A review by bellatora
So Much Closer by Susane Colasanti
4.0
Classic fluff - breezy and pleasant read that can be finished in a few hours.
At first I was not a fan of Brooke at all. I mean, she moved to New York City for a guy she barely knew but was convinced was The One. I thought it was stupid for Felicity and I think it’s stupid now. Yes, moving to NYC ended up being exactly what she needed. But her reasoning was INSANE and although part of her knew it was crazy most of the time she didn't really see anything wrong with it – and everyone was like “oh, how romantic!” That is not romantic. That is creepy and stalky.
Brooke seems to be pretty constantly selfish and short-sighted. She left both her best friends during senior year for a boy who barely knew she existed and then managed to lose touch with both of them. She seemed to have just grown apart from April (best friend #1), which I get happens and Brooke did change a lot. But it's still sad and weird that she basically just overrode her old life with her new life in NYC. AND she never made up with Candace (best friend #2), who was angry that Brooke was going after the guy she liked – which is such a high school conflict. On the one hand, I totally get what Candace is driving at. On the other, Scott had already turned her down AND he had moved away. She wasn’t going to succeed. Even though I guess your best friend becoming a crazy stalker moving to another city for the boy you have a crush on would probably piss you off anyway. It just seems weird that Brooke can just so easily lose her two best friends and then pretty much brush it off because she has new best friends now.
I did find it super interesting that Brooke turned out to be a secret genius – like, an actual genius. She downplayed her smarts a lot because she didn’t want to stick out as different. So she just kind of tuned out everyone saying they were disappointed in her and kept her head down. That added a really interesting dimension to Brooke – she was more than just some silly girl following her crush. And I’m GLAD that John and April also called her out on this and how it was so stupid for her to be wasting her potential. Also the origami thing was a nice quirk.
And Brooke became a little less self-centered and angry by the end (even though she still has a lot of growing up to do). I’m not sure how I feel about John – he was a little manic and maybe even a touch manic pixie dream girl (LET’S GO OUTSIDE! AND EXPLORE!! LET US TALK ABOUT WATER TANKS!! All the kid needed was a ukulele). But I think he had his moments and he was a nice contrast to Cool Guy Scott.
P.S. What’s with the author acting like Scott and Brooke are the only two people who ever watch The Office? Don’t know what high school kids watch these days, but it’s not like The Office is some indie show. It was a super popular comedy and this book came out in 2011 – way after The Office peaked (so people should be familiar with it).
At first I was not a fan of Brooke at all. I mean, she moved to New York City for a guy she barely knew but was convinced was The One. I thought it was stupid for Felicity and I think it’s stupid now. Yes, moving to NYC ended up being exactly what she needed. But her reasoning was INSANE and although part of her knew it was crazy most of the time she didn't really see anything wrong with it – and everyone was like “oh, how romantic!” That is not romantic. That is creepy and stalky.
Brooke seems to be pretty constantly selfish and short-sighted. She left both her best friends during senior year for a boy who barely knew she existed and then managed to lose touch with both of them. She seemed to have just grown apart from April (best friend #1), which I get happens and Brooke did change a lot. But it's still sad and weird that she basically just overrode her old life with her new life in NYC. AND she never made up with Candace (best friend #2), who was angry that Brooke was going after the guy she liked – which is such a high school conflict. On the one hand, I totally get what Candace is driving at. On the other, Scott had already turned her down AND he had moved away. She wasn’t going to succeed. Even though I guess your best friend becoming a crazy stalker moving to another city for the boy you have a crush on would probably piss you off anyway. It just seems weird that Brooke can just so easily lose her two best friends and then pretty much brush it off because she has new best friends now.
I did find it super interesting that Brooke turned out to be a secret genius – like, an actual genius. She downplayed her smarts a lot because she didn’t want to stick out as different. So she just kind of tuned out everyone saying they were disappointed in her and kept her head down. That added a really interesting dimension to Brooke – she was more than just some silly girl following her crush. And I’m GLAD that John and April also called her out on this and how it was so stupid for her to be wasting her potential. Also the origami thing was a nice quirk.
And Brooke became a little less self-centered and angry by the end (even though she still has a lot of growing up to do). I’m not sure how I feel about John – he was a little manic and maybe even a touch manic pixie dream girl (LET’S GO OUTSIDE! AND EXPLORE!! LET US TALK ABOUT WATER TANKS!! All the kid needed was a ukulele). But I think he had his moments and he was a nice contrast to Cool Guy Scott.
P.S. What’s with the author acting like Scott and Brooke are the only two people who ever watch The Office? Don’t know what high school kids watch these days, but it’s not like The Office is some indie show. It was a super popular comedy and this book came out in 2011 – way after The Office peaked (so people should be familiar with it).