scrollsofdragons's review against another edition
2.0
I liked it but some things annoyed me enough that I coudn't rate this higher.
Why was there a warning for strong language when there's stars covering every swearword, it was so annoying because I had to read the sentences over twice to try and figure out what swearword was hidden in place. Why? I hated it. If you're giving us strong language, give us it. Don't hide it. Don't warn me and then not put it in.
I wasn't too keen on the way the book was written and thought it could have been given more depth.
I didn't really feel for the characters or ship anyone.
I didn't like how some things were portrayed and I didn't like the author's representative of a sixteen year old girl.
But I did enjoy it.
Why was there a warning for strong language when there's stars covering every swearword, it was so annoying because I had to read the sentences over twice to try and figure out what swearword was hidden in place. Why? I hated it. If you're giving us strong language, give us it. Don't hide it. Don't warn me and then not put it in.
I wasn't too keen on the way the book was written and thought it could have been given more depth.
I didn't really feel for the characters or ship anyone.
I didn't like how some things were portrayed and I didn't like the author's representative of a sixteen year old girl.
But I did enjoy it.
eleanor_b99's review
dark
funny
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
4.0
fionnious's review against another edition
4.0
Read full review: https://fionntasticmrfox.wordpress.com/2015/09/03/book-review-all-of-the-above-by-james-dawson/
Having just moved to Brompton-on-Sea from ‘up North’, Toria is not expecting much from her last two years at school. The choices are, be invisible? Fall into the art crowd? Or just see where she lands?
Straight away, she is taken under the wing of the lovely, smiley Daisy, a girl in a unique friendship group that Toria quickly defines as the ‘weirdos’… in a way. Within this group are: Beasley, a boy obsessed with horror films and whom Toria is certain is supressing a considerable part of his sexuality; Freya, a bookworm who doesn’t say much or come up from her current read for air; Alex and Alice, quirky vintage-obsessed Instagramming couple; the unquestionable leader-of-the-pack Polly, bright haired, foul mouthed, and intense; and of course, Daisy.
This book was exactly what I expected from James Dawson, wonderfully written, sharp with its humour whilst also retaining the important issues surrounding teenage life, such as sexuality, mental illness and first loves. Don’t let this allow you to brush All of the Above to one side as ‘another one of those stories’ because it really is brilliant.
Throughout its narrative, Toria constantly refers to things as ‘before such-and-such happened’, which did make me anticipate a really trivial friend fall out over some boy or some girl. What happened though, was marvellous. It really made the book real and gave it an importance and soul to it. You really should read this book.
I found Toria a little irritating throughout the book, but when it finished I really understood why she needed to be like that. Her character development was amazing and Dawson should be applauded for that. In fact, that may be the thing I loved the most about AOTA, the characters really did grow through their school year and seemed far more developed by the end. Which I suppose is quite representative of 16/17 year olds in their first sixth form year.
I do have a complaint though, and again this might sound kind of trivial, I really do not like the cover art. The people on the cover do not look anything like the characters described, and I felt really let down by it. I don’t know what the idea of this was but the characters in the story seem far more unique, quirky and interesting than the model-esque teenagers on the cover of the book. Don’t get me wrong, the people are beautiful… but they didn’t portray the characters for me at all.
I realise I have not mentioned the love-triangle aspect of this book yet which is quite funny since it seems to be what the book is being sold on. I quite liked the character of Nico and I found his and Toria’s relationship really sweet and believable and loved how it all panned out. I don’t want to say too much without spoiling it… but yeah. I liked that craic.
If you are a YA reader and you like yourself a bit of #teenagedrams then definitely pick this up. Just a little trigger warning though… eating disorders, self-harm, depression… they happen, and it’s sad. But it’s worth it. It’s really good.
Cheers James for another amazing story to add to my James Dawson section of my bookshelf. You definitely did not disappoint.
Having just moved to Brompton-on-Sea from ‘up North’, Toria is not expecting much from her last two years at school. The choices are, be invisible? Fall into the art crowd? Or just see where she lands?
Straight away, she is taken under the wing of the lovely, smiley Daisy, a girl in a unique friendship group that Toria quickly defines as the ‘weirdos’… in a way. Within this group are: Beasley, a boy obsessed with horror films and whom Toria is certain is supressing a considerable part of his sexuality; Freya, a bookworm who doesn’t say much or come up from her current read for air; Alex and Alice, quirky vintage-obsessed Instagramming couple; the unquestionable leader-of-the-pack Polly, bright haired, foul mouthed, and intense; and of course, Daisy.
This book was exactly what I expected from James Dawson, wonderfully written, sharp with its humour whilst also retaining the important issues surrounding teenage life, such as sexuality, mental illness and first loves. Don’t let this allow you to brush All of the Above to one side as ‘another one of those stories’ because it really is brilliant.
Throughout its narrative, Toria constantly refers to things as ‘before such-and-such happened’, which did make me anticipate a really trivial friend fall out over some boy or some girl. What happened though, was marvellous. It really made the book real and gave it an importance and soul to it. You really should read this book.
I found Toria a little irritating throughout the book, but when it finished I really understood why she needed to be like that. Her character development was amazing and Dawson should be applauded for that. In fact, that may be the thing I loved the most about AOTA, the characters really did grow through their school year and seemed far more developed by the end. Which I suppose is quite representative of 16/17 year olds in their first sixth form year.
I do have a complaint though, and again this might sound kind of trivial, I really do not like the cover art. The people on the cover do not look anything like the characters described, and I felt really let down by it. I don’t know what the idea of this was but the characters in the story seem far more unique, quirky and interesting than the model-esque teenagers on the cover of the book. Don’t get me wrong, the people are beautiful… but they didn’t portray the characters for me at all.
I realise I have not mentioned the love-triangle aspect of this book yet which is quite funny since it seems to be what the book is being sold on. I quite liked the character of Nico and I found his and Toria’s relationship really sweet and believable and loved how it all panned out. I don’t want to say too much without spoiling it… but yeah. I liked that craic.
If you are a YA reader and you like yourself a bit of #teenagedrams then definitely pick this up. Just a little trigger warning though… eating disorders, self-harm, depression… they happen, and it’s sad. But it’s worth it. It’s really good.
Cheers James for another amazing story to add to my James Dawson section of my bookshelf. You definitely did not disappoint.
fnnbnjmnks's review against another edition
4.0
Read full review: https://fionntasticmrfox.wordpress.com/2015/09/03/book-review-all-of-the-above-by-james-dawson/
Having just moved to Brompton-on-Sea from ‘up North’, Toria is not expecting much from her last two years at school. The choices are, be invisible? Fall into the art crowd? Or just see where she lands?
Straight away, she is taken under the wing of the lovely, smiley Daisy, a girl in a unique friendship group that Toria quickly defines as the ‘weirdos’… in a way. Within this group are: Beasley, a boy obsessed with horror films and whom Toria is certain is supressing a considerable part of his sexuality; Freya, a bookworm who doesn’t say much or come up from her current read for air; Alex and Alice, quirky vintage-obsessed Instagramming couple; the unquestionable leader-of-the-pack Polly, bright haired, foul mouthed, and intense; and of course, Daisy.
This book was exactly what I expected from James Dawson, wonderfully written, sharp with its humour whilst also retaining the important issues surrounding teenage life, such as sexuality, mental illness and first loves. Don’t let this allow you to brush All of the Above to one side as ‘another one of those stories’ because it really is brilliant.
Throughout its narrative, Toria constantly refers to things as ‘before such-and-such happened’, which did make me anticipate a really trivial friend fall out over some boy or some girl. What happened though, was marvellous. It really made the book real and gave it an importance and soul to it. You really should read this book.
I found Toria a little irritating throughout the book, but when it finished I really understood why she needed to be like that. Her character development was amazing and Dawson should be applauded for that. In fact, that may be the thing I loved the most about AOTA, the characters really did grow through their school year and seemed far more developed by the end. Which I suppose is quite representative of 16/17 year olds in their first sixth form year.
I do have a complaint though, and again this might sound kind of trivial, I really do not like the cover art. The people on the cover do not look anything like the characters described, and I felt really let down by it. I don’t know what the idea of this was but the characters in the story seem far more unique, quirky and interesting than the model-esque teenagers on the cover of the book. Don’t get me wrong, the people are beautiful… but they didn’t portray the characters for me at all.
I realise I have not mentioned the love-triangle aspect of this book yet which is quite funny since it seems to be what the book is being sold on. I quite liked the character of Nico and I found his and Toria’s relationship really sweet and believable and loved how it all panned out. I don’t want to say too much without spoiling it… but yeah. I liked that craic.
If you are a YA reader and you like yourself a bit of #teenagedrams then definitely pick this up. Just a little trigger warning though… eating disorders, self-harm, depression… they happen, and it’s sad. But it’s worth it. It’s really good.
Cheers James for another amazing story to add to my James Dawson section of my bookshelf. You definitely did not disappoint.
Having just moved to Brompton-on-Sea from ‘up North’, Toria is not expecting much from her last two years at school. The choices are, be invisible? Fall into the art crowd? Or just see where she lands?
Straight away, she is taken under the wing of the lovely, smiley Daisy, a girl in a unique friendship group that Toria quickly defines as the ‘weirdos’… in a way. Within this group are: Beasley, a boy obsessed with horror films and whom Toria is certain is supressing a considerable part of his sexuality; Freya, a bookworm who doesn’t say much or come up from her current read for air; Alex and Alice, quirky vintage-obsessed Instagramming couple; the unquestionable leader-of-the-pack Polly, bright haired, foul mouthed, and intense; and of course, Daisy.
This book was exactly what I expected from James Dawson, wonderfully written, sharp with its humour whilst also retaining the important issues surrounding teenage life, such as sexuality, mental illness and first loves. Don’t let this allow you to brush All of the Above to one side as ‘another one of those stories’ because it really is brilliant.
Throughout its narrative, Toria constantly refers to things as ‘before such-and-such happened’, which did make me anticipate a really trivial friend fall out over some boy or some girl. What happened though, was marvellous. It really made the book real and gave it an importance and soul to it. You really should read this book.
I found Toria a little irritating throughout the book, but when it finished I really understood why she needed to be like that. Her character development was amazing and Dawson should be applauded for that. In fact, that may be the thing I loved the most about AOTA, the characters really did grow through their school year and seemed far more developed by the end. Which I suppose is quite representative of 16/17 year olds in their first sixth form year.
I do have a complaint though, and again this might sound kind of trivial, I really do not like the cover art. The people on the cover do not look anything like the characters described, and I felt really let down by it. I don’t know what the idea of this was but the characters in the story seem far more unique, quirky and interesting than the model-esque teenagers on the cover of the book. Don’t get me wrong, the people are beautiful… but they didn’t portray the characters for me at all.
I realise I have not mentioned the love-triangle aspect of this book yet which is quite funny since it seems to be what the book is being sold on. I quite liked the character of Nico and I found his and Toria’s relationship really sweet and believable and loved how it all panned out. I don’t want to say too much without spoiling it… but yeah. I liked that craic.
If you are a YA reader and you like yourself a bit of #teenagedrams then definitely pick this up. Just a little trigger warning though… eating disorders, self-harm, depression… they happen, and it’s sad. But it’s worth it. It’s really good.
Cheers James for another amazing story to add to my James Dawson section of my bookshelf. You definitely did not disappoint.
ocylou's review against another edition
4.0
Loved the characters and their interaction with each other. Really good story.
whatvictoriaread's review against another edition
emotional
funny
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
booksrlush_'s review against another edition
3.0
Essentially a story about friends, but it’s also about a lot of other things,too. That was the overall issue, so many problems were breezed over no particular one was looked at in any real depth and this was to the books pearl. There were parts I loved though, like how everyone hung out at the local crazy-golf course, The intersectional diversity – Toria is half-Indian and bisexual, Toria is sexually active, has been sexually active before we get to know her as a character, and completely owns it. The lack of labels. This is realistic, as a lot of people don’t feel the need to expressly define their sexual orientation. To see a whole cast of queer characters was refreshing.
The problems was with following a cast of characters you have to be sure they add something. I think Alex and Alice could have disappeared without noticing. I wish we got more in to Dasiys character because I would have liked more of a connection with her. Nico wasn’t really deep we got a few lines making him more deep I wasn’t really rooting for his ship. I liked Polly, she was a stronger character only when she swore it was writing in stars, It was so ******* frustrating. I kept trying to figure out the fucking word haha.
Overall enjoyable but didn’t blow me away like this author writing usually does. If your looking for a Diverse YA contemporary, with a more serious tone then you should try it you might love it.
The problems was with following a cast of characters you have to be sure they add something. I think Alex and Alice could have disappeared without noticing. I wish we got more in to Dasiys character because I would have liked more of a connection with her. Nico wasn’t really deep we got a few lines making him more deep I wasn’t really rooting for his ship. I liked Polly, she was a stronger character only when she swore it was writing in stars, It was so ******* frustrating. I kept trying to figure out the fucking word haha.
Overall enjoyable but didn’t blow me away like this author writing usually does. If your looking for a Diverse YA contemporary, with a more serious tone then you should try it you might love it.
bookishdaydreaming's review against another edition
2.5
I went in circles with my opinion on this. I loved the message and the representation but I think it still felt too childish for me (There's YA and then there's another level). In general I think I'm not a fan of the breaking-the-fourth-wall in books and so I was just continuously taken out of it.
lty88's review
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
felix_1234's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75