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A review by florallyplaid
The Solution to Unrequited by Len Webster
3.0
This book follows the story of AJ and Evan, a mismatched pair bundled up with a series of miscommunication, misunderstanding and distrust. Just to recap, this is a continuation of the first book in the series, set right after the cliffhanger in the last chapter of Theory. In the first book, we were introduced to the two main characters and other significant secondary characters, but this book goes in depth into the actual chemistry/behaviour between the two ends of the main relationship.
AJ is in love with Evan despite not really wanting to anymore (or maybe not, I couldn't keep up). This has affected her relationship with other potential lovers, and leads to a nagging feeling of guilt following her wherever she goes. This confuses me because, in all honesty, this book - and the one before - doesn't show me a single likable character trait about Evan. No, none at all.
He's ignorant. He's self-centered. He's emotionally confused. He's controlled. He's oblivious. And he's straight out stupid. In Theory, he was at most somewhat decent and bearable, but in the second book he's just terrible. I tried to like him or sympathise with him - he's a lonely kid with a careless family and a selfish older brother who wants Evan's only true friend for himself - , I really did, but I swear to God if any boy treated me like that I wouldn't stand the dude for more than two minutes, but they're only teenagers so I'll try to excuse AJ's irrational feelings and pinpoint that this is probably the very first time her heart beats for another.
AJ is quite a complicated character. I didn't know whether to like her for withstanding so many emotional traumas or punch her in the face for being so boneless. I mean, come on, nobody runs out on their family like that the first time their father yells at them. That's just completely childish. She has got one great, supportive big family, yet she complains and whines and it gets on my nerves. Her relationship with Savannah was probably her best quality, and honestly I shipped her with Landon way more than Evan. I mean, really, who doesn't? Evan was just a douche.
The supporting characters were a nice, homey addition, although too many of them were unnecessary and could be eliminated to erase some of the confusion. Some of them showed up once and weren't really that much of a big addition to the storyline, but the cozy aura around such a big family was still nice.
Some of the main events could have easily started way earlier instead of those filler senior year chapters, but going through those latter ones was okay, I guess. I think the story is okay the way it is and doesn't really need to be exhausted by adding more books to the series. It'll only get dragged on and the characters will be repetitive. But Len still has that magical touch to her books to make them get stuck in your brain for more than a couple of days, so kudos to that.
AJ is in love with Evan despite not really wanting to anymore (or maybe not, I couldn't keep up). This has affected her relationship with other potential lovers, and leads to a nagging feeling of guilt following her wherever she goes. This confuses me because, in all honesty, this book - and the one before - doesn't show me a single likable character trait about Evan. No, none at all.
He's ignorant. He's self-centered. He's emotionally confused. He's controlled. He's oblivious. And he's straight out stupid. In Theory, he was at most somewhat decent and bearable, but in the second book he's just terrible. I tried to like him or sympathise with him - he's a lonely kid with a careless family and a selfish older brother who wants Evan's only true friend for himself - , I really did, but I swear to God if any boy treated me like that I wouldn't stand the dude for more than two minutes, but they're only teenagers so I'll try to excuse AJ's irrational feelings and pinpoint that this is probably the very first time her heart beats for another.
AJ is quite a complicated character. I didn't know whether to like her for withstanding so many emotional traumas or punch her in the face for being so boneless. I mean, come on, nobody runs out on their family like that the first time their father yells at them. That's just completely childish. She has got one great, supportive big family, yet she complains and whines and it gets on my nerves. Her relationship with Savannah was probably her best quality, and honestly I shipped her with Landon way more than Evan. I mean, really, who doesn't? Evan was just a douche.
The supporting characters were a nice, homey addition, although too many of them were unnecessary and could be eliminated to erase some of the confusion. Some of them showed up once and weren't really that much of a big addition to the storyline, but the cozy aura around such a big family was still nice.
Some of the main events could have easily started way earlier instead of those filler senior year chapters, but going through those latter ones was okay, I guess. I think the story is okay the way it is and doesn't really need to be exhausted by adding more books to the series. It'll only get dragged on and the characters will be repetitive. But Len still has that magical touch to her books to make them get stuck in your brain for more than a couple of days, so kudos to that.