The design and UX isn't done, Rob and Abbie, okkurrrr! š
gbookly's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual assault, Alcoholism, Gaslighting, Death of parent, Acephobia/Arophobia, and Alcohol
rupanjali's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Alcohol, and Acephobia/Arophobia
Moderate: Death of parent
ismildlypoetic's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
relaxing
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? It's complicated
4.0
Four stars = I loved the book!!! (i just haven't hyperfixated... yet)
I was initially drawn to the book because it was advertised as an asexual romance with spice level: milk. I do think this is true to its word! But that description leaves out that it's also a story foremost of friendship, found family, and the inner healing of my own (incredibly lonely) first year of college life.
Spencer's stubbornness mixed perfectly with Nick's inability to think of anything else except this girl, and Jocelyn and Hunter were such amazing characters.
The only thing I didn't love was the Sam plotline, but that's 90% because I didn't enjoy Spencer going through that, and only 10% of the violence interacting with spice level: milk was so jarring. But looking back, it very much fits within the story, and corrective rape very much is something that happens in the ace community.
Anyways, I would very much recommend. Please read. And I'll be preordering the author's next book the second it grazes upon my Insta feed <3
I was initially drawn to the book because it was advertised as an asexual romance with spice level: milk. I do think this is true to its word! But that description leaves out that it's also a story foremost of friendship, found family, and the inner healing of my own (incredibly lonely) first year of college life.
Anyways, I would very much recommend. Please read. And I'll be preordering the author's next book the second it grazes upon my Insta feed <3
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Acephobia/Arophobia and Alcoholism
Minor: Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Blood, Vomit, and Death of parent
SA is a major theme in this book, from minor descriptions such asa10a's review against another edition
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
ā¤ļøāš©¹
Content Warnings
Graphic: Acephobia/Arophobia, Alcohol, and Sexual assault
dogoodwithbooks's review
funny
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
3.5/5 (rounded down to 3)
CW: acephobia, attempted sexual violence, sexual harassment, abusive parent (mentioned), unplanned pregnancy (recounted), armed robbery (recounted), murder (recounted), death of both parents (recounted), ableism, emotional abuse/gaslighting, blood, alcoholism, emesis
College is going surprisingly well for Spencer so far. She has two great friends, Reese and Hunter, and she ends up with a go-to study partner, Nick, and coffee shop to hang out in. Yet, in the midst of her freshman year at Ravens College, she goes through a journey of self-discovery and possibly falling for Nick.
I had high hopes for This Doesn't Mean Anything, but I don't think my expectations for the book were fully met.
Yes, the book is long. At over 450 pages, readers find themselves going through Spencer's first year of college right to the very end. While I'm find with the length and duration of the plot (I mean Alice Osman's Loveless has a similar concept to it), the pacing felt off. While the pacing for the first half of the book felt slow and you could clearly see which part of the semester the characters were in (although I thought there were some parts that were dragged out for the sake of it, the second half of the book kind of just rushed in there. I just wished the pacing was a little bit more consistent for both halves of the book.
Additionally, I noticed Whalen does a lot of "tell, not show" in the book. For example, Spencer finding out that she's asexual is rarely touched upon in the book. All that was said is that Spencer went online and figured out she was asexual. I feel like Whalen could have had something really meaningful if we actually got to see Spencer's thought process during her search and realizing that she is asexual. I could name other examples of the "tell, not show", but this was the only one I remember vividly when reading This Doesn't Mean Anything.
That's not to say there isn't anything good about this book and that you shouldn't read it. Personally, I like the whole navigating through college setting and I think that Whalen did a great job with creating a core friend group: Spencer, Reese, Hunter, Nick, & Joselyn (even if the excessive pet names were weird). I also thought Spencer and Nick had a good relationship and you could see that Nick really cared about Spencer (in his own way).
Overall, Whalen provides an alright debut with This Doesn't Mean Anything. I think that Whalen has some potential in this title (as well as her subsequent series) and I know that with the right editor she can get there in future books.
CW: acephobia, attempted sexual violence, sexual harassment, abusive parent (mentioned), unplanned pregnancy (recounted), armed robbery (recounted), murder (recounted), death of both parents (recounted), ableism, emotional abuse/gaslighting, blood, alcoholism, emesis
College is going surprisingly well for Spencer so far. She has two great friends, Reese and Hunter, and she ends up with a go-to study partner, Nick, and coffee shop to hang out in. Yet, in the midst of her freshman year at Ravens College, she goes through a journey of self-discovery and possibly falling for Nick.
I had high hopes for This Doesn't Mean Anything, but I don't think my expectations for the book were fully met.
Yes, the book is long. At over 450 pages, readers find themselves going through Spencer's first year of college right to the very end. While I'm find with the length and duration of the plot (I mean Alice Osman's Loveless has a similar concept to it), the pacing felt off. While the pacing for the first half of the book felt slow and you could clearly see which part of the semester the characters were in (although I thought there were some parts that were dragged out for the sake of it, the second half of the book kind of just rushed in there. I just wished the pacing was a little bit more consistent for both halves of the book.
Additionally, I noticed Whalen does a lot of "tell, not show" in the book. For example, Spencer finding out that she's asexual is rarely touched upon in the book. All that was said is that Spencer went online and figured out she was asexual. I feel like Whalen could have had something really meaningful if we actually got to see Spencer's thought process during her search and realizing that she is asexual. I could name other examples of the "tell, not show", but this was the only one I remember vividly when reading This Doesn't Mean Anything.
That's not to say there isn't anything good about this book and that you shouldn't read it. Personally, I like the whole navigating through college setting and I think that Whalen did a great job with creating a core friend group: Spencer, Reese, Hunter, Nick, & Joselyn (even if the excessive pet names were weird). I also thought Spencer and Nick had a good relationship and you could see that Nick really cared about Spencer (in his own way).
Overall, Whalen provides an alright debut with This Doesn't Mean Anything. I think that Whalen has some potential in this title (as well as her subsequent series) and I know that with the right editor she can get there in future books.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Acephobia/Arophobia, Ableism, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, and Vomit
Moderate: Death of parent, Murder, Alcoholism, Blood, and Gaslighting
seilahuh's review against another edition
challenging
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
2.0
if the author ever reads this, listen to me: you desperately need to know that anybody who told you during the writing process they loved the story thoroughly, and it was 5 stars and flawless and nothing else has lied to you, they are not trustworthy people and they are actively sabotaging you. they have sabotaged you dearly with this story. you needed honest beta readers, your book needed so much more love and revisions. as it is you've presented bones rather than a semblance of a meal to people like me starved for the queer representation you promised.Ā
first, let's get technical: the story desperately needed an editor. if it had one, axe them.Ā
so many words, phrases, sentences and scenes were terribly redundant. the length of the story is less related to the content of the story itself but more the fact that it's so long-winded because of repetition, despite having little to say. i read the word scowl and all its derivatives 86 times. for snapped it was 113 TIMES, and it was nearly on EVERY page past the 156 page mark. that should *never* happen in a story, especially when it hinders characterization. it truly spoiled the reading experience. at some point it became clear these words and phrases, misused in many scenarios, and all the redundant scowls, snapping, knuckle rapping, pillow throwing, movie watching, and take out food were meant to be characterization in themselves. and it fell flat.Ā
every character is essentially the same and simultaneously a terrible clichƩ. they are archetypal, the pretty dolled up girl-friend, the patronizing boyfriend, the not like other girls fmc; they are not people i can care for. who were they outside of that, i don't know.
the use of third person perspective here could've elaborated on the nature of theĀ characters, but it doesn't. again, there's just scowls, snaps, knuckle rapping, pillow throwing, movies, and take out food.Ā
to be less formal, what i really couldn't get over is this book is not the ace rep it purports itself to be, nor is it really queer nor lgbt, which is shocking considering the author's identity. these labels have *meanings* and draw specific audiences (like me āš½) expecting a certain thing when it's promised. aside from the technical issues, that's what made this book so unenjoyable and hard to slug through. it delivers on none of this meaningfully.Ā
for one, our ace fmc from the beginning of the story who is supposed to have a *disinterest in sex* manages to make every interaction awkward on the basis of adding a sexual subtext that the 3rd person perspective elucidates to us is not there (the "see something you like" comment haunts me). every interaction became weird and unbearable for me to read. you can't hug somebody without thinking about sex or romance? like everything is related back to there and it was annoying because i thought the no-sex character, ace lead would be ASIDE FROM THAT. i could understand this behavior from the allo characters, but again, they weren't the ones mostly pushing it.
as for the queer rep, nick is bi or whateva and is who the lgbt is mostly referring to as he's most prominent in the story (aside from the ace yet hetero? fmc) but he's never actually engaging with men or demonstrating why it's necessary to outline him specifically as "openly bi" when he just gave toxic straight man (contrary to the "sunshine" character he was said to be). and the nonbinary black character is just a convenient "plot" vehicle for the main character to get in a situation where the mmc could rescue her. when i say the book isn't queer, i also mean that most depressingly it defaults on all the cishetero boring and sexist tropes.
chelsea is the simple whore who only exists to drive a wedge between the main couple, nick is a #good guy despite being an ASSHOLE, and worst of all the story uses instances of near sexual assault to set up situations for the cis man to be the dazzling hero. he is always the hero and our lead the weak damsel. but she's stubborn you might say? or strong? no. she is barely characterized and nothing more than a walking profanity. she's trope-ified and marketed as a grumpy character but there's a difference between grumpy and AGGRESSIVE ankle-biter behavior. she was a caricature that snaps and scowls like a rottweiler. she is not a person on the page, but a concept. and unrefined at that. as she is now she's a mean, spiteful asshole rather than an endearing "grumpy" character. it's hard to root for either of them nor their relationship, but im supposedly meant to. yet nothing is romantic or even friendly abt them especially when most of their interactions was spencer lashing out at nick and him harshly talking down at her.Ā
simply, every aspect the book promises is not truly delivered. and it sucks cause i had hope for this story, i didn't dnf it, i wanted it to get better. but as it dragged on, it became clear that the only thing holding the story together was the concept, the promise of more rather than a cohesive, coherent plot. it felt like the author could've done so much better. it was just not ready to be put out into the world.
first, let's get technical: the story desperately needed an editor. if it had one, axe them.Ā
so many words, phrases, sentences and scenes were terribly redundant. the length of the story is less related to the content of the story itself but more the fact that it's so long-winded because of repetition, despite having little to say. i read the word scowl and all its derivatives 86 times. for snapped it was 113 TIMES, and it was nearly on EVERY page past the 156 page mark. that should *never* happen in a story, especially when it hinders characterization. it truly spoiled the reading experience. at some point it became clear these words and phrases, misused in many scenarios, and all the redundant scowls, snapping, knuckle rapping, pillow throwing, movie watching, and take out food were meant to be characterization in themselves. and it fell flat.Ā
every character is essentially the same and simultaneously a terrible clichƩ. they are archetypal, the pretty dolled up girl-friend, the patronizing boyfriend, the not like other girls fmc; they are not people i can care for. who were they outside of that, i don't know.
the use of third person perspective here could've elaborated on the nature of theĀ characters, but it doesn't. again, there's just scowls, snaps, knuckle rapping, pillow throwing, movies, and take out food.Ā
to be less formal, what i really couldn't get over is this book is not the ace rep it purports itself to be, nor is it really queer nor lgbt, which is shocking considering the author's identity. these labels have *meanings* and draw specific audiences (like me āš½) expecting a certain thing when it's promised. aside from the technical issues, that's what made this book so unenjoyable and hard to slug through. it delivers on none of this meaningfully.Ā
for one, our ace fmc from the beginning of the story who is supposed to have a *disinterest in sex* manages to make every interaction awkward on the basis of adding a sexual subtext that the 3rd person perspective elucidates to us is not there (the "see something you like" comment haunts me). every interaction became weird and unbearable for me to read. you can't hug somebody without thinking about sex or romance? like everything is related back to there and it was annoying because i thought the no-sex character, ace lead would be ASIDE FROM THAT. i could understand this behavior from the allo characters, but again, they weren't the ones mostly pushing it.
as for the queer rep, nick is bi or whateva and is who the lgbt is mostly referring to as he's most prominent in the story (aside from the ace yet hetero? fmc) but he's never actually engaging with men or demonstrating why it's necessary to outline him specifically as "openly bi" when he just gave toxic straight man (contrary to the "sunshine" character he was said to be). and the nonbinary black character is just a convenient "plot" vehicle for the main character to get in a situation where the mmc could rescue her. when i say the book isn't queer, i also mean that most depressingly it defaults on all the cishetero boring and sexist tropes.
chelsea is the simple whore who only exists to drive a wedge between the main couple, nick is a #good guy despite being an ASSHOLE, and worst of all the story uses instances of near sexual assault to set up situations for the cis man to be the dazzling hero. he is always the hero and our lead the weak damsel. but she's stubborn you might say? or strong? no. she is barely characterized and nothing more than a walking profanity. she's trope-ified and marketed as a grumpy character but there's a difference between grumpy and AGGRESSIVE ankle-biter behavior. she was a caricature that snaps and scowls like a rottweiler. she is not a person on the page, but a concept. and unrefined at that. as she is now she's a mean, spiteful asshole rather than an endearing "grumpy" character. it's hard to root for either of them nor their relationship, but im supposedly meant to. yet nothing is romantic or even friendly abt them especially when most of their interactions was spencer lashing out at nick and him harshly talking down at her.Ā
simply, every aspect the book promises is not truly delivered. and it sucks cause i had hope for this story, i didn't dnf it, i wanted it to get better. but as it dragged on, it became clear that the only thing holding the story together was the concept, the promise of more rather than a cohesive, coherent plot. it felt like the author could've done so much better. it was just not ready to be put out into the world.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Acephobia/Arophobia, Alcoholism, Sexual harassment, and Toxic friendship
ttorisaurus's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Acephobia/Arophobia, Alcohol, and Vomit
annabelle's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
3.5
wow a story with ace rep that I actually enjoyed!! I liked Spencerās journey with her asexuality and the discussions we got about it. And iāmĀ glad she had some good friends throughout the story except I really couldāve done without Reese getting drunk and saying horrible things at that partyā¦ I donāt think it made sense for her character. Ā
It was cute and fun for the most part. And I saw parts of my younger self in Spencer š„²
While I liked the story overall, it was definitely a bit too long. There were scenes couldāve been condensed into one that communicated multiple ideas. With how long the book is, I expected the characters to be more fleshed out or for there to be more plot. But tbh I really couldāve done without the multiple moments of sexual assault / almost rape. I think once was enough for me personally. Ā
All that said, I still enjoyed the story and would recommend. this is the authorās debut and I am definitely interested to read her future work and see how it improves.Ā
It was cute and fun for the most part. And I saw parts of my younger self in Spencer š„²
While I liked the story overall, it was definitely a bit too long. There were scenes couldāve been condensed into one that communicated multiple ideas. With how long the book is, I expected the characters to be more fleshed out or for there to be more plot.
All that said, I still enjoyed the story and would recommend. this is the authorās debut and I am definitely interested to read her future work and see how it improves.Ā
Content Warnings
Graphic: Acephobia/Arophobia and Sexual assault
entiresunset's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This book held such a good promise. A young adult romance with ace representation? Sounds right up my alles! Sadly the book didnt live up to my expectations. While the characters of Nick and Spencer are lovable and their relationship is cute I think the book contained too much unnecessary drama. Almost a third of the story could have been cut out if the protagonists just talked with another... This was very frustratingĀ to witness. But not in the usual sense.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Violence, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence
Moderate: Acephobia/Arophobia
Minor: Vomit
This book held such a good promise. A young adult romance with ace representation? Sounds right up my alles! Sadly the book didnt live up to my expectations. While the characters of Nick and Spencer are lovable and their relationship is cute I think the book contained too much unnecessary drama. Almost a third of the story could have been cut out if the protagonists just talked with another... This was very frustrating to witness. But not in the usual sense.moodzie's review against another edition
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Acephobia/Arophobia, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment