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A review by kkenna7
This Is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
I gave this book a rating on the lower side of “great” simply because it took me a while to be able to get used to the wordiness of the author’s writing. I also felt there were a few things I could’ve done without.
It took me a bit longer than usual to buy into this story. I almost gave up less than 100 pages in but I’m so very glad I pushed through. Each character is developed so well throughout the story you connect with each of them, even if they’re a smaller part of the story. Poppy was delightful from the very beginning and her story was well-written all things considered. While I did find the misgendering/deadnaming towards the middle and end to be a little uncomfy, I understand why that author wrote it in that way and I’m in no way an authority on whether it was proper or not as a cis person so I did my best to let it challenge me and move on.
One thing in particular I found so odd was the random bursts of nearly-sex scenes between Rosie and Penn? Maybe I’m being silly but it came out of nowhere once or twice, had nothing to do with the story whatsoever, and then never showed up again. Almost like the author decided halfway through she wanted to write a different story entirely. This is a reason I knocked off some points in my rating, as previously mentioned.
Overall, the book was enjoyable, the characters were lovable (even when frustrating) and I found myself absolutely rooting for everyone. There’s a lovely ending which I know some think was too “fantastical” but I think that’s kind of the point of it all anyway so I quite liked it. I wish I’d remembered StoryGraph’s notes feature earlier in my reading since I read a library copy and I couldn’t annotate. My review would’ve been more specific. Just know it’s worth the read, struggle though some may.
It took me a bit longer than usual to buy into this story. I almost gave up less than 100 pages in but I’m so very glad I pushed through. Each character is developed so well throughout the story you connect with each of them, even if they’re a smaller part of the story. Poppy was delightful from the very beginning and her story was well-written all things considered. While I did find the misgendering/deadnaming towards the middle and end to be a little uncomfy, I understand why that author wrote it in that way and I’m in no way an authority on whether it was proper or not as a cis person so I did my best to let it challenge me and move on.
One thing in particular I found so odd was the random bursts of nearly-sex scenes between Rosie and Penn? Maybe I’m being silly but it came out of nowhere once or twice, had nothing to do with the story whatsoever, and then never showed up again. Almost like the author decided halfway through she wanted to write a different story entirely. This is a reason I knocked off some points in my rating, as previously mentioned.
Overall, the book was enjoyable, the characters were lovable (even when frustrating) and I found myself absolutely rooting for everyone. There’s a lovely ending which I know some think was too “fantastical” but I think that’s kind of the point of it all anyway so I quite liked it. I wish I’d remembered StoryGraph’s notes feature earlier in my reading since I read a library copy and I couldn’t annotate. My review would’ve been more specific. Just know it’s worth the read, struggle though some may.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Hate crime, Homophobia, and Transphobia
Moderate: Deadnaming, Hate crime, and Medical content