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marmaladereads's review against another edition
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
If this book was a song, it would be the Rolling Stones, "You can't always get what you want..."
So I will start this off by saying this is not a romance. Despite the synopsis and the strong romantic subplot, I think romance readers would be exceptionally frustrated with this book. I do recommend reading it as a coming of age book instead, and found it very enjoyable from that point of view.
The book follows Tommy (all the names in this book are pretty terrible, in my personal opinion) as he tries to navigate the college admissions process, figure out the rest of his life, and maybe finally get a boyfriend. In typical teenage fashion, he's maybe a bit more concerned with the last one rather than the first two, and generally seems completely overwhelmed by... well, everything.
Tommy has a pretty concrete life plan for himself, and can't imagine himself deviating from it. When he suddenly finds himself working with Gabe, his first crush from when he was 11, and finds out that Gabe's dream school is in the same city as Tommy's dream school, he imagines a future where they realize they're soulmates, fall in love, go to college together, build a life with a dog and three kids, etc. etc. Of course, life has other plans. Throughout the book, Tommy learns that deviating from the set plan can be freeing, not limiting, and that hyper-focusing on one option can make you blind to others that might be better for you. The book also features a great cast of accompanying characters, including residents at the retirement community where Tommy works and the other teenaged employees.
I think this book does a great job of capturing that feeling of overwhelm that accompanies trying to figure out the rest of your life as a young adult. No one has anything perfectly figured out, even when it seems like they do, and it turns out that everyone in the book is kind of a hot mess in the end. I enjoyed it immensely.
More spoilery thoughts ahead -->
I think what makes this book work is the fact that, after Gabe and Tommy both behave pretty horribly, they *don't end up together.* If they had gotten a HEA despite the cheating plot and Gabe being a total asshole it would've been a very different book, and really would not have worked for me. But the fact that Tommy recognizes that Gabe behaved like an asshole and that they both deserved better really went far to redeem things for me. This is the opposite of what happened in [book: The Breakup Lists] and why I enjoyed that book far less despite these two books having very similar themes.
So I will start this off by saying this is not a romance. Despite the synopsis and the strong romantic subplot, I think romance readers would be exceptionally frustrated with this book. I do recommend reading it as a coming of age book instead, and found it very enjoyable from that point of view.
The book follows Tommy (all the names in this book are pretty terrible, in my personal opinion) as he tries to navigate the college admissions process, figure out the rest of his life, and maybe finally get a boyfriend. In typical teenage fashion, he's maybe a bit more concerned with the last one rather than the first two, and generally seems completely overwhelmed by... well, everything.
Tommy has a pretty concrete life plan for himself, and can't imagine himself deviating from it. When he suddenly finds himself working with Gabe, his first crush from when he was 11, and finds out that Gabe's dream school is in the same city as Tommy's dream school, he imagines a future where they realize they're soulmates, fall in love, go to college together, build a life with a dog and three kids, etc. etc. Of course, life has other plans. Throughout the book, Tommy learns that deviating from the set plan can be freeing, not limiting, and that hyper-focusing on one option can make you blind to others that might be better for you. The book also features a great cast of accompanying characters, including residents at the retirement community where Tommy works and the other teenaged employees.
I think this book does a great job of capturing that feeling of overwhelm that accompanies trying to figure out the rest of your life as a young adult. No one has anything perfectly figured out, even when it seems like they do, and it turns out that everyone in the book is kind of a hot mess in the end. I enjoyed it immensely.
More spoilery thoughts ahead -->
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Infidelity and Death of parent
Minor: Suicide