A review by pstrange
Happily Ever Afters by Elise Bryant
3.0
❤️I Loved❤️
❤️the HP book references.
❤️how Tessa taught me to be self-aware, to not judge a book by its cover, & when you don’t find someone physically attractive, you are quick to criticize them & when you do find someone physically attractive, you downplay their shortcomings.
❤️Tessa’s character development & her growth in her struggles with anxiety & as a writer. She goes from staying quiet just to be someone others might like to speaking up despite what others may think, being afraid to take risks in her writing to realizing the risk is worth the reward, from ignoring her anxiety to acknowledging it & not letting it stop her, from realizing that accepting & loving herself should’ve come before trying to find the perfect guy, from wanting to blend in to wanting to stand out, from deflecting & explaining away compliments to just saying ‘Thank you,’ from thinking she needed to find love with a boy to start writing again to realizing that she needed to love herself first.
❤️the relationship between Tessa & her older brother, Miles. It is very endearing & sweet! Very insightful in showing how Miles’ disability affects the Johnson family not just individually, but their interpersonal relationships as well. And showing how Tessa’s anxiety affects her day-to-day life.
❤️how Elise Bryant has the characters notice each other’s body language & nonverbal gestures. You can infer how the character is feeling and/or what they may be thinking without blatantly making it known by them saying it aloud or naming an emotion.
❤️how, through Tessa, Elise Bryant shows the power of what we think of ourselves & what we say about ourselves. That when all we say & think about ourselves is negative, it negatively impacts how we see ourselves. When we choose to self-talk in a way that is positive & uplifting, it positively impacts how we see ourselves. This is a great lesson for teenage girls & women!
❤️Tessa’s imperfection-Starting out, I had quite a difficult time connecting with Tessa. Throughout most of the story, she is defensive, inconsistent, naive, selfish, ungrateful, & very hard on herself. This is fiction & therefore, I shouldn’t expect her (nor any of the characters) to be perfect. Sorry for putting my false, unrealistically high expectations on you Tessa. It would be very boring to read a fiction book filled with perfect characters. I wouldn’t be able to relate to them. Even in her imperfection, it gave me an opportunity to relate to her & to see her character development (which was very satisfying).
❤️the HP book references.
❤️how Tessa taught me to be self-aware, to not judge a book by its cover, & when you don’t find someone physically attractive, you are quick to criticize them & when you do find someone physically attractive, you downplay their shortcomings.
❤️Tessa’s character development & her growth in her struggles with anxiety & as a writer. She goes from staying quiet just to be someone others might like to speaking up despite what others may think, being afraid to take risks in her writing to realizing the risk is worth the reward, from ignoring her anxiety to acknowledging it & not letting it stop her, from realizing that accepting & loving herself should’ve come before trying to find the perfect guy, from wanting to blend in to wanting to stand out, from deflecting & explaining away compliments to just saying ‘Thank you,’ from thinking she needed to find love with a boy to start writing again to realizing that she needed to love herself first.
❤️the relationship between Tessa & her older brother, Miles. It is very endearing & sweet! Very insightful in showing how Miles’ disability affects the Johnson family not just individually, but their interpersonal relationships as well. And showing how Tessa’s anxiety affects her day-to-day life.
❤️how Elise Bryant has the characters notice each other’s body language & nonverbal gestures. You can infer how the character is feeling and/or what they may be thinking without blatantly making it known by them saying it aloud or naming an emotion.
❤️how, through Tessa, Elise Bryant shows the power of what we think of ourselves & what we say about ourselves. That when all we say & think about ourselves is negative, it negatively impacts how we see ourselves. When we choose to self-talk in a way that is positive & uplifting, it positively impacts how we see ourselves. This is a great lesson for teenage girls & women!
❤️Tessa’s imperfection-Starting out, I had quite a difficult time connecting with Tessa. Throughout most of the story, she is defensive, inconsistent, naive, selfish, ungrateful, & very hard on herself. This is fiction & therefore, I shouldn’t expect her (nor any of the characters) to be perfect. Sorry for putting my false, unrealistically high expectations on you Tessa. It would be very boring to read a fiction book filled with perfect characters. I wouldn’t be able to relate to them. Even in her imperfection, it gave me an opportunity to relate to her & to see her character development (which was very satisfying).