A review by brokenrecord
Always Never Yours by Emily Wibberley
4.0
4.5 stars. This was so great!!! I was close to giving it 5 stars because I enjoyed it so much, but I did have a couple complaints so I had to bump it down. But seriously, I didn't have super high expectations for this and it turned out to just be so lovely. I loved Megan so much!!! How she preferred being seen as the flirt and pretending like she was cool with being the girl guys dated before they found their real love, even to herself, and how she grew and realized she shouldn't just set herself up to expect heartbreak and being dumped and that she was worth more. And her passion for directing!!! I always love when characters, especially female characters, ESPECIALLY teen girls, have really strong passions that they really excel at. I liked the thing with her trying acting and how she grew to get better and figure out what she was doing and give a great performance, but I also love that she didn't decide in the end that acting was her true passion or anything. She was still a director at heart, but doing the performance helped her. It was also nice to have a teenage girl character who had lost her virginity prior to the start of the book and it wasn't like an ideal, fantasy experience, but it also wasn't something she regretted or that had caused her any damage or trauma — it was just very matter-of-fact.
I really liked her family stuff too, how she felt so out of place and wanted both her parents to be happy but also didn't get what her place in their family was and felt like they were moving on to their own new families without her. I especially loved her relationship with her mom and their phone calls — they were super cute. And how much she loved her baby sister Erin even if she still wasn't 100% comfortable around her stepmother. I also loved how Rose came to her director showcase thing to support her. The family stuff was just really well-done.
And then there was OWEN!!! I would die for Owen, I loved him so much. I loved how he was a little unsure of Megan at first, but he totally just got her and pushed her to want to expect more and not believe she deserved less. Their romance was my favorite kind of slow burn from strangers to friends to more. I loved how they teased each other and were so supportive of one another. One of my quibbles did come in with his character, though — specifically with the Cosima stuff.
My other big quibble was with the Madeleine/Tyler stuff. On a more positive note, the subplot with Anthony and Eric was utterly adorable, and the ~double date with Megan and Owen was one of my absolute favorite scenes.
So yeah, this was super cute overall, despite my complaints! I'll definitely check out more by these authors in the future.
I really liked her family stuff too, how she felt so out of place and wanted both her parents to be happy but also didn't get what her place in their family was and felt like they were moving on to their own new families without her. I especially loved her relationship with her mom and their phone calls — they were super cute. And how much she loved her baby sister Erin even if she still wasn't 100% comfortable around her stepmother. I also loved how Rose came to her director showcase thing to support her. The family stuff was just really well-done.
And then there was OWEN!!! I would die for Owen, I loved him so much. I loved how he was a little unsure of Megan at first, but he totally just got her and pushed her to want to expect more and not believe she deserved less. Their romance was my favorite kind of slow burn from strangers to friends to more. I loved how they teased each other and were so supportive of one another. One of my quibbles did come in with his character, though — specifically with the Cosima stuff.
Spoiler
On one hand, it's kind of annoying that she was so off the page and practically fake that it's hard to be upset with Owen and Megan for semi-hooking up before he had officially dumped Cosima (especially since they were so ridiculously adorable together). I mean, she's really just not a character — we know literally nothing about her, other than she's Italian. Maybe she was feeling the same way as Owen about their relationship, who knows! But on the other hand… it's kind of the point that she's not a real character, because it goes to what Megan said about it being a safe relationship for Owen because it wasn't real. So it works, but it did feel a little cheap to just have Cosima be this semi-obstacle that's so easily removed and we don't need to bother worrying about her feelings or her reaction to being dumped.My other big quibble was with the Madeleine/Tyler stuff.
Spoiler
I already thought Megan was a bit of a saint for still being best friends with Madeleine after Tyler dumped her for Madeleine, so when it was revealed that they did actually hook up before Megan and Tyler had officially broken up, I was a bit stunned at how quickly Megan got over it. And it was absurd to me that Madeleine was like "This is so typical of you, something goes wrong and you're ready to move on like our friendship was never important to you." Like, um… maybe you shouldn't have kissed your best friend's boyfriend?? That's a big indicator that your friendship isn't important to you! But I think we were supposed to agree with her because Megan does forgive her in the same scene. She was basically only allowed to be mad at Madeleine for like a week! I would've held a grudge against any best friend who had done that to me for much longer (like, forever).So yeah, this was super cute overall, despite my complaints! I'll definitely check out more by these authors in the future.