A review by alexa_gr
Whatever Life Throws at You by Julie Cross
4.0
This book was on my TBR for so long and I´m glad I finally read it. Although it was not at all like I expected, I really liked it.
Right from the start, I felt connected to the main character. She is 17 years old and I think the author did a great job portraying appropriate behaviour for this age. I often feel that most YA/NA characters either act too old or way to immature. Julie Cross found the right balance between responsible and insecure. Brody is also such a sweet guy!
But what really made this book outstanding, was that it´s not just a love story. There is so much going on with baseball, relationships with parents and friendship.
Furthermore, it felt extremely real to me. It helped that it was a slow-burn romance and no character was flawless, but not in this cliché "I´m broken, go away from me"-way. That´s also why the book didn´t read like New Adult, although there are definitely scenes that go there.
Of course, this book isn´t perfect (for me at least). I don´t believe in perfect books anyways...
I couldn´t stand Lenny and I think she gave the worst advice ever. Another issue was the repetitiveness sometimes. This book is set over the course of a whole year and whereas this gave the characters a lot of room for development, some arguments came up a bit too often.
I wouldn´t say the story dragged, but it was definitely not a page-turner especially after
Lastly, I just want to mention that the book features a very healthy relationship and good humour now and then which is connected to the very fluid writing style. The later is also something I can remember from Julie Cross´ [b:Tempest|11455096|Tempest (Tempest, #1)|Julie Cross|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1327878364s/11455096.jpg|16065182] -series I read when I was younger. It´s a series I never finished, but maybe I´ll pick it up again.
Right from the start, I felt connected to the main character. She is 17 years old and I think the author did a great job portraying appropriate behaviour for this age. I often feel that most YA/NA characters either act too old or way to immature. Julie Cross found the right balance between responsible and insecure. Brody is also such a sweet guy!
But what really made this book outstanding, was that it´s not just a love story. There is so much going on with baseball, relationships with parents and friendship.
Furthermore, it felt extremely real to me. It helped that it was a slow-burn romance and no character was flawless, but not in this cliché "I´m broken, go away from me"-way. That´s also why the book didn´t read like New Adult, although there are definitely scenes that go there.
Of course, this book isn´t perfect (for me at least). I don´t believe in perfect books anyways...
I couldn´t stand Lenny and I think she gave the worst advice ever. Another issue was the repetitiveness sometimes. This book is set over the course of a whole year and whereas this gave the characters a lot of room for development, some arguments came up a bit too often.
I wouldn´t say the story dragged, but it was definitely not a page-turner especially after
Spoiler
Brody and Annie had their first real kiss and ended up in a hidden relationship.Lastly, I just want to mention that the book features a very healthy relationship and good humour now and then which is connected to the very fluid writing style. The later is also something I can remember from Julie Cross´ [b:Tempest|11455096|Tempest (Tempest, #1)|Julie Cross|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1327878364s/11455096.jpg|16065182] -series I read when I was younger. It´s a series I never finished, but maybe I´ll pick it up again.