kids live, literally right next door to Culver City, where Sony Pictures is! Sigh. And when Rachel gets excited about NYU for film school she cites that finally she’ll be in a city where film is taken seriously. To which a few chapters later she’s on the set talking to a female director she admires, in the city that apparently doesn’t take film seriously, in LA.
Plus it took too long for the two to become more than tentative friends. Oh and Rachel goes to a piercing shop with Sana to get one ear pierced. One. And the guy uses a needle without numbing her ear first, instead of a piercing gun like any other place. That was odd.
There’s probably more that frustrated me if I think about it, but this is enough. My expectations were most likely too high going into it.
thegloomyreader's review against another edition
1.0
Almost DNFd this. It was an absolute chore to get through.
dlberglund's review against another edition
4.0
4.5 stars.
Sweet, wonderful story of two head-strong seniors in high school, "enemies"(one sided, based on a complete misunderstanding) who are forced to complete a project together so that Rachel can graduate (and get a scholarship to NYU). The perspective shifts between the two girls, though the purity of this was a little inconsistent. Both are stubborn, strong, and breakable, with three dimensional families and inner lives.
Sweet, wonderful story of two head-strong seniors in high school, "enemies"(one sided, based on a complete misunderstanding) who are forced to complete a project together so that Rachel can graduate (and get a scholarship to NYU). The perspective shifts between the two girls, though the purity of this was a little inconsistent. Both are stubborn, strong, and breakable, with three dimensional families and inner lives.
mappyboi431's review
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
This book took a little bit to get going, but I really liked the couple dynamic and their individual personalities! I feel like the miscommunication/lack of communication that happened brought it down from being a higher rating for me.
smileyghost's review against another edition
2.0
Ditching this book at pg 88. A quick critique:
- Flat characters
- Unrealistic dialogue ("Get off me, you purveyor of benevolent sexism!")
- Baseless, shallow plot (the whole reason Rachel hates Sana after FOUR YEARS at the same school is because Sana asked her out and she thought it was a prank. Also, Sana is "too pretty" and "too perfect." That's literally it.)
- Diverse casts are okay. Forcing it upon the reader, bringing it up every time you can, serves for a stiff, annoying read. At one point, Rachel says this: "By that point Sana had turned with her stack of books in hand and walked off to whatever class required eight billion textbooks the size of the Torah and the Talmud put together." The Torah is a part of the Talmud, and that book is not really that thick. There was also an entire chapter devoted to how strict Sana's Indian family is. It's fine to have a cast with diverse backgrounds, but this makes the characters borderline cliches.
- If you're going to have mini chapters switch back and forth from each character's point of view, along with a constant stream of each character's inner monologue, please, please just write in first person for each character.
I've read plenty of YA that I've absolutely loved, even if the book had simpler writing. This book was just straight up bad writing.
- Flat characters
- Unrealistic dialogue ("Get off me, you purveyor of benevolent sexism!")
- Baseless, shallow plot (the whole reason Rachel hates Sana after FOUR YEARS at the same school is because Sana asked her out and she thought it was a prank. Also, Sana is "too pretty" and "too perfect." That's literally it.)
- Diverse casts are okay. Forcing it upon the reader, bringing it up every time you can, serves for a stiff, annoying read. At one point, Rachel says this: "By that point Sana had turned with her stack of books in hand and walked off to whatever class required eight billion textbooks the size of the Torah and the Talmud put together." The Torah is a part of the Talmud, and that book is not really that thick. There was also an entire chapter devoted to how strict Sana's Indian family is. It's fine to have a cast with diverse backgrounds, but this makes the characters borderline cliches.
- If you're going to have mini chapters switch back and forth from each character's point of view, along with a constant stream of each character's inner monologue, please, please just write in first person for each character.
I've read plenty of YA that I've absolutely loved, even if the book had simpler writing. This book was just straight up bad writing.
cherryswift's review against another edition
4.0
Would have given 5 stars if not for the underwhelming ending.
summerlebel's review
5.0
I have not looked at the reviews, but I'm going to go ahead and guess that a bunch of them start really cheesy with lines like "I'll tell you how I really feel about this book" or "How I really feel is..." so I am definitely not going to start my review like that...
Except oh my god, how I really feel is that the world needs more books like this. Thanks to the online popularity of slash pairings, we have certainly seen a much-needed uptick in queer YA/NA books featuring gay male leads (though still far, far fewer than there should be when you consider how big the YA/NA market is). That's fantastic, more of that please. However, probably due in part to an avoidance of the constant lesbian fetishization so prevalent in straight male culture, the YA/NA world is sorely lacking in sapphic delights.
This book delivers some much-needed goodness into the world and I will not stop until everyone else is singing its praises. This is one of those books that I'm disappointed I can't enjoy for the first time all over again.
Except oh my god, how I really feel is that the world needs more books like this. Thanks to the online popularity of slash pairings, we have certainly seen a much-needed uptick in queer YA/NA books featuring gay male leads (though still far, far fewer than there should be when you consider how big the YA/NA market is). That's fantastic, more of that please. However, probably due in part to an avoidance of the constant lesbian fetishization so prevalent in straight male culture, the YA/NA world is sorely lacking in sapphic delights.
This book delivers some much-needed goodness into the world and I will not stop until everyone else is singing its praises. This is one of those books that I'm disappointed I can't enjoy for the first time all over again.
jimmothy's review against another edition
2.0
Had to ditch the book because I got so fed up about Rachel‘s movie being about the Odyssee when it was the Illiad? Also calling that one of the biggest pieces of english literature,,,, I‘m like what??? First Rachel was a very weird character who first screamed about others being sexist and then was like „all pretty women are bad people“. It‘s hard to see any good qualities because she‘s just angry and mean to everyone she interacts with. The whole enemies to lovers trope couldn‘t have been done with a dumber misunderstanding?? Sana was okay for the most part but the more I read the more Sana just became Rory Gilmore. Single mom got pregnant early and the dad went elsewhere to work. Her grandparents didn‘t want to have anything to do with them but know they‘re involved because of Sana again and they have their weekly dinners plus Sana‘s
mum and grandma have a pretty bad relationship. And Sana struggles to be the picture perfect daughter (where one could think the pressure shouldn‘t be that high because her mum kind of is the black sheep?). One star for it being gay and another one for Rachel not liking Tarantino but honestly that‘s the best I can do. The girls have no chemistry and I don‘t get why they‘re going on movie dates when they supposedly a) hate each other b) Sana already knows the classics and c) they kind of have a deadline for the movie??
mum and grandma have a pretty bad relationship. And Sana struggles to be the picture perfect daughter (where one could think the pressure shouldn‘t be that high because her mum kind of is the black sheep?). One star for it being gay and another one for Rachel not liking Tarantino but honestly that‘s the best I can do. The girls have no chemistry and I don‘t get why they‘re going on movie dates when they supposedly a) hate each other b) Sana already knows the classics and c) they kind of have a deadline for the movie??
julienbakerstan69's review against another edition
2.0
cute!! didnt love the writing style but i Love a f/f romance however i can get it